The knee is vulnerable to both repetitive stresses leading to overuse injuries and to acute injuries. As a result, many active patients have generalized or anterior knee pain. Without definitive abnormalities on physical examination, a course of conservative management is frequently recommended. OCD is a painful condition in which a section of articular cartilage and its underlying bone slowly separates from the surrounding bone. The following case reports demonstrate the importance of a physical exam that includes thigh girth measurements and appropriate imaging studies in the young, active patient with knee pain.
Accurate diagnosis can then lead to targeted treatment.
Case Reports Case 1. His pain increased 4 weeks into football season. Although he denied specific injury, his pain worsened with contact drills. In varsity baseball and wrestling, he had had only minor discomfort, and training room examinations had found no abnormalities. There was no peripatellar pain.