Therapy
The treatment of Sinding-Larsen’s disease is divided into non-operative (conservative) and operative measures. Depending on the extent and stage of the disease, a different type of treatment is particularly suitable for promoting the regeneration of the affected knee. Initially, however, all affected patients must be spared the corresponding knee and avoid further overloading.
For this purpose, in most cases a temporary sports leave is granted immediately after the diagnosis. The most frequently performed conservative forms of therapy for patients suffering from Sinding-Larsen’s disease are the application of warm and/or cold compresses and so-called electrostimulation (synonyms: iontophoresis, TENS). Furthermore, in many cases, enormous treatment successes could be achieved by the targeted application of ultrasound.
In addition to a reduction of the load on the affected knee, physiotherapeutic exercises and manual therapies should be performed at regular intervals. Furthermore, the so-called shock wave treatment is considered a suitable method in the therapy of patients suffering from Sinding-Larsen’s disease. In general, all described methods have a common therapeutic goal: the regeneration of the tendon attachment should be stimulated by local metabolic activation and an increase in regional blood circulation.
In addition, the tensile forces acting on the patella should be reduced by loosening the thigh muscles. Furthermore, the regular application of anti-inflammatory ointments and/or the intake of non-steroidal anti-rheumatic drugs is considered particularly promising in the treatment of Sinding-Larsen’s disease. Homeopathy pursues various therapeutic approaches in the sense of injecting natural substances such as Traumeel or Zeel around the tendon sliding tissue.
Just by applying the conservative treatment methods alone, the course of disease in Sinding-Larsen’s disease can be limited in most cases and the regeneration of the affected knee can be successfully stimulated. Only in about 10 percent of patients, no success can be recorded despite correspondingly long therapy. In precisely these cases, surgical intervention is considered the only possibility of cure. At present, patients with Sinding-Larsen’s disease are treated with various procedures that can be performed either individually or in combination. In order to reduce the stress in the area of the patella tip, the visual gliding tissue can be removed.In addition, denervation of the tendon environment, tendon loosening at the tip of the patella and removal of the dead bone tissue are considered particularly useful.
