[Fatigue fractures of the lower patellar pole in adolescents with cerebral movement disorders].

Changes at the apex of the patella, seen on X-rays of 4 children with cerebral motility disturbances, raise the question as to whether the changes seen in patella tip syndrome are an event typical for the underlying condition. The present authors are of the opinion that these changes, which resemble patella partita, Sinding-Larsen-Johansson disease and osteopathia patellae juvenilis (C. Mau), do not represent a separate syndrome. The authors believe that all these changes are merely variants of one and the same event, namely a disturbance of the balance between loading and loadbearing capacity of the insertion of the Lig. patellae, a balance which is evidently especially unstable at this age.