Osteochondrosis is a family of orthopedic diseases of the joint that occur in children, adolescents and rapidly growing animals, particularly pigs, horses, dogs, and broiler chickens.

[3] This disorder is defined as a focal disturbance of endochondral ossification and is regarded as having a multifactorial cause, so no one thing accounts for all aspects of this disease.

It has personified features as focal chondronecrosis and confinement of growth cartilage due to a failing of endochondral ossification.

[5] One of the leading factors to some elbow osteochondrosis is that the radius and ulna are growing at different rates.

[7] The spinal form, Scheuermann's disease, may cause bending, or kyphosis of the upper spine, giving a "hunch-back" appearance.

[4] In humans, these conditions may be classified into three groups:[citation needed] There are many different kinds of treatments.

[4] Most of the time if the osteochondrosis is in the shoulder joint, the veterinarian diagnoses it from X-rays or CT scans.

In some cases of osteochondrosis, such as Sever's disease and Freiberg's infraction, the involved bone may heal in a relatively normal shape and leave the patient asymptomatic.

[11] On the contrary, Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease frequently results in a deformed femoral head that leads to arthritis and the need for joint replacement.