Symptoms
The patella tendon is in that soft space beneath your kneecap. If you push on it and feel pain, you have tendonitis. Though many people develop this, athletes that do a lot of jumping are the most common victims of this long lasting condition. Start today learning how to recover in a way that doesn’t make you have to ‘take time off’ from what you love to do.
Treatment
Patella tendonitis or “Jumper’s knee” is a nagging injury that – and I hate to say it- requires some degree of rest. Once that tendon gets inflamed, it needs a little TLC to recover. Ice massages (take an ice cube and spend 3-5 minutes massaging it right on that small area that is tender) 3 times/day helps, as well as frequently stretching out the quad muscle. For the fastest recovery possible you’ll need to start immediately on some open-chain strengthening exercise, too. I go over it all in the full program. I’d suggest you start now. Any delay prolongs your recovery exponentially!
Related
Video Transcript: Jumper’s Knee/Patella Tendonitis
Jumper’s knee and patella tendonitis are referring to the same condition. The patella tendon is at the little indent just beneath your kneecap. That tendon can get inflamed if you’re doing a lot of jumping, squatting, going up and down stairs, kneeling, or if you fell on it. Once that tendon gets irritated, it’s hard to fix and protocol often includes resting it. The quad stretch is the number one exercise for preventing and recovering from patella tendonitis. And it looks like this. Stand holding onto something, bend your knee and grab your ankle. Keep your body up straight, and keep your knee back and in line with your other thigh. You should feel the stretch in your quad. Hold it for 20 seconds and repeat it hourly. I imagine some of you are thinking, ‘I can’t bend my knee that far’, and others are thinking, ‘yeah, yeah, I’ve done that stretch a ton and I’m still not getting better’, and some other are thinking, ‘this seems to help, but what else??!’. I’m Josie, the licensed physical therapist that created insight into injury. And in my full length PT session I will go over a bunch of variations to this stretch, AND strengthening progressions, so that Everyone – from basketball players to construction workers- can benefit from the right exercises to get a full recovery. Please, check it out! And feel better today!