Jumper's Knee

[laxmi64]

Jumpers knee (or) patellar tendinitis is an over use injury (or) trauma to the extensor mechanism of knee results from jumping or running commonly seen in basket ball and foot ball players.

Symptoms:

• Pain at the bottom and front of the kneecap, especially when pressing in.
• Aching and stiffness after exertion.
• Pain when you contract the quadriceps muscles.
• The affected tendon may appear larger than the unaffected side.
• May be associated with poor Vastus medialis obliquus (VMO) function
• Calf weakness may be present

Treatment

This depends on the extent or grade of the injury:

Grade 1: Pain only after training

• Continue training but apply ice or cold therapy to the injury after each training session. Cold therapy can be applied by by ice massage or the use of ice packs. It is important the cold is applied at the point of pain on the tendon.
• Wear a heat retainer or support.
• See a sports injury specialist / therapist who can apply sports massage techniques and advise on rehabilitation.
• An eccentric strengthening programme is generally recommended.

Grade 2: Pain before and after exercise but pain reduces once warmed up.

• Modify training activities to reduce the load on the tendon.
• Stop jumping or sprinting activities and replace them with steady running or swimming or running in water if necessary.
• See a sports injury specialist or therapist who can apply sports massage techniques and advise on rehabilitation.

Grade 3: Pain during activity which prevents you from training or performing at your best.

• Rest completely from the aggravating activity. Replace it with swimming or running in water (if pain allows).
• See a sports injury specialist/therapist who can apply sports massage techniques and advise on rehabilitation.

Grade 4: Pain during every day activities which may or may not be getting worse.

• Rest for a long period of time (at least 3 months!).
• See a sports injury specialist/therapist who can apply sports massage techniques for patella tendonitis/tendinopathy
• and advise on rehabilitation.
• If the knee does not respond to rehabilitation then consult an Orthopaedic Surgeon as surgery may be required physiotherapy
• Quadriceps muscle strengthening program: in particular eccentric strengthening. These exercises involve working the muscles as they are lengthening and are thought to maximise tendinopathy recovery.
• Muscle strengthening of other weight bearing muscle groups, such as the calf muscles, may decrease the loading on the patellar tendon.
• Ice packs to reduce pain and inflammation.
• Massage therapy-Transverse (cross) friction techniques may be used.

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