Jumpers knee

[oddscwodd]

Jumpers knee wrecks your life. Injury 15th april 2008.

As an exercise addict I got diagnosed with a Patellar tendon lesion on the tibial tuberosity. My mistake was to ignore it. As an athlete you get used to the niggles and aches of your body and normally you can tell which are sort of okay.

JUMPERS KNEE IS NOT!

After three weeks of struggling to exercise got to the point where I could not sleep or put weight on my leg. I could not physically touch my knee.

Stopped leg exercises and walking.

Got a great Physio to help me.
Physio taught me how to tape my knee. Learn this. It instantly stopped me limping.

I am not a physio so I will not even atempt to teach it.

Iced three times a day. For twenty mins.

Took anti inflammitory medication not for pain but to reduce swelling.

Got these from the doctor so that i didn't have to take every four hours. One tablet a day. Go see your GP. and get anti inflammitory gel to rub on as well. (If they will let you).

Found heating the area was a bad thing. Just made it worse after a couple of days gave that up.

Cortisone injections did nothing.

As soon as I could tense my quads without pain from tendon did sets of twenty of these when I remembered. Just sitting down or stood up. Pulling knee cap up and relaxing. Ten or 15 times a day.

Stretching hurt it so did not do that.

After a TWO MONTHS got on exercise bike at lowest resistance. Ten seconds cycle, ten seconds rest for 20 mins. Sounds pathetic I know but it is what I had to do. ICE straight after all exercise. At this point quad had wasted away and my knee would give way underneath me if not careful. Could not physically run or go up or down stairs.

ICE

Started walking forcing myself to walk properly with no limp. After two weeks could go up stairs (concentric contraction of quad) but could not walk down stairs (eccentric contraction of quad). Able to do two 20 min cycling sessions a day. Non stop low resistance.

ICE

4 weeks ago started quad extentions and knee control exercises on a half swiss ball or balance board.

Resistance too much on bike two weeks ago so got shin splints so reduced that.

This week. Quad exercises! half squats. Now able to control walk upstairs and down. Been able to run and hop with no significant pain (but not pushing it)

Future. Went to the consultant. Said looking at the MRI that it could take 3 weeks to 3 years to heal. Other problems will hopefully work themselves out.

Moral of story. Do not mess about with any tendinopathy. I managed to train my upper body into submission as well with golfers elbow.

Also after your quad has wasted it puts all your biomechanics out. This means that lots of secondary problems occur. These make recovery much harder.

Have posted myself on other forums about disparities in advice. Under periosteal lesiion if anyone is interested.

Lastly. It takes a long time to heal so nip it in the bud if you can

[emeraldphysio]

Re: Jumpers knee

I too am an exercise addict. Last February 2008 I started to get anterior knee pain, especially on ascending and decending stairs. It became so tender to even touch. It felt as if there was more involved than the patellar tendon (i.e fat pad)

I attended an orthopaedic consultant who x rayed my knee, saying it was jumpers knee and to rest, cease aggravating activities, stretch, ice and continue with eccentric exercises.

I did that for 4-5 weeks and still no let up on pain. If anything it got worse! I went back to the consultant and told him not only had I ceased playing sport but not it was affecting my job. So he gave me a cortizone injectinon into the area around the tendon. Initially it was very sore but improved to such a level that it was painfree for 4-5 weeks. I was able to return jogging up 70%. Then it got worse again. I continued with eccentrics and ice during this period. I went back to the consultant who told me to again put up with it.!

I sought a 2nd opinion, a sports physician who took am MRI. He told me there was a slight tear in the patellar tendon and he told me to cease all eccentrics, everything for 6 weeks. I rested for 8 weeks and at time if I stand for long periods or sit for long periods my knee (front and back will get very sore) and I will end up limping! So after all this rest it just seems to be the same and on occasion worse.

I've been told it maybe due to a high patella, tight hamstrings etc, anyone who assesses my hamstrings, hip flexors, quads etc say they are flexible! Antiinflammatorys seem to give me good relief as do painkillers, but I can't keep taking them for the rest of my life. I'm very active and play alot of sports. I've rested this for what seems like an eternity and there is no improvement. I'd be obliged if anyone has any interesting ideas. Thanks

[oddscwodd]

Rest it Rest it Rest it. Even walking on it if it is a tear can be a bad thing. Everyone told me to exercise my patellar tendon to re abilitate it. It just got worse. You really need to rest it. Using anti inflammatories is good but be careful because it can mask you injuring it further. Get an exercise bike if you need to exercise. Get it on lowest resistance and start just keeping the knee mobile.

If it is a tear and you are not getting joy in twelve weeks go back to your consultant. You may need surgery. Or you might need a complete leg brace to stop any knee flexion to allow it to heal.

Both of these are last resort.

If your not careful you will lose a functional quad. This will mess up your biomechanics. This will mean lots of secondary problems.

So rest it. exercise the quad at first by contracting the muscle then relaxing it. Find a really good sports physio.