What is it?

Patella Tendonitis is a painful condition affecting the patellar tendon in the kneecap area. This condition is most common in an aging athlete whose in involves in “jumping” sports such as basketball, volleyball and jogging. A person experiencing patellar tendonitis will have particular difficulty when running down hills.

Occasionally other conditions may be associated with patellar tendonitis including diabetes, gout, para-hypothyroidism. Other conditions which can be a cause of anterior knee pain are commonly confused with patellar tendonitis. These conditions include quadriceps tendonitis, synovial plicae, chondromalacia, patello-femoral subluxation and hyper-pressure, fat pad impingement or Hoffa’s syndrome and patello-femoral arthritis.

Treatment

When treating patella tendinitis rest the area, expecially avoid the particular activity that produced the condition. Anti-inflammatory medication, regular cold compression, hamstring stretching and physiotherapy are all helpful.

If the strain was minor, their body may be able to heal the tendon fibers normally. Unfortunately, this is not the usual result because the injured tendon is being used instead of rested. Because of the stress on the tendon, their body heals the injured patellar tendon fibers by binding them together with fibrotic adhesions or scar tissue. This is done in an attempt to prevent further damage to the injured area. It is a normal protective response of their body.

The trick to any tendon injury is getting it to heal quickly to prevent re-injury and minimize scar tissue formation – something Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy^™ is great at! Even with optimum healing there is always less elasticity in a previously injured tendon. The trick is to make sure you heal this the best you can, that way your chance of reinjury down the road is much lower than average – which is well over 50%. Otherwise, persistent symptoms will occur, eventually leading to corrective surgery