Your Body - Knee Pain / Knee Injury
Patellar Tendonitis - Jumper's Knee
What is Patellar Tendonitis?
As with all cases of tendonitis, patella tendonitis is simply the inflammation, degeneration or rupture of the patellar tendon and the tissue that surround it, leading to pain and discomfort in the area just below the knee cap.
What causes Patellar Tendonitis?
Overuse is the major cause of patellar tendonitis. Activities that involve a lot of jumping or rapid change of direction are particularly stressful to the patellar ligament. Participants of basketball, volleyball, football, and other running related sports are particularly vulnerable to patellar tendonitis.
Patellar tendonitis can also be caused by a sudden, unexpected injury like a fall. Landing heavily on your knees can damage the patellar ligament, which can lead to patellar tendonitis.
What are the Signs & Symptoms of Patellar Tendonitis?
The major symptom of patellar tendonitis is pain in the area just below the kneecap. Activities like walking, running and especially squatting, kneeling or jumping will cause increased pain and discomfort. Swelling is also commonly associated with patellar tendonitis.
Chondromalacia Patellae
What is Chondromalacia patellae?
Chondromalacia literally means "softening of the cartilage", and Patellae means "the knee-cap". So Chondromalacia patellae means "softening of the articular cartilage of the knee-cap." This is the cartilage lining under the knee-cap that joins with the knee joint. What are the symptoms?
The pain comes and goes, but usually with squatting, kneeling, and negotiating steps, especially going down the stairs. You may be engaged in strenuous sports, but experiences pain with repeated bending of the knees. Although girls are more often affected, boys can have this problem too.
At this stage, there is no breakdown of the cartilage of the patella yet, and is totally reversible. In fact, many medical practitioners may not use the term "chondromalacia patellae" at this stage, because there is no actual softening or breakdown of the cartilage. A more appropriate diagnosis would be "Anterior knee pain syndrome" or "Patellofemoral stress syndrome".
What Our Clients Say
"After suffering from lower back pain for many years, I thought I should get something done about it. I was recommended to see Ross, Unsure at the time about seeing a Sports Injury Specialist, as my complaint was defiantly not a sporting injury! I thought recommendation is a strong piece of advice so I went to see Ross, What a good move. He explained that just because the injury was not sustained during sport the diagnosing and treatment is still the same. He subsequently got straight to the site of pain, with an in depth examination and a clear diagnosis, the treatment was very successful. I am now able to sit at my desk at work pain free." Miss. Chappel
"Amazing! After so many other failed visits to consultants, with Ross, I'm now pain free. I only wish I knew of him years ago. He explained the reasons behind my injury, how I was to be treated, the healing process and how to avoid future injury. I'd recommend him to anybody." - Mr. Castle
Ross can only be described as a miracle worker! After seeing numerous so-called professionals in back care I was recommended to Ross to take a look at my long-term back problem.
Within minutes Ross had diagnosed a muscle twist in my back. For years I had seen physios, GPs, an osteopath and chiropractor, yet known of them attempted to find out the root cause of the problem, instead choosing to 'blindly' treat me.
Once Ross had worked out what was causing my back pain he set about eradicating the twist from my back, which I am pleased to say has since gone. In just a few visits Ross had achieved what I thought was the impossible and what no other back care 'expert' had been able to achieve.
As well as having a professional and friendly demeanour, Ross clearly is an expert in his field. He explains everything in clear English so I understood what the problem was and what he had done to cure it. Unlike others I had seen, refreshingly Ross was more interested in resolving my back problem than relieving my wallet. The amount of treatments I had was just enough to fix the problem and no more. I asked several times whether I should come back next week and was told there was no need, as the twist had gone and that further treatment would be un-necessary.
I would whole-heartedly recommend Ross Knevett and have done to at least 3 friends and family members and will gladly continue to do so. If you have pain or muscle injury of any kind I would urge you to see Ross and get expert treatment that really works. Darren Bewley