1. High-Impact Sports Aggravate Jumper's Knee
As its name implies, jumper's knee affects athletes in sports that involve a lot of jumping, like track and field, basketball and volleyball. However, patellar tendonitis, as the condition is more formally referred to, affects athletes in other sports as well. Any high-impact activity that requires running or sharp changes of direction exposes your patellar tendon to strain and overuse, two common causes of jumper's knee. These activities include team sports such as soccer and football as well as individual sports like running and tennis.
2. The Jumper's Knee Merry-Go-Round
The hallmark symptom of jumper's knee is niggling pain just below the knee cap. This fleshy space between the bottom of your knee cap and the top of your tibia is the home of your patellar tendon, a strong band of tissue that connects these two bones. Jumper's knee can be caused by an acute strain or by continual overuse, but the resulting pain is essentially the same--persistent inflammation and bothersome aches pop up before, during and after exercise.
3. Ignoring Jumper's Knee Is Dangerous
Because the pain caused by jumper's knee is manageable with over-the-counter pain medication and ice, you might be tempted to ignore the symptoms during your workouts. However, the injury can become worse with time if you don't allow it to heal, leading to longer recovery times and possibly even surgery. The amount of time you'll need to take off from training depends on the severity of your tendonitis, but in general you should lower your activity level whenever you notice an increase in the intensity or frequency of your symptoms.
4. Conservative Treatment Gets the Job Done
Most of the time, conservative treatment manages the symptoms of jumper's knee well enough to keep you out of the operating room and competing in your sport. Unlike surgery, these treatment options are noninvasive and usually pretty cheap. Common ways of treating the pain are rest, stretching, icing and the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Tylenol and Ibuprofen.
5. Strong Knees Are Key
The patellar tendon acts like a link between the upper and lower parts of your leg. When the quadriceps muscle contracts during running or jumping, the force flows through your patellar tendon and into your lower leg, propelling you off the ground. When the muscles surrounding your knee are weak, however, the patellar tendon has to work extra hard to deal with the forces produced by your movement. If the force is too great for the tendon to handle, it can tear and become inflamed, leading to jumper's knee. Because of this, strength training is a vital part of preventing jumper's knee. Squats, leg presses, leg extensions and hamstring curls are great for improving your leg strength and stabilizing the tendon, protecting it from injury.
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