Patellar Tendinopathy / Tendinitis / Tendinosis | Jumper’s Knee Rehab (Education, Myths, Exercises)

Summary by Krater

This video covers the diagnosis, rehab goals, pain monitoring, load management, and multi-stage exercises for patellar tendinopathy, concluding that heavy slow resistance and plyometrics are more effective than rest, inflammation treatments, or surgery.

From the video

Answers: How do you rehab patellar tendinopathy?

• Patellar tendinopathy anatomy and mechanism
• Diagnosis of patellar tendinopathy
• Goals of tendinopathy rehabilitation
• Monitoring pain during rehab exercises
• Load management and activity modifications
• Stage 0 isometric exercises
• Stage 1 heavy slow resistance exercises
• Stage 2 energy storage and release exercises
• Stage 3 return to sport
• Ineffectiveness of surgery and injections

Exercises

• Double Leg Wall Sit · wall · 3-5 sets of 45s, 1-3x/day
• Single Leg Wall Sit · wall
• Heel Elevated Wall Sit · wall and plate
• Weighted Wall Sit · wall and weight
• Spanish Squat · resistance band and rack
• Single Leg Seated Knee Extension · machine
• Squat · plate and dumbbell · 3-4 sets of 6-15 reps, 2-3 days a week
• Split Squat · dumbbells
• Step Down · box
• Countermovement Jump to a Box · box · 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps, 2-3 days a week
• Countermovement Jump · bodyweight
• Bilateral Depth Drop · box
• Bilateral Depth Jump · box
• Single Leg Depth Drop · box
• Single Leg Depth Jump · box
• Forward Lunge · bodyweight
• Forward Lunge with Step Back · bodyweight
• Step and Land · box
• Step and Land with a Step Back · box
• Running with a Step Back · bodyweight

What it concludes

• Inflammation is not the primary driver of patellar tendinopathy, and complete rest is not recommended.
• Imaging abnormalities are very common in asymptomatic populations and alone are unable to diagnose or guide treatment.
• Pain that is rated <= 3-5/10 during exercise and does not worsen the next day is generally considered acceptable and safe during rehab.
• Structural changes in tendons do not correlate with symptom improvement from exercise programs.
• Surgical treatments, corticosteroid injections, PRP injections, and shockwave therapy show no significant long-term advantages over progressive loading and exercise.
• Heavy slow resistance training and moderate resistance training are equally effective for treating patellar tendinopathy.