By Ross Ashcraft
Pain is not an inconvenience. It is a signal that something is wrong. If you develop lingering or returning knee pain then you have a window of opportunity to fix what is starting to go wrong. If you have chronic knee pain then it is more important than ever that you start treatment. This week’s post discusses Jumper’s Knee or patellar tendinopathy.
Symptoms:
1. Pain below the knee cap
2. Stiff or aching after exertion
3. Pain when you move your Quads (front thigh muscles)
4. Affected knee has a larger tendon that the other knee. This tendon is right below knee cap.
5. Calf or groin muscle weakness
Jumper’s knee can be categorized into four grades of injury:
Grade 1: Pain only after training
Grade 2: Pain before and after training but pain eases once warmed-up
Grade 3: Pain during training which limits your performance
Grade 4: Pain during every day activities
Obviously the higher the grade the worse your knee is becoming.
Reference: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/indexjumpersknee.html
Treatment:
1. Rest: The higher the grade the more rest you need. Example: Grade 1: Just modify the way you train. Grade 4: Requires several days of rest plus modifying the way you train
2. Cold Therapy: Apply immediately after activity and 1 hour before bed
3. Steroidal Anti-inflammatory i.e. Ibuprofen/Advil: Take as needed but recognize that taking medication robs you of your body’s pain signals which can prevent more injury. Consult with your physician before taking any medication, however, if you are asthmatic, you should not use a steroidal anti-inflammatory.
4. Wear brace: Helps retain heat in the area and provides muscular support.
5. Stretches:
I. In the beginning use gentle stretches held for 5 to 10 seconds
II. Do these stretch 5X a day
III. Hold these stretches longer as you continue treatment
IV. Stretch for several days after symptoms subside to prevent further injury.
6. Massage Therapy: Perform cross-fiber friction to the tendon for up to one minute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh043fBaAFM&feature=relmfu
View this video to see how a Massage Therapist can deduce your Jumpers’ Knee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QMysNJwPxQ&feature=player_embedded
View this attached video for some techniques you can use.
Perform the assessment and technique on a willing victim and let me know what you think!
I performed this on my bad knee & I found it to actually eased my pain. now, I can not wait to do this on others so I’m able to help them.
It seems very informative. The stretching and cold therapy really does help the knee. I really do like this blog. 😀
Thanks Ross for all your great tips and treatments…..wonderful and can’t wait to try it out.
Very nice. I use alot of stretches in my line of work. Good shoes are a must as well.
Always enjoy your tips! I will definitely use this for myself and clients homework. Thanks Ross!
This is good information to keep on file for client use.
I would use this in helping anyone that has knee problems including myself.
Ross helped me with my knee pain and it feels a lot better!!! Thank you, Ross!
You are very welcome!
Your article was very informative. I have osteoarthritis in my knees, by stretching and being mindful of body mechanics, I have reduced my pain greatly. I look forward to using your techniques with my future clients.
my son “volunteered” to be my victim. He works on a horse and cattle ranch and has been favoring a knee but refused to sit and let me work on it until this blog. I performed as instructed and just as you talked about, the issue was elsewhere. We worked on it and admittedly made a difference! I’ll rope him in to another treatment in a couple of days. (pardon my pun)
I tried these techniques on myself, including the probing technique in the video, and I can see the benefit already.
I have never really had knee problem but I tried these exercises and found they helped loosen up my knees. When I tried the cold it did make my knees a little achy but I was able to do the exercises a little better. go figure.
I did this technique on my husband who has knee problems due to sports injuries. He said that it definitely made it easier and less painful to bend and move the joint. I am going to try this again on him in a few days and we will see what the difference is after doing stretches for the next few days.
I worked on my mom, she has had knee problems in the past and it helped pin point that this wasnt part of the problem. It was good to know this to help her decide what exercises to do more of!
I did this for my husband’s knee, he injured it a few years ago while waxing a floor, he had slipped and landed right on the patella. He has to wear a knee brace and in the morning kind of starts his day with a limp. The stretching was the worst part for him, but this morning he said he felt amazing! I had a car accident 5 years ago and the steering wheel pinned my leg to the seat, but the pain has always been in my knee. I had my husband do the techniques on me and I was sore for a little while, but felt 10 times better in the morning.
I did this technique on my husband who has had knee problems since he fell on his patella while waxing a floor. The dtretching hurt him because he never exersizes his knee, so I did it right before bed and he wasn’t so sore in the morning, which was awesome! So I have began doing it on him and me every night before bed, it benefits us both and keeps him in the routine of doing it, we have quite a nightly regimen now.
After standing for 6 hours at work, my knees and quads will sometimes hurt. I used to stretch, but I got out of the habit. I tried cross fiber friction after I got off work and my knee felt better! It felt like I got the blood flowing to my knee.
I have never had knee problems but after doing these exercises I found my knees do get tired and these help. With the ice I found it easier to do the exercises. This will keep my knees flexible.
My husband has bad knees due to sports injuries and I used him as my client. I had him do these exercises. He complained at first and said that it was painful but overall he said he could feel a definite difference. We are going to do them again in few days and we will see how much of an overall difference it has made.
I believe that stretching is important both before and after any type of excerise. Not only will it prevent injury but stretching reduces pain as well. Also, I have found in my own personal experience that stretching increases my ability to stay relaxed during excerise.
I don’t really know anyone with knee pain but I think it would be hard to get the client to do all that homework.. I guess if they were in enough pain they might try anything at that point so they would listen. I like the techniques and I know it would help them but it would just be hard to get them to understand that.
I did the stretches and cold treatment on my knees after playing basketball and it hurt while stretching but I feel better and I no if I keep it up the better my knees will be. Thanks for the tips.
Did this using ice as well on my willing victim, it was painful at first, but he said it felt so much better the next morning! As you know, I have HORRIBLE knees. Will continue to do these exercises and hopefully eliminate my own pain! Thanks, Ross–the videos help so much.