Knee condition
Patellar tendinitis — jumper’s knee — is pain you can cover with one fingertip, right below the kneecap, arriving with jumping, landing and hard stops. The name is the first thing to correct: what specialists usually find is not simple inflammation but a tendon overloaded faster than it could adapt. That changes everything about the treatment — because a tendon that has run out of capacity doesn’t recover by resting. It recovers by being loaded properly.
Tap any that apply to you — this is guidance, not a diagnosis, but it tells you how quickly to act.
One or more warning signs deserve prompt attention. A snap with sudden loss of knee function can mean the tendon has torn — that needs assessment today, not next week. The other signs point away from straightforward tendon overload and deserve examining properly.
Good news — nothing urgent on that list. Activity-related pain at the tendon without those features is classic jumper’s knee: stubborn, slow, and genuinely fixable with the right loading programme. An assessment confirms it and sets the programme properly.
The patellar tendon transmits everything your thigh muscle produces — and during landings it handles forces several times body weight, absorbed in a fraction of a second. It is built for that. What it isn’t built for is a sudden change in how much of it you ask for:
The nearby lookalikes: a vaguer ache around the kneecap that hates stairs and sitting is a joint-loading problem, while pain at the joint line with catching suggests the meniscus. More: runner’s knee → More: meniscus tears →
Don’t rest it completely. A tendon left alone gets weaker, not better, and returns to sport less able to cope than when you stopped. What works is dialling the aggravating load down while dialling controlled strength work up: cut the jumping, hard landings and deep squatting for now, keep training in ways the tendon tolerates, and begin slow, heavy, controlled strength work for the thigh — the treatment with the best evidence in tendon problems. Judge progress by the next morning rather than the session: mild discomfort during exercise that settles within 24 hours is acceptable and expected; pain that climbs day after day means the dose was too high. A tendon strap can take the edge off, ice helps comfort after activity, and simple pain relief from your pharmacist has a small supporting role — none of them replace the loading programme. And plan for months, not weeks: this is a marathon condition with a very good ending for those who finish the work.
Tendon problems run on a continuum — where you sit on it decides the plan. Tap the one that fits:
The earliest stage — and the easiest to fix. Warming up out of pain is not permission to continue as before; it’s the window in which load management and strength work resolve things quickly. Trim the jumping volume now, start the strength programme, and this rarely becomes a season-ruiner.
The tendon is no longer coping — time for a proper programme. Pain that persists through and after activity means training as usual is making withdrawals the tendon can’t fund. An assessment confirms the diagnosis and builds a progressive loading plan — the intervention that actually changes tendon capacity.
Everyday pain means the tendon needs proper help, promptly. When stairs and walking hurt, the tendon has lost significant capacity — and guessing at exercises now tends to waste months. Come in: we’ll grade it properly, rule out the alternatives, and start a programme built for the stage you’re actually at.
Treatment is a ladder — and in tendon problems, the second rung does most of the work:
Tap each card to reveal the truth:
Patellar tendinitis — also spelled tendonitis, and widely known as jumper’s knee — is pain in the thick tendon running from the bottom of your kneecap to your shin bone. Despite the name, what specialists find is usually not simple inflammation but a tendon whose structure has been overloaded faster than it could adapt. That distinction matters enormously: it is why rest alone disappoints, and why carefully progressed loading is the treatment that works.
The best patellar tendinitis treatment is a structured, progressive strengthening programme — slow, heavy, controlled loading of the tendon under guidance — combined with managing how much jumping and deceleration you do while it rebuilds. Tendons adapt to load, not to rest. Adjuncts such as a tendon strap can ease symptoms along the way, and surgery is reserved for the small minority who remain stuck after many months of proper rehabilitation.
That is the classic patellar tendinitis pattern, and it is the trap. Tendons often feel better once warm, so pain fades a few minutes into training — giving permission to keep going — then returns hours later or the next morning, worse than before. Judge the tendon by how it feels the following day, not by how it feels mid-game.
No — different problems in neighbouring places. Jumper’s knee is a tendon problem: pain you can point to with one finger just below the kneecap, provoked by jumping, landing and hard deceleration. Runner’s knee is a joint-loading problem: a vaguer ache around or behind the kneecap, worst going down stairs and after long sitting. The examination separates them quickly, and their treatment programmes differ.
Longer than most athletes want to hear: tendons respond over months rather than weeks, with meaningful progress usually appearing within about six to twelve weeks of consistent loading and full recovery often taking longer. Stopping the programme once the pain eases is the most common reason it returns. The tendon needs to become stronger than the sport demands — not merely comfortable again.
Same-day appointments are usually available. Call or book online — our team will take it from there.
