Overuse problems of the knee :
Patellar Tendonitis Recovery - - Posted by PDiddyPSU (PDiddyPSU), 16 October 2003
Recently I was diagnosed with patellar tendonitis. The doctor said to rest, do ice massaging, and eccentric strengthening excercises. I have stopped playing football for the past three weeks and have been strengthening too. Pain has pretty much gone away as long as I do not run or jump and mostly occurs when I sit for too long. Wondering if anyone has any estimates on recovery times. The doctor said it would take about 3-7 months to fully recover. Also any other ideas for recovery treatments would be appreciated, such as other excercises or ideas.
Thanks,
Parke
Posted by Roo_UK (Roo_UK), 24 October 2003
My OS and physio have always reccomended strengthening the VMO through squats with and without weights plus leg presses. I had surgery which was not successful but I went back to trying to exercise too soon so you have to trust them and try not to do any impact work. Swimming and the exercise bike should be OK
Posted by jumpnorway (jumpnorway), 16 February 2004
I have just have a Jumpers Knee Surgery as the only way out , after almost 1 year with eccentric training exercises to get better in my right knee.
My knee improved with the eccentric training, but I got worse immediately when returing to sports.
Do any og you have any good links or tips for how to start training the knee after this surgery.
Any exercises that will work will be appreciated...
How often and how long each time should I do exercises ?
Posted by Sam76 (Sam76), 16 July 2004
I have had similar problems caused by football and circuit training - My Physio is certain that I have Patellar tendonitis and has recommended stretches and ice. He said it wasn't too severe and didn't recommend rest which I thought was strange.
Posted by skv0000 (skv0000), 16 July 2004
I am recovering from knee surgery resulting from chronic tendonitus and my doctor said squats and leg extensions are the worse exercises for the knee. When you deeply bend your knee, there is tremendous pressure under the kneecap and this stretches out the tendons and can actually make the problem worse.
Posted by jadunlapjr (jadunlapjr), 8 August 2004
I recovered from patellar tendonosis I developed over several months of jogging with bad shoes on concrete, undulating paths in Scottsdale, AZ. I tried to run through the pain--big mistake. I tried lots of things over nine months -- physical therapy, orthodics, stretching which all helped a little bit but the only thing that finally yielded the best results was this: rest.
My answer was plain and simple rest over the last three months with a very minimal regimen of leg exercises have a made substantial progress. No leg extensions, no stationary bike, nothing. I've got another month to go and I've just started back with limited stationary bike after my tendon felt good for a couple of weeks and, I hope, I can start jogging again in about a month.
Othodics are good but no better than good store bought arch supports. If you have flat feet and weak ankles they're a good idea.
Stretching quads and hamstring is very important, mine were very tight, but again to recover you've just got to rest the patellar tendon completely in my opinion.
Posted by frogger (frogger), 24 September 2004
I developed patellar tenditis while running cross-country in college. At first, I didn't let it heal enough before trying to get back to running and I also had bad medical advice. Ultrasound didn't seem to work but iontoforisis (sp?), patellar taping and the proper exercises to strengthen the knees and stretching. I also got orthotics. The whole ordeal lasted about 14 months but that's because I had bad treatment at the beginning. Once I got the proper treatment and good orthotics, it took about 4 months to get back running a little and walking/bending with no pain.
Posted by Mandy (Mandy), 20 October 2004
Hi everybody~
after reading these posts, i have a question. i have forgotten to mention in my other posts that i also have patellar tendonitis. what i was wondering is that for the VMO stregthening, what i should do. i have HORRIBLE malalignment and PFS. im avoiding surgery so i can last one more ice hockey season. well because of the PFS and malalignment, i am literally not able to do squats or even wall sits. my knees just cannot take the pressure or anything like that. i was wondering is there anyone around here who may have an idea of what other things i can do to strenthen the VMOs? any ideas would be great!
you can just post here or feel free to IM me here.
thanks! take care,
~Mandy
Posted by ian99 (ian99), 7 November 2004
I have been at it 7 months with no progress and now the OTHER knee is now worse (because I favor it) I have tried everthing (see other post). The only conclusions I have come to are:
- I would say that the worst results I have had came from resting completely (only walking to get around and swimming with legs holding float -not even pushing off the wall..) - after 10 days of that my other knee got it and I had no improvement in formerly "bad" knee...
-the cho-pat strap reduces pain but I am not sure it promotes healing
I hope u have more success than me
Posted by SquatOuch (SquatOuch), 29 November 2004
Has anyone tried prolotherapy for their tendonitis? 
Posted by kims22 (kims22), 30 December 2004
Hi, Has anyone had patellar tendon debridement surgery?
I am going in for surgery in a few weeks and would like to know if anyone has had it and is it worth it. I have had the tendonitus since 10/03, stopped playing sports since 6/04 and since then have gone through 15 weeks total of PT and it had not helped. Not sure if this is my only way out, but would like to hear from anyone that has gone through it.
Thanks, kim22
Posted by hmaxwell (Heather M.), 31 December 2004
I've had my patellar tendon debrided several times. I'm past tendinitis, way into tendinosis (death of the tissue), and I found the surgery to be very painful. Also, a couple of the debridements left me prone to lots of swelling, which isn't necessarily something I always do. I think the key for me was not being weight-bearing at all for the first 7-10 days. Every time I tried to put weight on the leg, I got very sharp, stabbing pain in the patellar tendon area. It was really frustrating. It started going away around week 8-10 post op; I was taking pain meds pretty regularly during that time.
Keep in mind though that I had a ton of scar tissue all around my patellar tendon, and the doctor had to debride it pretty thoroughly to try to free the tendon up. My tendon has already shrunk and contracted as a result of the trauma it's been put through in the last three years (with excessive amounts of scar tissue and repeated surgeries), so it was already on fire by the time I had it debrided. Hopefully your case will be much easier, since your mechanism of injury to the tendon was very different from mine.
I think PT was crucial for me to get better quickly; I did it two times per day in a PT clinic (with a therapist, one on one) and then 3-4 more mini-sessions at home. All of my PT stuff was non-weight-bearing, and the most important stuff for my doctor was getting ROM back as quickly as possible and keeping the swelling and pain in the tendon to the barest minimum. Swelling in my body is the mother of scar tissue, so we worked hard to keep the knee from getting hot or inflamed. I was on crutches for about 7 weeks, though I got rid of them for short distances at around 5 weeks post-op.
Another crucial thing as far as the tendon goes is patellar mobilizations, because you don't want the kneecap and tendon to heal all tight and scarred. You should talk to your doctor and see what he/she wants you to do, then set up a GOOD PT before you actually have the surgery.
Hope some of this information helps. If you want to look up my post op post, it is in the soft tissue healing problems section, about half-way back. It was called "Lysis of Adhesions - Scar Tissue Surgery" and I started it in Dec of 2002 
Let me know if you have trouble finding it--you can use the search feature and limit your search to posts started by me (Heather M. is what you would put in the 'by' column) with the word 'lysis' in the subject line. That should pull up the main thread of mine, which has at least 3-4 sub-pages.
Heather
Posted by kims22 (kims22), 3 January 2005
Hi Heather,
Sounds like you've been through a lot with multiple surgeries. Are you okay now or are you still having problems? Do you play sports and if so, are you back to them and how long did it take you to get back?
Hope you're doing well now.
I never had knee surgery before and don't know what to expect, but I am hoping to go back to sports by June or July. I play softball, volleyball, tennis and I ski. Do you think this is possible or does it matter on how much of the tendon the OS takes out?
I have a few questions; did you have to wear a brace for a long time? if so, what kind of brace was it? Were you allowed to drive after surgery? I have young kids and not sure how much you can do and for how long.
-ks22
Updated Sat Sep 6 2008