What You 'Knee'd To Know

By Beau:

For the past 3 years I have been suffering from knee pain (patella tendinitis), and like most of you, you have also suffered from some sort of knee pain either mild or serious. Most knee pain you experience is either known as jumpers knee or runners knee. These originate from the quad muscles above the knee in your leg being under high stress and and creating tension over the patella sheath which pull the patella up and causes inflammation in to the tendons that attach to the bone below the knee cap.

Most Tendonitis symptoms are a result of overloading one side of the body or from not doing enough stretching after activity. Trust me, I learnt this the hard way! I've played competitive basketball for most of my life, and have always been known as the athletic kid who could side step a car, jump over a car and run like a bullet! Taking time off sports in my early 20s resulted in my athletic ability to drop, I was slow as hell and I couldn't even touch the hoop! So much disappoint . As a result of not having the strong fit body I had as a teenager, my body over compensated and my knees paid for it.

Aching!!!! Aching under my knees! What the hell is this?!?! I saw a Physio and had a few treatments done, that helped ease the day to day pain, previously I couldn't even stand up or kneel back down, the worst part was I couldn't walk down a slope with out being in pain. To confirm what I had I was recommended to a sports specialist (Dr Mark Young at Qsports) had an MRI and ultrasounds done to confirm I had patella tendinitis in both knees mainly my right.

I was put on nitro patches which are used for heart pain to help increase the healing process along with some exercises, they got better but they still weren't 100%. Doing my job where I'm constantly trying to move and help clients wasn't ideal, I couldn't rest enough. I had to have a second procedure called PRP (Plasma Rich Platelet) injections, taking 8 weeks off physical activity and getting sports massage (Brett at Elite Sports Massage) targeted at my quads got me back to 99%. I'm still not 100 % confident, but with my job I'm happy with my progress. I wasn't able to do any leg exercise and as of Wednesday I can squat 140kgs again and I can dodge those cars too.

Ways to prevent getting jumpers knee or runners knee:

*Stretch the quad, hip flexor and lower back

*Use a foam roller

*Trigger Balls

* Regular sports massage for maintenance.

If you have pain around the knee joint this how you can prevent it:

*Physiotherapy

*Chiropractor

*Swap running for bike or swimming

*Discontinue leg exercises

*Stretching

Always stretch! People disregard how important this is in the improvement of their health and strength.