Anatomy of the Knee
Muscles, Tendons & Bones
Back View of Knee
Knee Tendonitis is Caused By an Injured and Swollen Knee Tendon.
Exercise only after you are well into the healing process.
If you exercise and it makes the pain worse, stop immediately to avoid making your Knee Tendonitis worse.
Knee Tendonitis is an overuse injury most often impacting athletes. When it's severe enough, every little movement of the leg hurts. It can make you take time off from regular activities and get in the way of living your life. To heal this condition, you have to know the right steps, and where exercise fits in. Exercising at the wrong time can make the problem worse. But, you can heal Knee Tendonitis quickly if you take the right steps.
Knee Tendonitis is one of those subjects where the internet is full of bad advice that will make it take longer to heal. Exercise is a common suggestion for healing any knee injury. But they don't tell you that exercise is just one tool in the healing process or where it should fit into the whole picture. First, you need to deal with the inflammation in the tendon. Exercising too soon can make the inflammation worse. Then, you need to protect the tendon from reinjury. Even once you have the pain and inflammation in hand, you should still be careful. If you exercise and it causes pain you should stop and keep resting the injured tendon.
Knee Tendonitis is an overuse injury to a tendon in the knee.
The knee tendons act like a cable that your thigh muscles pull on to extend the lower part of the leg and straighten the knee.
The knee tendons are very robust and strong.
It takes a lot to injure them.
However, sports with lots of jumping can cause tiny injuries to the knee tendons that build up and cause swelling and irritation.
Repeated actions like jumping from high surfaces onto hard ground can cause injury to the knee tendons.
Box jump exercises that are so popular these days are an example of frequent jumping up and then down.
Some people do weighted running, and this is another way to put direct stress into the tendons of the knee.
That stress can cause tiny tears and bruising in the tendon that build up over time.
The accumulation of the tiny injuries to the tendon can cause significant swelling and irritation.
You will see sites online suggesting exercise to fix your Knee Tendonitis. Your doctor might suggest it or send you to physiotherapy to get specific exercise treatments. But is it really the best way to heal your Knee Tendonitis? Proponents of exercise for Knee Tendonitis suggest you need to strengthen the muscles around the knee to stabilize it. And they usually say blood flow from exercise will help with healing the tendonitis.
Blood flow does speed up healing of injured tendons.
Tendons do not have blood vessels like other tissues in the body.
So, they rely on movement to increase blood flow in the surrounding tissues so they can get the nutrients needed for repair.
While you are healing though it's best to just rest the area.
The normal blood flow from basic movement will be enough during this time.
No need to add additional exercise that will cause more irritation and swelling.
Focus on rest and cold therapy to reduce the inflammation for when actively dealing with pain. Then, once you are well into the healing process you can use exercise for increased blood flow. If you want to stimulate blood flow earlier on in the process you can use BFST or Ultrasound therapy. This allows you to stimulate blood flow without movement so you can do it much earlier in the healing process.
Most people heal without this extra step though.
It just much takes longer.
Athletes and people who want to heal as fast as possible will use BFST or Ultrasound.
Usually, they use BFST since it can be done at home.
All those sites promoting exercises for Knee Tendonitis never mention one key point.
If you exercise too soon you are just making the problem worse.
Take a break from sports or anything strenuous for a few weeks.
Normal movement throughout your day will be enough movement during this time.
When you have to move around for work keep the area taped up all day so it is protected from further injury.
The tape will limit the amount of movement of the skin over the top of the injured tissue.
This limits the movement of the injured tissue below the skin as well.
Think of tape like armor for your injured tendon.
The reason you see professional athletes taped up is because it works.
Cold compression and tape are two very effective ways to reduce the inflammation and irritation in the tendon.
You need to wear the tape all day so use medical tape not athletic tape.
Athletic tape is not designed to be used all day and the glues often have toxic chemicals in them.
But don't you need to fix muscle imbalances for your knee to heal?
Many theories exist about how Knee Tendonitis starts.
A common theory is that it happens due to muscle imbalances in the leg muscles.
They say that some muscles in the leg are stronger than others and they pull harder to compensate for the weaker ones.
Or they say the muscles around the knee are weak and not stabilizing the knee.
Some studies seem to indicate there can be truth in some of these theories.
But it's more likely that you just did too much at once for your tendons to deal with.
Let's say you like basketball but you do not get to play all that often.
Then, one weekend you get together with friends and play all day.
The next day you notice swelling and pain around your knee.
Your Knee Tendon just was not ready for this much of a sudden increase in jumping.
You just need to take some time off to heal.
You did not suddenly get a muscle imbalance that needs to be fixed.
The tendons in your knees simply are not conditioned enough to handle the sudden increase in stress.
Even if the theory is correct that the problem is caused by weak muscles around the knee, you still need to rest to heal.
It does not change the healing steps that you need to take.
You still need to rest the knee and reduce the inflammation and protect the area from more injury.
Only after you have healed would it make sense to start looking at ways to strengthen the area.
Bottom line, to heal this condition you want to reduce the swelling, protect the area from further injury, and perhaps get nutrients to the tendon with blood flow stimulation therapy.
The compression band has to be the worst advice for this condition. Not only are some stores online promoting these bands, which will squeeze the already inflamed tendon, but some are suggesting you exercise with them on. This is a very bad idea. It will add to the irritation of the injured Knee Tendon. Do not do this.
Instead use tape to protect the injured tendon in your knee.
Tape will do what bands could never do.
It will help prevent further injury.
And it does not constrict the area or put too much pressure on the knee.
Tape right where it hurts.
Make an "X" or a "+" right over the point of the most pain on the tendon.
Use one strip of tape running up and down on the tendon right over the painful spot.
Then use another strip running across the painful point in the opposite direction.
Stay taped up the whole time you have to move around.
Many tapes are not designed to use all day. They often have toxic chemicals in the glue that would be on your skin all day.
Use a high quality medical tape like KB Support Tape.
Then use cold therapy after activity.
But not before activity.
If you are speeding up your healing up with BFST, you use it right before any physical activity.
This is a common idea with lots of injuries. Something is tight or sore then stretch it. The idea is often that it will loosen the muscles attached to the injured tendon and that will help somehow. This does not make sense though. Yes, stretching may make your thigh muscles less tight. But this does not heal the inflammation or soothe the irritation in the tendons of the knee.
Stretching isn't bad.
In many cases it increases your muscles' range of motion and that's not a bad thing.
It just won't help your Knee Tendonitis.
Knee Tendonitis isn't a range of motion kind of problem.
Really, the area just needs enough time to heal and for the inflammation to subside.
If you enjoy stretching, go ahead as long as it does not hurt your knee tendon. If it does then take a break.
For a little while - not forever - it is really helpful to give your Knee Tendonitis a rest. In many cases, resting your knee for a few weeks will give it time to heal to a point that your body gets ahead of the healing / reinjury cycle. It's important to realize that once the pain and any swelling go away, your underlying injury will not be healed completely, so take it easy. Go back to regular life gradually, once the pain and swelling are gone.
