Top 10 Exercises for Patellar Tendonitis Rehab (Jumper's Knee Cure)

[@jonathancartridgegreen5053]

Listening to Martins advice cured my patella tendinitis in both legs that I developed from doing countless burpees without warming up. I had also developed chronic tendinitis in my left bicep which I had for about 4yrs. I applied the same principles as I had with my knees. It took about 8months to heal but now completely pain free. Thanks Martin!

[@MartinKoban]

I love it Jonathan! That's the power of understanding the problem.

[@MajestyofReason]

Your videos have been very helpful in my recovery from patellar tendinopathy! To get rid of almost all of my pain, it took about 6 months of (almost) daily heavy quad isometrics (5 sets of 45 sec holds on either leg extension or leg press). I also did heavy slow resistance twice a week. It was almost magical how my pain gradually faded over the course of 6 months. Cheers!

[@nathantoney.1501]

Thanks Martin. Just a review. Ruptured left patellar tendon 2019. Repaired 2020. 2 ski seasons off for rehab. Had the best flare up to tendon strengthening response to leg extension. Back to skiing 2023-24. Flared PT again. Rehabbed with scaled leg extension and open chain leg press. Back to skiing this Novemeber...flared again:( (specific fibers flared are the deepest portion of the PT). 8 days on my season pass and my season is over:(. Here is my thought: The rehab using open kinetic chain leg extension and open chain leg press stress the shallow PT insertion. The deepest PT fibers are only stimulated by closed kinetic chain. So this time I am doing wall sits with heels raised. My hope/plan is to progress to the sissy squat machine, but in the past that would flare me up. My belief is that if you accidentaly get back seat when skiing, the deep PT fibers are stressed. Ipso facto I must rehab in a way that most replicates skiing backseat. The sissy squat machine most replicates this because the calf support replicates the back of a boot and tail of a ski, and the toe pad replcates the toe piece of a binding. Again thank you.

[@أبوصالح-ت7غ2ق]

Wow! Thank you for this informative video.For me the best exercise i have ever seen is the iso lunge because it doesn't need any equipment and it fires the quads and glutes, and it makes many of muscles work.

[@MartinKoban]

A great one for sure.

[@xAptenodytE]

Great exercises, and entertaining ranking. Thank you for the video. Just for clarification: as someone else also mentioned, the preferred term for this excruciating injury we are unfortunately suffering from is Patellar Tendinopathy. It is very important to mention this, since a tendinopathy is not an inflammation as the term tendonitis suggests. For an inflammation the treatment would be quite different! Also the reason why all the anti-inflammatory stuff does absolutely nothing for the patellar tendinopathy.

[@gabscar1]

Great video! Wall sits are my go to due to the simplicity, plus you can do single-leg ones to progress. The downside is that they are very boring! I also do a flow yoga routine comprising goddess pose, tree pose and warrier 3 pose.

[@MartinKoban]

Yes, isometrics are quite boring ... my favorite at the moment are sliding lunges.

[@mangomariel]

Been dealing with this for 7 months now, watched lots of videos. My fav excersices are single leg dominant excersices. I like Cossack squat and bulgarian squat. And leg extension iso at the gym, or slant board iso at home. I think leg press is good to, but since I do sport, I rather do a single leg squat variation, to get more out of the time spent since that works balance and all that jazz aswell.

[@flycessna6068]

I've been dealing with bilateral tendinitis since early jan.. its been hard finding that sweet spot where I am doing right amount of training.. I think for like the first 3 months I was doing too much.. its been a slow go!

[@MartinKoban]

Yes it's easy to do too much. Interestingly, one study compared high load to medium load for patellar tendon rehab and found that medium load also works. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33616456/ In other words, you don't need to go heavy.

[@satishgarg3577]

Hi Martin, am suffering from chondromalacia patella pain in both knees . Descending stairs is more painful Seek your help to overcome issues.

[@MartinKoban]

Hi Satish, For chondro you have to look into supporting cartilage recovery, potentially contributing patellar maltracking, and stay within the range of motion that doesn't cause problems. Depending on where the cartilage is weakened, different knee angles may cause problems.

[@satishgarg3577]

Thank you so much Martin Do you have a programme related to chondromalacia patella as well ? Pls share details if you have specific programme

[@MattheosDrivas]

Hey Martin! If you get the chance to read this, and have opportunities for viewers to do consultations, please let me know! id be indebted. Thanks, Matt I injured myself two months ago from today, doing a single leg step down with an elevated heel on a slant board. I’d been working this movement for a while, think i just did a few too many reps on a higher slant that day. Throughout the next few weeks, i did some sport activities, not to intense, but my pain still got worse. fast forward 2 months later and trying to fully bend my knee hurts, after walking .3 miles starts to hurt. Ive been reading your book and i’m guessing i’m in the disrepair/degenerative area. I’ve been doing spanish squat holds & light bulgarian split squats the last two weeks, but no noticeable improvement. I went a bit hard on the split squats yesterday the knee feels worse. Anyways, i’m stuck between do i rest and do nothing vs stick with the isos but 1 set instead of 4 to start out. Also, i’m still a bit curious if this is patellar tendon due to how i got my injury or if it could be meniscus/ something different. Getting checked out by an orthopedist in 2 weeks

[@andrejzhirnyj9263]

Hi Martin and thanks for your relentless motivation. I was wondering about the destiny of the classic exercise from your book "Beating Patellar Tendonitis," i.e. the eccentric squats on a slanted plane. How does it rank in the top 10?

[@MartinKoban]

It's basically a slow squat with extra steps. The purpose of the slanted board was to allow more forward movement of the knees, which was supposed to increase load on the patellar tendon. However, it also increases compression a bit (= risk of irritation), requires extra equipment, and does not scale as well as the regular slow squat (using weights or doing single-leg training on the board is awkward). So you're getting everything with a regular slow squat and more. The board is still great for stretching the calves though.

[@andrejzhirnyj9263]

@@MartinKoban Got it, thank you! I have a couple more questions if you don't mind: 1. Eccentric vs. isotonic exercises: In the book, you recommend spending most of the rehab time on eccentric exercises, with isotonic exercises only introduced after building a strong eccentric foundation. However, in the video, you suggest starting with isotonic exercises right away. Which training regime is better? 2. How would rehab for quadriceps tendonitis differ from rehab for patellar tendonitis? Thanks a lot!

[@MartinKoban]

@@andrejzhirnyj9263 Isometric is still safer in the beginning, but if the tendon can tolerate it from start, go isotonic right away. For QT, range of motion is more important as the quad tendon has several layers and is loaded differently at different knee angles. So scale ROM slowly.

[@andrejzhirnyj9263]

@@MartinKoban Many thanks, Martin! 👍

[@JordyJayHomer]

My big rubber bands for Spanish squats are connected to my big wardrobe door frame. 😄 I had nothing else inside

[@kesangdolkar9195]

Are you supposed to not squat below 90 degrees? I was told not to

[@gabscar1]

It is not recommended to massage along the tendon. I go accross it with a massage gun for about 5 mins, after massaging my primary leg muscles. This followed by a good leg stretch at the end of each day has been a game changer for me.

[@MartinKoban]

Yes, don't massage the tendon, only the muscle. The benefits of tendon massage are questionable. I've heard plenty of times that people made their tendon worse with tendon massage.

[@gabscar1]

@@MartinKoban The benefits seem pretty clear. Massaging the tendon is recommended by physio therapists and sports masseuse. However, I agree that you could make it worse if not massaging against the grain (across) and/or near the bone.

[@migueloliveira2848]

Hi Martin, I have already 20 physiotherapy sessions with nó major evolution, but then I started doing backward walking and I already felt better. Do you recommend it? Thanks

[@MartinKoban]

Yes it's a useful tool.