Patellar Tendonitis is a painful condition affecting the patellar tendon in the kneecap area. This condition is most common in an aging athlete who is involved in "jumping" sports such as basketball, volleyball and jogging. A person experiencing patellar tendonitis will have particular difficulty when running down hills.

Other conditions may be associated with patellar tendonitis, including diabetes, gout, and/or para-hypothyroidism. Other conditions which can be a cause of anterior knee pain are commonly confused with patellar tendonitis. These conditions include quadriceps tendonitis, synovial plicae, chondromalacia, patello-femoral subluxation and hyper-pressure, fat pad impingement or Hoffas Syndrome and patello-femoral arthritis.

The best way to treat patellar tendonitis is to rest the area, especially avoiding the particular activity that produced the condition. Therapeutic ultrasound treatments, regular ice/cold compression application, gentle stretching and physiotherapy are all helpful. An ultrasound application over the affected area will reduce swelling quickly and increase blood flow to the area- increasing the healing rate of the tendon.

If the strain was minor, the body should be able to heal the tendon fibers normally. Unfortunately, this is not the usual result, due to the injured tendon being used instead of rested. Because of the stress on the tendon, the body heals the injured patellar tendon fibers by binding them together with fibrotic adhesions, or scar tissue. This is a normal, protective response of the body, done in an attempt to prevent further damage to the injured area.

To prevent this, the best thing to do is to apply ultrasound treatments on the area up to three times daily. Ultrasonic energy will naturally "work" the tendon, increasing its flexibily while softening and breaking down scar tissue- which is not something you want in your tendon. Scar tissue is inflexible (non-elastic), decreases range of motion, and can quickly lead to re-injury of the tendon later on.

The trick to healing any tendon injury is getting it to heal with minimal scar tissue formation and with as much realignment of tendon fibres as possible- something Inferno Wraps and Therapeutic Ultrasound are great at! Even with optimum healing there is always less elasticity in a previously injured tendon. You need to make sure you heal this as best you can- that way, your chance of re-injury down the road is much lower than average. If not treated properly, persistent symptoms will occur, which may eventually lead to corrective surgery.