Hey guys. I am here to first tell you about my situation with jumpers knee (or patellar tendinopathy) , how to make sure you have it, and finally we'll go over some different jumpers knee treatment forms.

In my high school, I used to play volleyball and as you can guess, that involves a lot of upward explosion and planting on my knees. Since high school, I've started playing basketball more and more. This, too, involves a lot of the same stresses on my knees as volleyball used to. On top of the constant basketball, I engaged in an explosive vertical leap training workout last summer. This is where I believe most of the damage to my knees occurred. I had been participating in weight training daily, thus engaging in explosive motions while using very heavy weights. I have not completed a single workout this summer without feeling pain in my knee throughout the workout. At times, very intense pain leaving me to question how I would complete the workout.

The first, most obvious sign of patellar tendinopathy will be that you will have pain at the bottom of your kneecap, where your patellar tendon is. You'll notice an aching and stiffness at some point before, during, or after your physical activity, and you'll also notice knee inflammation or bruising on the knee cap. Here are the different severities of the injury, along with the symptoms at each level.

Grade 1: pain after training is completed

Grade 2: pain before and after training, but no pain at peak of physical activity

Grade 3: pain during training that limits performance

Grade 4: pain during every day activities such as walking around

The good news is that unless you are at grade four where you are walking around with knee pain in the bottom of your knee cap each and every day, during normal daily activities, then you most likely don't need surgery. However, don't be fooled into thinking that patellar tendinopathy is just a silly little nagging injury. It's not. It is a chronic knee issue that if not taken care of correctly, can eventually worsen and lead to being of the grade four variety. If you're anything like me, you probably don't want to miss any time away from sports. So what you can do is go out and get yourself two cold compresses, one for each knee. You're going to use these every time you finish physical activity.

Then get either a good pair of jumpers knee straps. Wearing these during physical activity will apply pressure to the patellar tendon and hopefully allow you to play pain free. I am actually currently dealing with patellar tendinopathy as well, and have just purchased a pair of the knee straps. It's hard to tell after just one use whether or not it made a major improvement because the pain in my knees varies day by day, but I do know the straps are pretty comfortable and I kind of forgot they were there while I was playing basketball.

Short of surgery, the alternative is just resting for an extended period of time, but that probably is not a desirable option for you. I know it's not for me. So hopefully if you follow the above steps for jumpers knee treatment, you can effectively ease your knee pain and continue to play at your peak performance!