Explainer | Pain at the front of your knee when running? You might have patellar tendinopathy
- Patellar tendinopathy is a common running injury caused by overuse or weak muscles in runners
- There are easy preventions and cures that will make you more resilient to injuries and a better runner too
A common issue for runners is to feel pain at the front, or front bottom, of their knee cap.
If you experience this symptom, you may have patellar tendinopathy. It is sometimes called runner’s or jumper’s knee.
Here are some of the best ways to treat it.
What is patellar tendinopathy?
Tendinopathy is a breaking down of the tendon cells. The patella is the knee cap, while the patellar (with an ‘r’) is the tendon that attaches to the shin bone, or tibia.
So, patellar tendinopathy is an injury to the tendon that attaches the knee cap to the shin, and is technically a breaking down of the cells.
Tendinopathy is often diagnosed as tendinitis and they two can appear very similar.
Tendinitis is the swelling of the tendon, and may require anti-inflammatories.
But tendinopathy requires increased blood flow to heal the tendon, so anti-inflammatories may hinder the healing process, therefore medications should be used with more caution according to studies.
