Condition Info and Product Help: Jumpers’ Knee
Jumpers’ knee doesn’t only affect basketball players. If you’re an athlete or someone who excessively exercises, if you repeatedly traumatize the knee and thigh area, if you strain your knee or if you have rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis, then you’re at the top of the list for developing jumpers’ knee.
How to Know if You Have Jumpers’ Knee
Jumpers’ knee is a condition that results in a series of small tears in the tendons of the quadriceps muscles, located at the front of the thighs. Pain and inflammation of the area are usually the first signs that you have jumpers’ knee, and you can also experience the following symptoms of jumpers’ knee:
- If you have jumpers’ knee, you will see swelling, due to fluid accumulation and inflammation.
- If you have jumpers’ knee, you will experience pain when you move your knee, due to friction as the tendon moves over the kneecap. This jumpers’ knee pain may also feel more intense when engaging in faster movements like jumping or running.
- If you have jumpers’ knee, the painful, swollen area will feel warm when you touch it.
- If you have jumpers’ knee, you will feel localized tenderness that increases with any movement.
If you think you have jumpers’ knee, but there is not a lot of swelling, then see your doctor. He or she can still detect any defect in the tendon near the tear during an exam. Your physician may need to take x-rays or give the area an MRI to confirm that you have jumpers’ knee.
Treatment of Jumpers’ Knee
If you’re been diagnosed with jumpers’ knee, then you need to start on the RICE treatment: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
The following tips from The Podiatry Institute can also help ease the pain and swelling of jumpers’ knee and help you avoid jumpers’ knee later:
- Treat and prevent jumpers’ knee by applying heat to the area before stretching and exercise and ice afterward.
- Treat and prevent jumpers’ knee by compressing and stabilizing the joint with a knee splint.
- Treat and prevent jumpers’ knee by taking oral anti-inflammatory agents, such as aspirin, ibuprophen, naproxen and glucosamine.
- Treat and prevent jumpers’ knee by regularly strengthening the quadriceps and stretching the hamstrings.
- Treat and prevent jumpers’ knee by resting if you feel any pain.
If you have already developed jumpers’ knee, you can gradually return to activities with gentle strengthening and stretching of the knee joint. The Podiatry Institute recommends knee extension exercises to strengthen the quadriceps muscle, and knee flexion exercises to stretch the quadriceps muscle and knee tendon.
Products for Jumpers’ Knee Sufferers
FootSmart sells a variety of products used to treat jumpers’ knee, including knee sleeves, knee braces, knee straps and other knee supports. Here are just a few examples of the jumpers’ knee products you can find at FootSmart.com:
Find all jumpers’ knee products here.
Information on foot, leg and lower body health conditions like jumpers’ knee provided by The Podiatry Institute, dedicated to advancing the standard of care in podiatric medicine and its effects on musculoskeletal health.