Knee pain is a common ailment for all athletes but weightlifters are especially prone to pain developing in the kneecap. This is frequently caused by a condition known as patellar tendonitis, which is essentially inflammation of the patellar tendon located directly under the kneecap.
Patellar Tendinitis is often caused by squats, especially sumo position squats. To prevent patellar tendinitis, it is important to remember to keep your knees in line with your hips. It’s not as important to make sure that your knees don’t extend past your toes.
If you have patellar tendinitis, you will feel:
- Shooting pain under your kneecap
- Some inflammation
- Pain that worsens over time after physical activity
- Eventually, pain will interfere with the simplest tasks, like walking
Weightlifters who start to experience knee pain should always see an orthopedist right away. If you experience symptoms of patellar tendinitis, it’s important to stop weightlifting and see a knee specialist like Dr. Leon E. Popovitz as soon as possible. Continuing to put weight on the tendon can cause serious damage.
Once you’ve rested your knee enough for inflammation to subside, you can begin treatment. Physical therapy and sports rehabilitation is always the first method of treatment your orthopedic knee specialist will recommend. Physical therapy will help relieve inflammation of the patellar tendon further through manual therapy and guided stretches. Once your tendon has recovered enough, your therapist can assign you specific exercises that will take the weight off your knee joint by strengthening the surrounding muscles, like your quads, and help you perform your routine with the proper alignment. With our sports rehabilitation program, you can be sure you’ll return to weightlifting at your best possible potential with the tools to avoid injuring your knee again.
Your knee specialist can also administer a corticosteroid or traumeel injection directly to your patellar tendon. this usually relieves inflammation for months at a time, relieving pain and making it easier to perform your rehabilitation activities.
Another treatment many professional weightlifters opt for is PRP Therapy. Dr. Michael Y. Mizhiritsky is an expert on Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy and has performed the procedure on many athletes, knees. Essentially, by injecting a concentrated formula of platelets from your own blood sample directly into the patellar tendon, the tissue may be prompted to regenerate and heal itself naturally.
If you ignore your knee pain and continue your weightlifting routine, patellar tendinitis can worsen to the point where surgery is needed. In rare cases, your patellar tendinitis may not respond to conservative treatment methods and will require arthroscopic knee surgery. Dr. Leon E. Popovitz is an expert at repairing the patellar tendon through arthroscopic surgery, a minimally invasive surgery that will require less recovery time.
Dr. Leon Popovitz and Dr. Michael Mizhiritsky, along with their team of best-in-class orthopedic physicians, are known for their exemplary orthopedic surgical skill and best-rated physical medicine and rehabilitation program. This, along with their top in-office physical therapy and long-term sports rehabilitation processes, leads to athletes of all levels returning to their top physical potential. Contact us today to schedule a consult!
