My Tendonitis

If you break down the word Patellar tendonitis, it simply means inflammation (-itis) of the patellar tendon. The patellar tendon connects the kneecap to the shinbone, or the tibia. Patellar tendonitis is usually caused due to overuse in activities such as running or jumping. Another overuse injury is Osgood Schlatter disease. This “disease” will cause pain and swelling over the tibial tuberosity (the top of the shinbone), just below the kneecap.

As a student athlete at the University of Toledo, I spent a lot of time in our training room before and after practice. Terms like patella, tendon, tendonitis, inflammation, tibia, tibial tuberosity, swelling, and ice, although new to me at first, became part of my everyday vocabulary. My knees started hurting in November ’06 and I think we just treated the pain. It was not until January ’07 that I was diagnosed with “patellar tendonitis” and we began treatment and physical therapy for that.

As I said before, my knees were hurting. However, the pain was not in the same spot for both legs. My left leg hurt from the center of my kneecap to the tendon that connects to the top of the shinbone. My right leg mainly hurt at the bony structure known as the tibial tuberosity, sometimes moving above to the tendon, never as far as the kneecap. As presented, it seems there are two different injuries, yes? I thought so.

When you are in the training room, you are around a lot of athletes. What is the one thing most in common with us athletes? TENDONITIS. Hmm, it makes sense for us athletes to have tendonitis, since we all practice hard everyday, thus, making it easier for overuse injury. But, just maybe, there could be an injury aside from tendonitis. A popular phrase agreed upon by teammates and athletes was “When in doubt, it’s tendonitis.” Part of me does not blame the trainers for telling us what they do, they see athletes all day, with majority of them having tendonitis in some part of their body. What is stopping them to think that one more athlete won’t have the same/similar injury? The other part of me wants to tell them to not assume tendonitis, initially fine, but after weeks and months, it might be something else, maybe you should take a look.

Now, I am convinced I have patellar tendonitis in my left knee. When I play or run, the area just under the kneecap gets swollen, tender, and is in pain. This area under the knee is that tendon. Sometimes, the center of my kneecap hurts running all the way down through the tendon, stopping before the tibial tuberosity. The tibial tuberosity on the left leg Never hurts, just above it. I am convinced I have patellar tendonitis in my left knee.

However, with my right knee, I think there is something else going on. It may be patellar tendonitis as well, but the symptoms are not the same. The center of my knee rarely hurts, the tendon hurts if an excessive amount of stress is put on it for an extended period of time. The main concern here with this leg is the tibial tuberosity. That bulge in the leg, looks like a button, and when you press that button there is pain. The pain on this leg goes from the top of the shinbone extending down about two more inches. There is an interesting lump there, which I believe is due to Osgood-schlatter. However, the trainers and even the doctors eliminated Osgood-schlatter because of my age (too old for this disease). My knees, your injuries, leave one frustrated and confused. The best course of action is to stay positive and work to heal the injury.

Finally, it is time to treat these areas of pain. There are many different treatments used for tendonitis. Along with treatment, physical therapy is extremely helpful. Treatment and Physical therapy for patellar tendonitis will be discussed in a later post.