What is Causing Your Knee Pain? Tendonitis? How to Know? (Patellar Tendonitis? Quadricep Tendonitis?)

I used the word Tendonitis in the title, but in many cases, you may have a Tendinopathy instead. A tendon is a fibrous tissue that attaches muscle to bone. Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendon.

Tendinopathy is a degeneration of the collagen protein that forms the tendon. The two have almost identical symptoms, so we will treat them the same.

Both tendinopathy and tendonitis are often caused by stress or overuse of a tendon. Aging and lack of muscle tone can also play a role in the development of tendinopathy.

There are at least two common types of tendonitis in the knee. One is felt at the top of your kneecap (directly above), and the other is felt on the bottom of the kneecap (directly below).

Both types of tendonitis can commonly be found in young 15–30-year-old jumping athletes. Their sports typically involve a lot of jumping. However, Bob developed a case of quadriceps tendinitis from performing daily lunges.

How to tell:

The following are some signs and symptoms of Patellar and Quadriceps Tendonitis:

1. Palpation

a. With your leg straight, use your fingertips to feel along the upper edge of the kneecap and slightly above. If tender, you may have quadricep tendonitis. If you have pain in only one leg, you will want to palpate each leg to compare.

2. Palpation

a. With your legs straight, use your fingertips to feel directly below the kneecap. Feel the area below the kneecap down to the bony bump (tibial tuberosity). Stay on the tendon. You should be able to feel the side borders of it. If tender, you may have Patellar Tendonitis. However, beware of Osgood-Schlatter Disease. It can present in a similar fashion (more tenderness on the bony bump itself). Osgood-Schlatter disease typically occurs in boys ages 12-14 and girls ages 10-13.

3. Hopping on two legs.

a. If you hop on two legs and it increases your knee pain above or below the kneecap, you may have Quadricep or Patellar tendonitis, respectively.

4. Hopping on one leg

a. If you hop on one leg and it increases your knee pain above or below the kneecap, you may have Quadricep or Patellar tendonitis, respectively.

5. Quick stop on painful leg.

a. Walk rapidly and then stop quickly on the painful leg. Such an action will probably increase knee pain if you have tendonitis.

6. Increased knee pain with prolonged sitting.

7. Knee pain feels better after warming up.

a. The pain from tendonitis will generally feel better after the knee has warmed up.

Check out the full Knee Pain Relief Program series of videos, along with downloadable guide sheets, here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/knee-pain-relief-program