Assessment of Jumpers Knee

Assessing the Patella Tendon

• When assessing a suspected case of jumper's knee, the therapist will usually begin with questions concerning not only the current injury, such as how and when it started and what the symptoms are, but also about your general health and previous injuries.

• Following this, an objective, or physical examination will be used, to help determine the possibility of this injury and to rule out others.

Palpation and observation

• The therapist will look at the knee and the leg in general, looking for signs of injury such as swelling and bruising, as well as possible contributors to the injury, such as fallen arches.
• They will then feel the area for warmth, tension and tender areas.

Range of motion

• The therapist will often look at the range of motion of the surrounding joints which can help to rule out joint injuries, as well as indicate which muscles or structures may be tight.
• With jumper's knee, it is common for the quadriceps muscles to be tight and so bending the knee may be limited and may cause pain in the patella tendon.

Resisted muscle tests

• The therapist may get the patient to contract the quad muscles, looking for both pain and weakness (compared to the other side) as these are both indicators of jumper's knee.

Functional tests

• If none of these tests produce a positive result, the therapist may ask the patient to perform some movements which cause pain, such as squats or lunges.
• This will help to determine which movements causes pain, when and where. Squats are usually painful in cases of jumper's knee.