Patellar Tendinopathy (Jumper's Knee): What's Going On and What Helps
The warm-up goes fine, and then the first few jumps or sprints bring on a sore spot at the front of your knee. A day off settles it, and then it comes right back. Patellar tendinopathy, often called jumper's knee, is a common reason.
What is patellar tendinopathy?
Patellar tendinopathy is a problem of the patellar tendon, usually at the point where it attaches, and it causes pain at the front of the knee [1]. The NHS notes that pain between the kneecap and shin that comes from repetitive running or jumping is often a tendon problem [5].
Most of the research has been done in athletes. In the Cochrane review, all of the trials included athletes, about 88% of them men, with an average age of 26 [1]. That does not mean it only affects athletes. It means we know less about everyone else.
What does it feel like?
People usually describe an ache or sharp pain at the front of the knee that shows up with jumping, running, sprinting, deep squats, or stairs. That pattern is common but not universal, so the exam matters. The NHS asks you not to self-diagnose knee pain, since several different problems can look alike [5].
Red flags that need urgent care
Tendon pain is not an emergency, but a few knee symptoms deserve prompt attention. The NHS suggests urgent advice (in the UK, calling 111; in the US, urgent care or an emergency room) if [5]:
Your knee is very painful (8-10 out of 10)
You cannot move your knee or put any weight on it
It is badly swollen or has changed shape
It locks, gives way, or painfully clicks. Painless clicking is normal.
You have a very high temperature, or feel hot, cold, or shivery, along with redness or heat around the knee. This can be a sign of infection.
These are less typical of an overloaded tendon, and we would look for another cause.
What can you do at home?
Cut back on what provokes it, but do not stop everything. Reduce the jumping, sprinting, and deep loaded squats that bring the pain on, and keep the rest of your training moving. This is my clinical opinion, not a research finding.
Use ice for up to 20 minutes every 2 to 3 hours, and ask a pharmacist about paracetamol or ibuprofen if you need pain relief. This is the NHS advice for general knee pain [5].
Think twice before relying on a steroid injection. In a trial of 39 men, injections helped over the short term, but the benefit did not last at the half-year follow-up, while the gains with heavy slow resistance training held up [3].
Be patient. The trials in this area ran 12 to 24 weeks [2][3].
How does physical therapy help?
Exercise is where we start, and it has the best support among conservative options. A UK defence review of 143 articles on Achilles and patellar tendinopathy found the strongest evidence for exercise-based rehabilitation as first-line treatment, with limited evidence for medications and add-on therapies [4]. It also favors progressive tendon loading, where exercises are chosen and advanced based on your individual capacity and function [4].
Two trials give a sense of how that looks. In a trial of 76 mostly young, mostly long-standing cases, progressive tendon-loading exercises produced a larger improvement in the VISA-P score than eccentric exercise at 24 weeks (28 versus 18 points). Most of these patients had already tried other treatment without full recovery [2]. In the 39-man trial mentioned above, heavy slow resistance training had good results at 12 weeks and at the half-year follow-up [3].
Now the caution. The 2025 Cochrane review pooled seven small trials, 211 athletes in all, and many were at risk of bias. The authors were very uncertain whether strengthening exercise reduces pain compared with no treatment. Compared with injection, exercise may make little or no difference to pain or function at the end of treatment. No trials measured adverse events, and the findings apply to athletes [1]. So I would not promise you a specific timeline or result. What I can say is that loading the tendon in a planned, graded way is the best-supported approach we have, and it is low-risk.
In practice we figure out how much load your tendon tolerates today, build a program around that, and progress it as the pain and function allow.
When should you get seen?
Come in if front-of-knee pain has not improved within a few weeks, which is also the NHS advice for knee pain [5], or if it keeps coming back every time you ramp up training. Earlier is easier, since many people in the research had symptoms for years before treatment [1][2].
How can Hybrid Physical Therapy help?
We spend the first visit working out what is driving your knee pain, not just where it hurts. You work one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy every session, and we build the plan around what you want to get back to, whether that is jumping, running, or climbing stairs.
This post is general education and does not replace an exam. If the front of your knee has been complaining for more than a couple of weeks, come in and let us take a look.
Let Hybrid Physical Therapy be the ones to optimize your performance.
References:
Lopes AD, Rizzo RR, Hespanhol L, et al. Exercise for patellar tendinopathy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2025;5(5):CD013078. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013078.pub2. PubMed (PMID 40421598)
Breda SJ, Oei EHG, Zwerver J, et al. Effectiveness of progressive tendon-loading exercise therapy in patients with patellar tendinopathy: a randomised clinical trial. Br J Sports Med. 2021;55(9):501-509. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2020-103403. PubMed (PMID 33219115)
Kongsgaard M, Kovanen V, Aagaard P, et al. Corticosteroid injections, eccentric decline squat training and heavy slow resistance training in patellar tendinopathy. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2009;19(6):790-802. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.00949.x. PubMed (PMID 19793213)
Judd A, Wild K, Puxley L, et al. UK defence rehabilitation review of Achilles and patellar tendinopathy conservative management: a systematic review. BMJ Mil Health. 2026;172(2):107-114. doi:10.1136/military-2024-002892. PubMed (PMID 39979017)
NHS. Knee pain. Source page
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