Patellar tendinopathy (and Rafael Nadal)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/rafael-nadal-knee-tendini_n_1788561.html
Rafael Nadal pulls out and the news reports seem to suggest that it must be his patellar tendonitis.
Well, what is this anyway ? For starters the medical community is moving away from calling this condition as tendonitis, as there is not much inflammation (itis), but more of degeneration, due to overuse. Commonly, this condition is also known as "jumper's knee", as it is more commonly seen in jumping sports like basketball and volley ball, though not exclusive to them, as we have seen in the case of Nadal.
The patellar tendon attaches, the knee cap (patella) to the shin bone and takes a lot of force with jumping activities and those that might need excessive knee bending. Over a period of time this may lead to severe pain, resulting in the player unable to participate in sports. But more often than not (80-90%), it can be treated with graduated, specialised exercises and re-habilitation, which allows the player to get back to sport. In the resistant cases, injections may be beneficial and very rarely, surgery !
Nice post! I just came back from the orthopedics in oklahoma city and they told me that I am going to have to have surgery on my knee soon to correct some things from years of playing soccer. Thank you for sharing this with us!
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