Jumper's Knee

Abstract

Jumper's knee (patellar or quadriceps tendon tendon itis) is found in a high number of athletes, especially in volleyball and basketball players. Conservative treatment (rest, stretching, physical therapy and an tiinflammatory drugs) is usually successful. The ath letes often recover completely and resume their sports activity. The purpose of this study is to present the histologic findings and our surgical repair of 18 knees of patients who underwent surgery after failure of conservative treatment. Histologic findings confirm that the so-called "jumper's knee" is a pathology localized at the bone- tendon junction. In all cases the following abnormali ties were found:pseudocystic cavities at the borderline between mineralized fibrocartilage and bone, disap pearance of the "blue line," increased thickness of the insertional fibrocartilage with myxomatous and hyaline metaplasia, mineralization, and ossification of the fibrocartilage far from the "blue line." Abnormali ties of the patellar tendon were observed only in one patient who received local injection of corticosteroids. Eleven of the 18 surgically treated knees obtained a satisfactory result with complete resumption of sports activity.