Knee pain can be stubborn. If you’ve ever dealt with patellar tendonitis, jumper’s knee, or another overuse injury, you already know how it can linger for months or even years. The facts are scary: than half of athletes with patellar tendonitis end up quitting their sport, and fewer than half of those who keep going ever return to their full fitness level.
But then there’s this mystery NBA player:
He had five years of jumper’s knee, a bad patellar tendonitis MRI with a “hole” in the tendon, and zero success with previous treatments for jumper’s knee.
Yet, within two seasons, his tendon looked completely normal again. How did he pull that off? And what can you learn from it? Watch the video to learn more or read the summary below.
What Patellar Tendonitis Really Is
Patellar tendonitis (also called patellar tendinopathy, patellar tendinosis, or jumper’s knee) isn’t inflammation. It’s a structural change inside your tendon. When your patellar tendon gets overloaded, the tiny collagen fibers lose their alignment.
That’s why the pain sits right below the kneecap and why normal rest or ibuprofen rarely solves the problem.
Why Patellar Tendonitis Lasts for Years
Unlike a sprain or muscle tear, tendon injuries don’t automatically heal with time. If you don’t address the tendon remodeling process, patellar tendonitis symptoms can last for 10–15 years. This explains why so many people feel stuck with patellar tendonitis and jumper’s knee.
Another reason is leaving intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors uncorrected. This leads to higher tendon load with every single step or jump, increasing the risk of future overuse. To recover from patellar tendonitis, you need to do all three:
- Rebuild the tendon through patellar tendonitis exercises
- Fix all systemic risk factors to speed up tendon healing
- Correct intrinsic risk factors to reduce tendon overload when running, jumping, or cycling
- Address extrinsic risk factors as best as you can to further avoid overload
Each area has a lot of details and thus a lot of room for error, explaining why patellar tendonitis can last years. You may feel like you’ve “tried everything”, like your jumper’s knee doesn’t get better, but in reality the treatment you’ve used likely didn’t fix these hidden issues.
By fixing those, many of my readers have seen breakthrough progress in weeks, after being stuck for years:
“Martin Koban is the ONLY one, among doctors, physical therapists, and the pill sellers out there who correctly identified my knee problem and gave me the exercise regime to correct it. And he is thousands of miles away!
I bless the day I found his online program, and I cannot say enough about the quality and integrity and honesty of his work. I no longer have knee pain where I once was unable to walk down stairs, much less kick up my heels and MOVE.”
— Bonnie Bekken
One key requirement for recovery is doing the right jumper’s knee exercises. The following are a great starting point.
The Proven Patellar Tendonitis Exercises
The good news is that research shows you can reverse the problem with the right patellar tendonitis rehab protocol.
The key exercises include:
- Wall sits and Spanish squats
- Isometric holds on the leg extension or leg press machine
- Slow squats and slow leg presses for progressive tendon loading
The most important part isn’t how heavy the weight is, but the time under tension. Recent studies found that both heavy resistance (90% 1RM) and medium resistance (55% 1RM) work equally well, as long as the tendon is loaded slowly and consistently.
What doesn’t work, however, is solely relying on passive treatments for patellar tendonitis. Many of these treatments do not lead to long-term improvements and are often no better than placebo.
How an NBA Player Recovered During the Season
The NBA case study proved something experts once thought impossible: full patellar tendonitis recovery while still competing.
His rehab routine included:
- High-tension isometric exercises (leg extensions, Spanish squats)
- 1–6 minutes of total time under tension per leg, per session
- A collagen-boosting supplement mix of gelatin plus vitamin C, taken one hour before training
By his second season, his MRI showed a completely normal tendon—despite years of jumper’s knee pain.
Conclusion
Patellar tendonitis can be frustrating, but it’s not permanent. With the right patellar tendonitis treatment exercises and rehab plan, you can realign your tendon fibers, reduce pain, and get back to the activities you love.
5 Tendonitis Mistakes That Add Years to Your Recovery Time
See you in the course.
Agergaard AS, Svensson RB, Malmgaard-Clausen NM, Couppé C, Hjortshoej MH, Doessing S, Kjaer M, Magnusson SP. Clinical Outcomes, Structure, and Function Improve With Both Heavy and Moderate Loads in the Treatment of Patellar Tendinopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Am J Sports Med. 2021 Mar;49(4):982-993. doi: 10.1177/0363546520988741. Epub 2021 Feb 22. PMID: 33616456.
Baar K. Stress Relaxation and Targeted Nutrition to Treat Patellar Tendinopathy. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2019 Jul 1;29(4):453–457. doi: 10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0231. PMID: 30299199.
Kettunen, Jyrki A., Martti Kvist, Erkki Alanen und Urho M. Kujala. „Long-Term Prognosis for Jumper's Knee in Male Athletes: Prospective Follow-up Study.“ The American Journal of Sports Medicine 30, Nr. 5 (2002): 689–692. doi:10.1177/03635465020300051001.
Nuhmani, Shibili, Mohammad Ahsan, Mohd A. Bari, Deepak Malhotra, Al Muslem, Wafa Hashem, Saad M. Alsaadi und Qassim I. Muaidi. „Patellar Tendinopathy—Does Injection Therapy Have a Role? A Systematic Review of Randomised Control Trials.“ Journal of Clinical Medicine 11, Nr. 7 (2022): 2006. doi:10.3390/jcm11072006.
