The aetiology of patellar tendinopathy (jumper’s knee) remains unclear. To see whether landing strategy might be a risk factor for the development of this injury, this study examined whether landing dynamics from drop jumps differed among healthy volleyball players and volleyball players with a jumper’s knee. The patients with jumper’s knee were divided into an asymptomatic group with a previous jumper’s knee (PJK) and a symptomatic group with a recent jumper’s knee (RJK). Inverse dynamics analyses were used to estimate lower extremity joint dynamics from 30, 50 and 70 cm drop jumps in the three groups. A univariate repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the different landing techniques. The authors concluded that where RJK used a landing technique to avoid high patellar tendon loading, PJK used a stiffer landing strategy, which may be a risk factor in the development of patellar tendinopathy.
British Journal of Sports Medicine 2007, 41(e8).