Springer’s knee, patellar apex syndrome, patellar apicitis, tendinitis patellae, tendinosis patellae, enthesiopathy of the patellar tendon
Definition
It is a chronic, painful, degenerative overload disease of the patella extensor apparatus at the bone-tendon junction of the patella tip.
Classification
In everyday clinical practice, there is usually no classification of patellar tip syndrome. The most frequently mentioned classification is that of Roels et al. 1978:
- Grade I: Pain after the end of exercise
- Grade II: Pain at the beginning of the load which disappears after the warm-up period and reappears after the end.
- Grade III: Permanent pain
- Grade IV: Patellar tendon rupture (tear of the tendon)
Anatomy
The kneecap (patella) is located as a sesamoid bone between the upper and lower leg at the front of the knee joint. It is part of the knee joint. It has a triangular shape, with the base of the triangle facing the thigh and the tip facing the lower leg.
The extensor muscles of the thigh (Musculus quadriceps, quadriceps muscle) ends sinewy at the base of the kneecap. From the tip of the patella, the patellar tendon runs to the front of the lower leg (tibial tuberosity). By this way (quadriceps muscle – quadriceps tendon – patella – patellar tendon – tibiae), the force development of the thigh extensor muscles is transferred to the lower leg.
The patellar tendon is exposed to particularly high loads during jumping because this causes a strong and jerky tensile stress on the tendon. This can overload the tendon tissue. The patellar tip syndromeSpringer’s kneeJumpers knee is a clinical picture caused by overloading of the patellar tendon through repeated, unaccustomed and/or heavy tensile stress.
There are both external factors, which can cause a PatellaspitzensyndromSpringerknieJumpers knee, and internal factors. One of the external factors is the activity causing the complaint. Since a maximum tensile stress of the patellar tendon occurs especially in jumping sports, sports such as volleyball, basketball, long jump or high jump are frequent triggers for a patellar tendon syndrome Jumper’s knee.
This is why the disease is also called Jumper’s Knee. The frequency of the load, the intensity of the load and the unfamiliarity of the load (new sport, beginners) play an important role in the development of patellar tendon syndrome. But also when cycling, weight lifting, jogging on hard surfaces, tennis, etc., a patellar tendon syndromeJumper’s knee is found more often. One of the internal influencing factors is:
- The age (mostly patients over 15 years)
- A kneecap high (patella alta),
- A Morbus Osgood-Schlatter in the prehistory
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