Patellar Tendinopathy - The Effect of Load Magnitude in Exercise-based Treatment

Treatment of Patellar Tendinopathy; Influence of Load Magnitude on Clinical Outcome, Tendon Structure and Function

The purpose of this project is to investigate if the magnitude of a loading based 12 weeks rehabilitation regime for patellar tendinopathy influence the clinical outcome, tendon structure and function.

The investigators hypothesize that a greater magnitude (90% of 1RM) of loading will yield a more positive clinical outcome, tendon structure and function in patients with patellar tendinopathy compared to a lower magnitude of loading (55% of 1 RM) when total exercise volume is equal in both groups.

Randomized controlled intervention study with one year follow-up

Inclusion Criteria:

• Uni- or bilateral patellar tendinopathy
• Symptoms > 3 months
• Ultrasonographical tendon swelling
• Ultrasonographical hypo-echoic area with doppler
• BMI 18.5-30

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patellar tendinopathy > 12 month
• Previous knee surgery
• Confounding diagnosis to the knee joint
• Diabetes or arthritis
• Previous corticosteroid injection for patellar tendinopathy
• Smoking
• Being elite volleyball players