Information about a piece of news titled New review about eccentric training for Jumper’s knee
New review about eccentric training for Jumper’s knee
Intoduction
In a recent review paper published in the April 2008 issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a special themed issue on tendinopathy, Håvard Visnes and Roald Bahr have examined the evolution of eccentric training programs as treatment for patellar tendinopathy (jumper's knee). Their critical review of exercise programmes shows that the methodological quality of the available research varies considerably, but indicates that programs should include a decline board, be performed with some level of discomfort and that athletes should be removed from sports activity during treatment.
A Medline search was performed in September 2006 to find prospective and randomized clinical trials focusing on the clinical outcome of the eccentric training. 7 articles with 162 patients were included. The results were positive but study quality was generally low, with small numbers and short follow up periods. The content of the different training programs varied, but most of them were home-based programs with twice-a-day training for 12 weeks with 3 sets of 15 repetitions. A number of potentially significant differences in the eccentric programs used were identified: drop squats or slow eccentric movement, squatting on a decline board or level ground, exercising into tendon pain or short of pain, loading the eccentric phase only or both phases, and progressing with speed then load or simply load.
The authors concluded that most studies show that eccentric training may have a positive effect, but our ability to recommend specific protocol is limited. The studies available indicate that the treatment program should include a decline board, be performed with some level of discomfort and that athletes should be removed from sports activity.