The Knee Reset: A 14-Day Plan for Patellar Tendonitis

Read this first. This routine is general education, not medical advice or a personal treatment plan. If your knee is swollen, unstable, painful at rest or after an injury, or if you are under 18, check with a doctor or physical therapist before you start.

Patellar tendonitis, also called jumper's knee or patellar tendinopathy, usually settles best with the right amount of load, not total rest. Tendons respond to steady, progressive strength work. The Knee Reset is a simple 14-day structure built on the approaches used in published research on patellar tendinopathy: isometric holds for comfort, slow heavy strength work, then a gradual return to springy movements.

The one rule: the pain-monitoring check

Rate your knee pain from 0 to 10 during each exercise and the next morning.

• 0 to 3 out of 10 during exercise is acceptable, as long as it settles by the next morning.
• If pain goes above 3, or your knee feels worse the next morning, drop back to the previous level for a few days.

Days 1 to 4: Calm it down with isometric holds

Isometrics are holds without movement. In a study of volleyball players with patellar tendinopathy, heavy isometric holds reduced pain right after exercise.

Wall sit or Spanish squat

• Slide down a wall until your knees are bent to roughly 60 degrees, or loop a heavy band behind your knees around a post and sit back (the Spanish squat).
• Hold 30 to 45 seconds, rest 2 minutes, repeat 5 times.
• Do this once or twice a day, and before activity if it helps.

Daily habits

• Keep moving, but cut back the things that flare it, like jumping and steep downhills, for now.
• Wear your patellar tendon strap during activities that trigger pain.

Days 5 to 10: Build strength slowly

Slow, heavy strength training (often called heavy slow resistance) has been studied as an effective approach for patellar tendinopathy. Keep the reps slow: about 3 seconds down and 3 seconds up.

• Leg press or split squat: 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 slow reps.
• Step-ups onto a knee-height box: 3 sets of 8 to 10 per leg.
• Calf raises: 3 sets of 12 to 15.

Train every other day and keep the isometric holds on the days in between. Add weight only when the pain check stays at 3 out of 10 or less.

Days 11 to 14: Reload the spring

Once strength work feels easy and your morning pain check is calm, start reintroducing faster movements.

• Decline squats on a slant board: 3 sets of 10 to 15, slow on the way down.
• Low pogo hops: 3 sets of 10 small, quick hops, only if the pain check stays low.
• Return to sport: start with shorter sessions at lower intensity and build up over the next few weeks.

After day 14

Tendons adapt over weeks and months, not days. Keep doing strength work two or three times a week, increase load gradually, and keep using the strap during the activities that used to hurt. If things are not clearly improving after a few weeks, see a physical therapist who can tailor the plan to you.

Research behind this plan

• Rio E, Kidgell D, Purdam C, et al. Isometric exercise induces analgesia and reduces inhibition in patellar tendinopathy. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2015.
• Kongsgaard M, Kovanen V, Aagaard P, et al. Corticosteroid injections, eccentric decline squat training and heavy slow resistance training in patellar tendinopathy. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 2009.
• Malliaras P, Cook J, Purdam C, Rio E. Patellar tendinopathy: clinical diagnosis, load management, and advice for challenging case presentations. Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, 2015.

Every order of our patellar tendon strap includes free access to The Knee Reset. Learn how to wear the strap correctly.