Jumper's Knees Case Report - Neuromuscular Rehabilitation of a Basketball Player with Bilateral Patellar Tendon Ruptures

A 55 year old competitive basketball player and professional videographer were engaged in a game at a neighborhood community center when he prepared to accelerate upwards to block a ball. Standing right foot planted firmly in front of the left, his left knee flexed as he perched on his left forefoot, he heard sequential popsfirst in the left knee, then the right. He collapsed to the floor of the gymnasium, unable to bear weight or extend his legs. He reports, "My knee caps were in my thighs." He experienced no pain until a team mate attempted to stand him up. Incapacitated, he was transported by ambulance to a local emergency room and within hours was in the operating room where he underwent a primary heavy suture repair to reattach the patella tendons at their site of rupture from the osseotendinous junction between rhe inferior pole of the patella and the tibial tuberosity.