Partial patellar tendon tear.. Rehab, Surgery?

[Petejrrr]

I have recently been diagnosed with a tendon tear in my knee, and more specifically the patellar tendon, the doctor said he does not want to do surgery due to the 6 to 12 month rehab time with this procedure and since it is not completely torn, but without surgery it looks like i will not be 100 percent again and get back my capabilities. since it is not ruptured or completely torn im wondering if i could rehab the tendon and if theres anything i can do to rehab the tendon toward bringing it back to strength without surgery.. basically i was told not to play basketball without a knee brace, refrain from certain excersizes and types of motions or it would get worse and tear completely... basically is there anything i can do to improve it without surgery, is there any way to get it back to 100 percent (with or without surgery) thanks.  also i was told arthoscopic surgery would not be sufficient, open knee surgery would have to be used.

[Dr Vinod]

If by conservative treatment, aka Physiotherapy will help you heal the tear it is always good to go for immobilisation and Physiotherapy. With age and with movements the healing for tendon tears, ligament tears takes time.
If you need surgery after that you can always go but do not go for surgery immidiately and try to help your body and give a chance for natural healing. Take care!

[Jay_Ramirez182]

Hi dr. Vinod, great advise you got there.. I just had an injury too but a bit different.. i have a 50% torn quariceps. My ortho gave me 2 choices, i could go for surgical for faster recovery or non-surgical conservative treatment but a bit longer process... can you please give me an advise.. I really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance

[aschweic]

You should go ahead and have the open knee surgury.  I was diagnosed with patella tendonitis last December and was prescribed the patella brace which i wore playing basketball for 6 months.  However, the knee continued to be really sore.  I'd gently work it out after bball with leg extensions on the nautilus machine which seemed to help.  However on June 30, I completely ruptured the patella tendon going up for a layup.  Surgury was on July 1 and I started PT on July 13, less than 2 weeks later.  I'm on a walker for a few more weeks but I can put 20% weight on my repaired knee.  It sounds like having the surgury and doing the PT afterwards will be quicker than imobilizing the knee for 6 weeks and hoping the tendon regrafts to the patella.

[Sheebadog]

I have the same thing. My left knee gives out all of the time. I play softball and I can not run around the bases anymore! I am 32 years of age and I am so depressed. I used to run and now I cannot run. I finally went to the doctors today and he said I have a partially torn Patella Tendon. Surgery is not an option. He wants me to have ultrasounds to the tendon to break up the scar tissue. Once the tissue is broken up, physical therapy for 6 weeks. Have you heard of this? I am making the call tomorrow to set this up.

Eric

[dtasander]

My daughter was just diagnosed with a partially torn patellar tendon and her ortho is recommending surgery IF she's wanting to continue to play volleyball. Otherwise, he says it "may" heal on its own with time. He also says there is a slim chance it ruptures if she doesn't have surgery.

[jendo]

Get a 2nd, and 3rd or 4th in person expert opinions from well experienced orthos.  And then pick the best one to get your surgery, if you REALLY need it.  I went into surgery for a torn ACL and I came out worse off.  Now I have to have 3 surgeries to 'try' to repair the damage from the first surgery.  I have had 2 so far and I have severe nueritis and a growing nueroma as well as severe atrophy below the knee.  Make sure your doctor is wellllllllllllll experienced and specializes in your particular injury.  Best to you.

[goradia]

Pete:

If the tendon is partially torn away from teh bone it is unlikely that it will heal without surgery to the extent that you would like. It will require open surgery to remove the damaged area of the tendon and then to re-attach it back to the bone. Afterwards you will need a brace or cast to keep the knee straight for 4-6 weeks followed by physical therapy to regain motion and strength. It is hard to predict how long it will take you to get back to basketball but likely at least 6 months.

vic goradia
http://www.goortho.net

[Petejrrr]

Just to follow up, Its been about 6 months and my knee has not gotten better. It still displays weakness and is nowhere near the strength it should be. My doctor told me after an MRI that the tear could not be taken care of with arthoscopic surgery but only open knee surgery and he did not reccommend this due to the serious rehab that would be required following the surgery. I went on to ask if there was anything else that could be done to rehab the tendon and he said unlike a muscle you cannot strengthen a tendon and that I could not do anything to help my cause UNLESS it is the surgery. From your response it sounded like I could rehab the tendon with a cast and later with strengthening, I'm wondering how close this will get me to 100% strength in that knee, and who I could talk to for a second opinion (another orthopedic surgeon?).. What are my options right now, if I did go through with open knee surgery how long will it be til I start walking, until I start flexability, until I start strengthening the leg and knee again, and how long until I really will be back to a place where I can go about with activity like sports and excersize without worrying about it... any information would be great, thanks doc.