In this article you will find:
Patient profile
- Age: 27
- Height: 204 cm
- Weight: 97 kg
- Position on the court: Centre
Description of the injury
During training, the patient felt an unpleasant stinging sensation above the kneecap. This symptom recurred the following morning upon waking. The feeling of discomfort and tightness in this area persisted during the warm-up before the next training session.
Physical examination
- Palpation of the quadriceps femoris muscle revealed pain and tenderness in the area of the muscle’s insertion
- Assessment of active and passive range of motion in knee flexion – revealed pain whilst performing a squat (inability to sit fully down); passive flexion could not be performed through the full range of motion
Treatment and rehabilitation
No pharmacological treatment was administered.
Treatments were carried out using the Impactis M+ shockwave device
| Date of treatment | Pressure [bar] | Frequency [Hz] | Number of pulses |
|---|---|---|---|
|
21 Feb |
3 |
15 |
4000 |
|
28 Feb |
3.5 |
15 |
4000 |
|
4 March |
3.5 |
15 |
4000 |
Additional rehabilitation treatments
- Isometric exercises
- Post-isometric muscle relaxation
- Dry needling
- Pinopressure
- Kinesiotaping
- Deep tissue massage
- Sports massage
- Manual therapy
- Functional massage
- Eccentric exercises
- Hip and knee stabilisation exercises
- Ankle joint mobilisation exercises
Treatment Summary
After just the first shockwave treatment, the volleyball player felt significant relief and a reduction in pain in the aforementioned area. However, the pain had not completely subsided, so the treatment was repeated after two further matches. On each occasion, the player had a day off from training following a match, allowing the effects of metabolic stimulation and tissue regeneration to take place effectively and under conditions optimal for this profession.
In elite sport, the occurrence of such changes is inevitable. Overuse injuries affect not only physically active people, who are, so to speak, accustomed to exercise, but can affect anyone who decides to undertake strenuous physical activity without proper preparation. Professional athletes are adapted to the conditions that such stresses can generate; nevertheless, many stimuli and changes that are not necessarily within their control may contribute to the occurrence of certain incidents rather than others. Fortunately, we have suitable tools, such as shockwave therapy, which are capable of triggering the appropriate tissue regeneration processes and significantly improving the patient’s quality of life.
The athlete’s view
„I won’t hide the fact that I was a little concerned about the pain that had developed above my right knee. As a rule, I make sure I’m properly prepared for training, I also focus on a healthy diet and devote a lot of time to recovery. The fitness coach includes plenty of preventive exercises in the programme, but even that isn’t enough to protect a competitive athlete from such injuries. Fortunately, thanks to shockwave therapy, I managed to deal with this strain really quickly.”
