Long-term Prognosis of Athletes With Patellar Tendinopathy Receiving Physical Therapy: Patient-Reported Outcomes at 5-Year Follow-up.

This study followed up athletes with patellar tendinopathy (jumper's knee) 5 years after they took part in a randomized trial testing education, load management advice, and exercise therapy. Researchers wanted to know how these athletes were doing years later, including their pain levels, disability, and whether they returned to sport. Of 76 eligible participants, 58 (76%) responded to an online questionnaire at a mean follow-up of 5 years. At follow-up, 76% of participants felt recovered, and both pain during sports and disability scores (VISA-P) improved significantly compared to baseline.

Most participants (71%) returned to their desired sport, though only 68% of these reached their prior performance level. However, almost a quarter of participants did not feel recovered and reported worse pain, disability, and return-to-performance outcomes. No factors were identified that predicted who would feel recovered, and the study relied on self-report from a single small cohort without a comparison group, limiting how confidently these findings can be generalized.

This study looked at what happens to athletes with patellar tendinopathy (a common overuse injury also known as jumper's knee) five years after receiving physical therapy that included education, activity advice, and exercises. Researchers followed up with 58 of 76 originally enrolled participants using a questionnaire. The results were generally encouraging but not universally positive.

About three-quarters of participants felt they had recovered, and their pain and disability scores improved meaningfully compared to when they started treatment. Most people (71%) got back to playing their preferred sport, though many did so at a lower level than before their injury. However, almost one in four participants still did not feel recovered five years later, and this group reported more pain and disability.

The researchers could not identify any specific factors that predicted who would recover and who wouldn't. Because this study relied on people's own memories and reports, and did not include a comparison group of untreated athletes, it cannot say for certain how much of this improvement was directly due to the physical therapy itself.

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This is a 5-year follow-up cohort study of 58 respondents (76% response rate) from an original 76 participants enrolled in a randomized trial of education, load management, and exercise therapy for patellar tendinopathy. It provides valuable long-term data on patient-reported outcomes, an area the authors note was previously unknown. At follow-up, 76% self-reported recovery via a dichotomized global rating of change, with statistically significant improvements in sports pain and VISA-P scores from baseline.

Return to sport was common (71% to desired sport, though only 68% of these reached prior performance level), and 9% ceased sport entirely. Notably, no prognostic factors were identified in logistic regression models associated with self-perceived recovery, despite nearly a quarter of participants remaining unrecovered with worse pain, disability, and lower return-to-performance rates. Key limitations include the single-arm, non-controlled design (no comparison to natural history or alternative treatments), reliance on retrospective self-report, and a relatively small sample.

These constraints mean causal attribution to the physical therapy intervention cannot be established, and the findings should be interpreted as descriptive prognostic information rather than evidence of treatment efficacy.