“How long does it take for tendonitis in the knee to heal?”

Tendinitis can be a lingering problem. It is treated with exercising, stretching, physical therapy, appropriate medications and sometimes injections. Rarely, surgery is necessary. Even so, with all of the treatment outlined the condition may linger or recur. You may need to alter activities that cause recurrence of the problem.

It depends on the treatment that you do for it and the severity of the tendonitis but it can take anywhere between a few weeks and years if you don't treat it properly. You have to see an Orthopaedic surgeon to determine appropriate treatment.

It usually takes 3 to 4 to 6 weeks. During that time, rest, ice, avoid any activity that causes pain, and anti-inflammatory medications should be taken. When returning to sports, do it gradually with low intensity and in short time frames. As long as the pain does not occur, you can gradually increase the time and the intensity.

It depends on what tendon is involved and why it occurred. Chronic tendinitis from overuse will only get better with treatment, consisting of NSAID’s, rest, ice and possibly physical therapy. Acute tendinitis, such as from an injury, usually resolves in about 6 weeks.

The acute inflammatory component, the “itis” in tendonitis, can be short lived and either stop once the activity stops, stop after a short period of time, or persist constantly. The degenerative component is the often underlying issue, and is termed tendinosis. This is the portion of the tendon that can tear and lead to surgery, so it is important to be evaluated by a sports medicine doctor to see if this is an issue for you. The time to “heal” will all depend on the amount of degeneration and which treatment option is chosen that is best for you to follow. However, if there is no improvement after 6 weeks of non-surgical treatment and there is a degenerative area found on ultrasound or MRI scan, you may be a candidate for a minimally invasive treatment that removes the degenerative tissue through a tiny stab incision, after which the recovery from this procedure is usually about 6 weeks.

Ron Noy, MD, FAAOS

There are many tendons around the knee, quadriceps, patellar, hamstrings(4); adductors. Assuming your tendinitis patellar or quad, which are most common, the following is good advice:
1) Try to figure out what caused it and alter your training. These are often overuse problems. So if squats are causing these alter exercises, lighten weight or reps. If b-ball playing less. Also get in the habit of static and dynamic stretches.
2) warm up, stretch before and ice after.
3) sometimes deep tissue massage
4) braces, straps may help
5) good structured eccentric muscle program (PT may be helpful)
6) sometimes structural changes such as alignment, Spurs, calcification can be causes. If pain does resolve suggest radiographs, possible MRI, and evaluation
Good luck