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Patellar Tendinopathy: Biologics

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Orthobiologics
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Abstract

Patellar tendinopathy is a common cause of anterior knee pain characterized by the degeneration of the proximal patellar tendon. It is often an overuse injury caused by excessive activities that require jumping, running, or rapid changes in direction. The mainstay of treatment for patellar tendinopathy is conservative management, consisting of physical therapy, extracorporeal shock wave therapy, and dry needling. There are multiple studies evaluating the effect of injectable biologics in patients with patellar tendinopathy. Injectable biologics include hyaluronic acid, autologous bone marrow stem/stromal cells, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Injectable PRP is the most studied biologic with promising results for the treatment of patellar tendinopathy. The majority of these studies specifically look at the effect of PRP on patellar tendinopathy and the level of evidence ranges from case series to randomized control trials to systematic reviews/meta-analyses. Numerous high-quality studies show improvement in symptoms, and many show a significant improvement compared to other conservative options. There is room for improvement with regard to uniformity of administration protocols, and more high-quality controlled studies are needed to determine its true efficacy.

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Correspondence to Jason Dragoo .

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Kandil, R., Dragoo, J. (2022). Patellar Tendinopathy: Biologics. In: Filardo, G., Mandelbaum, B.R., Muschler, G.F., Rodeo, S.A., Nakamura, N. (eds) Orthobiologics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84744-9_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84744-9_17

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