Knee and Ankle Injuries in Volleyball

This chapter discusses two particularly troublesome lower limb conditions that cause volleyball athletes, in general, a great deal of inconvenience and discomfort and which, on occasion, can truncate a player's career. The first of these is jumper's knee, a condition also known as patellar tendinopathy, patellar tendinosis, and, in the past, patellar tendonitis/tendinitis. The chapter also considers ankle sprains - the single most common acute injury suffered by volleyball players. Ankle sprains and patellar tendinopathy account for a significant proportion of injuries in beach volleyball as well. Taken together, these observations should provide ample incentive for physicians and physiotherapists involved in the care of volleyball players to learn how to effectively diagnose and treat both jumper's knee and ankle sprain injuries. The goal of the initial physical examination is to decide whether the patient has a lateral ligament injury as opposed to a different type of injury that may require surgery or immobilization.