Chondromalacia Patella (Knee Pain) – Experience from TT players

[Leonardo12345]

Found this on Google while looking up table tennis knee pain. Staying low in that deep ready stance and lunging for loops was absolutely killing my kneecaps.

Standard PT and braces did nothing because the cartilage under my kneecap was already worn down. I ended up consulting with Dr. Thornton from Dallas to look into cartilage restoration, and he actually got my knees tracking right again.

If you're struggling to stay low without constant pain, definitely get a sports ortho to check the actual joint before you keep grinding it down.

 

[Sherpa]

Patella pain is generally caused by the patella not tracking correctly, and is pulling to one side. This is caused by an inbalance in your muscles, so there generally will be tightness in your quad area, As has been suggested orthotics may also be needed to address the issue. You need to see a good physio who looks the whole mechanics of your legs.

 

[golden_son]

I can—at least anecdotally—back up what @Sherpa says. I started having patellar ligament pain after every training session, to the point where I'd come home and have difficulty climbing the stairs in my house. I always thought I had strong legs, so I chalked it up to just getting older. Patellar bands helped a little bit, but then I started getting pains in my LCL and elsewhere. After a few months of physio I've been pain-free for almost a year with no need for extra support. I also try to pay more attention to knee mobility during my warmup now.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

ive had knee problems (among others) recently as im getting older, now i make sure to make some warmup movements and i play with knee support. it doesnt really impair performance and its quite comfortable. it gives me more confidence to play freely.

otoh back support is not very comfortable for me so i dont use it unless i start to feel pain

 

[Williamad33]

Hi all,

A few months ago I was diagnosed with chondromalacia patella (cartilage fissure behind the kneecap). I'm an amateur table tennis player (25 y.o.), training around 5–10 hours per week, including footwork and multiball sessions.

I've already been to physiotherapy, but unfortunately it didn’t resolve the issue. I've also been prescribed a compression sleeve, which helps only to some extent. The pain isn’t too bad during training, but it tends to flare up afterward — especially in the evening or the next day.

I’m trying to figure out how to manage this in the long term. Has anyone here dealt with a similar issue?
How did it go for you — did you take a break, modify your training, or find something that helped?
Also, as I understand, this condition is actually pretty common among professional athletes, so I was wondering if anyone here knows how pro table tennis players deal with it?
Any tips or personal insights would be really appreciated.
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Thanks in advance!

Chondromalacia patella (patellofemoral pain syndrome) is extremely common in sports like table tennis due to the constant low-crouch stance, rapid lateral footwork, and heavy eccentric loads placed on the kneecap. When physio hasn't fully cleared the post-training flare-ups, it usually means the knee joint is still absorbing forces that its surrounding stabilizer muscles aren't yet conditioned to offload.

 

[Metaxa]

It's a medical problem you get at 11/12, when the growing process starts, puberty and its issues. Alexis Lebrun couldn't make a full season before he was 16, he's been dealing with back and knee problems all his puberty, genetics... you can't fight against that with simple things like "hey muscle reinforcement and done !". And even after that, he's been out of the WTT for 6 months in 2022/2023 for the same problem. That's why he wears specific Yonex shoes that looks like tennis shoes, the shop in Rouen that buy them for him, Multiset, is always trying to find more supportive badminton shoes for him, means wider, bigger shoes with more cushion. The Lebrun's staff is indeed having sometimes difficulties to get him the right shoes.

Absolutely correct, I can confirm that. I developed a joint mouse in the bones of my knee at a very young age (15). It affected both my lower and upper leg. I’ve already posted about the outcome here, as I had two total knee replacements at the ages of 49 (left) and 50 (right).

 

[Goranis]

I’ve dealt with knee issues in the past, and one thing that stood out to me was how different the knee could feel during training compared with later that evening or the following morning. It’s easy to think that everything is fine because you can get through the session, only to realize afterward that the workload was too much.

With table tennis, I imagine the repeated footwork, lunging and changes of direction can add up even when there isn’t much pain during the actual session. It might be worth discussing the training volume and specific movements with a sports physio who works with athletes, rather than only focusing on the sleeve or trying to push through it.

I’d also be interested to hear from other players who have dealt with something similar. In particular, whether reducing the amount of footwork or multiball for a while made a noticeable difference, and how they eventually built the workload back up. The fact that your symptoms are worse later rather than during training seems like an important detail to mention to your physio.

 

[golden_son]

I’ve dealt with knee issues in the past, and one thing that stood out to me was how different the knee could feel during training compared with later that evening or the following morning. It’s easy to think that everything is fine because you can get through the session, only to realize afterward that the workload was too much.

With table tennis, I imagine the repeated footwork, lunging and changes of direction can add up even when there isn’t much pain during the actual session. It might be worth discussing the training volume and specific movements with a sports physio who works with athletes, rather than only focusing on the sleeve or trying to push through it.

I’d also be interested to hear from other players who have dealt with something similar. In particular, whether reducing the amount of footwork or multiball for a while made a noticeable difference, and how they eventually built the workload back up. The fact that your symptoms are worse later rather than during training seems like an important detail to mention to your physio.

Speaking from my own experience, yes — less lateral footwork (especially on my club's hardwood floors) was needed for a while while I went through therapy. Even heavy loops and drives where you're putting load on your dominant leg I had to hold off on for a couple of weeks during the worst of it. Lots of work on knee stabilization and hamstring + glute strengthening eventually got me back to being able to play fully without much lingering soreness, except after a particularly intense training or back-to-back days of footwork drills. While I was going through PT I just asked my coach to do less footwork and multiball and mix in other things, but I didn't stop fully; just cut it down to maybe 10 balls at a time with breaks in between, then eventually 20, and so on.