Quadriceps Inhibition After Naturally Occurring Patellar Tendon Damage and Pain.

Context: After knee-joint injury, pain, effusion, and mechanoreceptor damage alter afferent signaling, which can result in quadriceps inhibition and subsequent weakness. The individual contributions of each factor to inhibition remain unclear due to confounding knee-joint injuries and indirect experimental models.

Objective: To characterize the influence of naturally occurring knee damage and pain on quadriceps neuromuscular function in individuals with patellar tendinopathy.