Assessing knee and ankle control after jumping injuries.

Jumping injuries are common in sports that use repeated take-off and landing. This includes basketball, volleyball, athletics, running and court-based team sports.

These injuries may start after one awkward landing. They may also build slowly when training load becomes more than your knees, ankles, feet, calves or tendons can handle.

Common signs include knee pain, ankle pain, foot pain, heel pain, calf tightness, or pain with stairs, hopping, sprinting or landing.

A sports physiotherapist can assess the painful area, landing control, strength, training load and return-to-sport plan. Early advice may help you avoid repeated flare-ups.

What Are Jumping Injuries?

Jumping injuries occur when tissues that absorb landing force cannot cope with the load placed on them. The knee, ankle, heel, foot, calf and shin are often involved.

Some injuries are acute. This means they happen after a clear event, such as landing awkwardly after a rebound or jump shot. Others are overuse injuries. These build over days, weeks or months as repeated impact irritates tendons, bones, joints or soft tissues.

Often, more than one factor is involved. For example, an athlete may have ankle stiffness, calf weakness and a quick rise in jump training. Treating only the sore area may miss the reason the pain keeps returning.

Which Sports Commonly Cause Jumping Injuries?

Jumping load is high in sports where athletes jump, land, sprint, stop, cut and pivot under fatigue.

• Basketball injuries often involve repeated jumping, landing, cutting and fast direction changes.
• Volleyball injuries may come from repeated spike, block and landing loads.
• Athletics injuries may involve jumping events, sprinting, plyometrics and track load spikes.
• Running injuries may overlap when jumping athletes also increase running or sprinting volume.
• Sports health factors such as recovery, sleep, heat, energy intake and training planning may also affect injury risk.

Common Jumping Injuries

The injury pattern depends on your sport, age, strength, training load, landing style and injury history. Common jumping injuries include:

• Patellar tendinopathy, often called jumper’s knee. Pain is usually felt below the kneecap during jumping, landing, squatting or stairs.
• Achilles tendinopathy. This may cause heel cord pain or morning stiffness that worsens with jumping or running.
• Plantar fasciitis. This may cause heel or arch pain after impact sessions or after rest.
• Shin splints and stress fractures. These may occur when impact load rises too quickly.
• Chronic ankle instability. The ankle may keep giving way during landing or change of direction.
• Patellofemoral pain. Pain is often felt around or behind the kneecap during stairs, squats, running or jumping.
• Calf strain. This can occur with sudden push-off, hopping, sprinting or repeated jumps.

How Physiotherapists Assess Jumping Injuries

A physiotherapy assessment aims to identify the painful area and why it became overloaded. Your physiotherapist may review your sport, position, footwear, surfaces, gym work, weekly training load and past injuries.

Assessment may include:

• single-leg squat, hop, jump and landing tests
• hip, knee, ankle and foot strength tests
• calf endurance and tendon loading tests
• ankle movement and balance testing
• running or sport movement review
• referral for imaging if bone stress, fracture or major joint injury is suspected

For athletes who also run or sprint, running analysis or biomechanical screening may help guide training changes.

Single-leg landing shows control under load.

Treatment for Jumping Injuries

Treatment depends on the diagnosis, pain level, sport demands and stage of recovery. The aim is to settle symptoms, rebuild capacity and restore confidence with take-off, landing and change of direction.

1. Pain Relief and Load Management

Early care usually reduces the most painful loads without stopping all activity. Your physiotherapist may adjust jump volume, court time, sprinting, hill running, plyometrics or deep knee bend work.

Our acute soft tissue injury and soft tissue injury healing guides explain early injury care in more detail.

2. Strength and Tendon Loading

Rehab may include calf raises, squats, split squats, hip strength work, foot exercises and tendon loading. Tendon rehab often uses staged loading rather than full rest.

3. Landing and Movement Retraining

Landing retraining helps the hip, knee, ankle and foot share load. This may include soft landing drills, hop-and-stick tasks, deceleration work and change-of-direction drills.

4. Return-to-Sport Testing

More complex injuries may need testing before full return. This may include strength checks, hop tests, landing tasks and fatigue-based movement review. Our sports injury physiotherapy and return-to-sport testing pages explain these pathways further.

Return-to-Jump Progression

Return to jumping should progress in stages. The right plan depends on your injury, sport, symptoms and test results.

Can You Reduce Jumping Injury Risk?

You cannot remove all injury risk. However, a structured plan can reduce load spikes and improve landing control.

• Increase training load gradually, especially after illness, holidays or time off.
• Use a warm-up with running, balance, strength, landing and change-of-direction drills.
• Complete strength work 2–3 times per week for calves, quads, glutes, hamstrings and trunk.
• Practise soft landings with the knee tracking over the foot.
• Rotate footwear before shoes lose support or grip.
• Review training volume when pain lasts more than one to two weeks.

The broader sports injuries hub links to sport-specific guides and related injury pages.

When Should You See a Physiotherapist?

Book an assessment if pain stops you from jumping, landing, running, training or playing normally. Earlier review is useful when symptoms change your movement, return each session, or fail to settle with simple load reduction.

Seek urgent medical care if you have severe pain after landing, visible deformity, marked swelling, inability to weight-bear, suspected fracture, night pain, locking, catching, numbness or symptoms that worsen quickly.

Controlled sport drills build return-to-sport confidence.

Related PhysioWorks Guides

• Sports Injuries – a broader overview of sports injury patterns and rehab pathways.
• Knee Pain – common causes of knee pain during sport and daily activity.
• Ankle Pain – ankle injuries, instability and load-related pain.
• Achilles Tendinopathy – tendon pain linked to jumping, running and calf load.
• Tibial Stress Fracture – focal shin pain linked to repeated impact.
• Sports Physiotherapy Brisbane – assessment, rehab and return-to-sport support.

FAQs About Jumping Injuries

Is it safe to train through a jumping injury?

Sometimes, but you usually need to modify the load. Many athletes can keep some fitness work going while they reduce jumping, sprinting, deep knee bend or high-impact drills. Stop and seek assessment if pain changes your technique, worsens after training, or causes swelling or limping.

How long do jumping injuries take to heal?

Minor strains may improve within weeks. Tendon pain, heel pain and bone stress injuries can take longer. Recovery depends on the diagnosis, pain level, training load, strength, sleep, nutrition and sport demands.

What is jumper’s knee?

Jumper’s knee usually means patellar tendinopathy. It causes pain around the patellar tendon below the kneecap. Pain often appears with jumping, landing, squatting, stairs or running. Rehab usually focuses on load control, strength and staged tendon loading.

Why does my ankle hurt after jumping?

Ankle pain after jumping may come from a sprain, joint irritation, tendon overload, impingement or ankle instability. Repeated giving way, swelling or pain that affects landing control should be assessed.

When should I get imaging for a jumping injury?

Imaging may be needed when there is suspected fracture, bone stress injury, major ligament injury, marked swelling, locking, night pain or inability to weight-bear. A physiotherapist or GP can help decide whether an X-ray, ultrasound, CT or MRI is suitable.

Can landing technique reduce jumping injury risk?

Landing technique can help reduce avoidable load on the knee, ankle, foot and calf. It is only one part of the picture. Strength, recovery, training load, footwear and sport demands also matter.

References

1. Fallon K. Overuse injuries in the athlete. Aust J Gen Pract. 2020;49(1-2):8-14.
2. Herman K, Barton C, Malliaras P, Morrissey D. The effectiveness of neuromuscular warm-up strategies, that require no additional equipment, for preventing lower limb injuries during sports participation. BMC Med. 2012;10:75.
3. Bathe C, et al. Training interventions to reduce lower extremity joint injury risk during landing. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2023;9:e001508.
4. van der Vlist AC, Breda SJ, Oei EHG, Verhaar JAN, de Vos RJ. Clinical risk factors for Achilles tendinopathy: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2019;53(21):1352-1361.