Eero Hirvonen undergoes minor knee procedure

At the end of the 2017/2018 season, the Team Finland’s Eero Hirvonen suffered from prolonged knee pain, the so-called jumper's knee. The knee was rehabilitated for training and competition during the summer and autumn of 2018. On Wednesday 15.4., he underwent an endoscopy performed to remove the scar tissue from the tendon attachment area and smooth out new bone accumulation in the patellar patch to keep the intermittent pain away.

After a rehabilitation period two years ago, Hirvonen has competed and trained normally, taking into account the pain caused by the strain. Particular attention has been paid to jumping training and the amount of pressure on the knee.

"I've been able to train and do all the necessary exercises, nothing had to be ruled out. When the strain became more and more and irritated the knee, the training and exercise load is lightened and practice applied, in particular before the race weekends," said Hirvonen.

So far, Hirvonen’s jumping training has been carried out according to plan, with the exception of a few individual exercises, even though occurring pain sometimes lead to a lower number of jumps taken than necessary.

Therefore, it was now decided to clean up the knee as there was no risk of injury. "The knee was not broken, so there is no risk of injury. And although my pain has been intermittent, efforts are now being made to eliminate it completely," Hirvonen explains the operation.

The knee was looked at by Chief Sports Orthopedist Mikko Kirjavainen. "There has been several years of stress in the tendon attachment area of ​​Eero's patella and thigh muscle, which has been treated during periods with active rehabilitation and injections. Now was a good time to perform a cleansing to speed up recovery from surgery, "says Kirjavainen.

Hirvonen is scheduled to return to training as soon as possible. The return to the athlete's daily life begins with rehabilitative and ancillary training, and according to the plan, strength training and jumping will be included in the program from the beginning of the summer. Jari Hiekkavirta, the physiotherapist and coach of the national team, is responsible for Hirvonen's rehabilitation and monitoring of recovery.