Patellar Tendonitis

Some suggestions to help stay out of the gym:

- get some ankle weights ($40 or less) - do your leg extensions sitting at home or at work. I know some people strap tins of beans and stuff on, but this can lead to arguments at mealtimes.

- use those stretchy band things -- they come in different strengths, so you can start light and work on up. Tie one round an ankle and attach the other end to something heavy, immoveable and that (preferably) feels no pain -- that last is an escape clause in case you were thinking of a close friend or family member :) -- then stand and "kick" away.

-- if you want to "cheat" in a really cool way, invest in one of those "stim" machines that send a shot of electric current through electrodes you attach to your muscles. Same principle as the Slendertone devices. Then you can work your quads kn your sleep (well, probably not really, but almost).

If you hadn't said that quad-strengthening exercises always work for you, I'd have recommended that you get an evaluation from a sports-orientated therapist -- someone who can tell you precisely which muscles are weak and which ones are tight. If you sterengthen the wrong ones you could pull things even more out of whack -- b ut you seem to know what you are doing!

i had/have a similar recurring knee problem, i found that altering my running technique helped, so instead of over striding and landing heel to toe i tried the chi/pose running method where you try to land on the fore foot letting the heel touch down briefly as you kick the leg back, something along those lines anyway, there are plenty of resources online about chi running.
i also found that quad strengthening exercises helped, most notably for me anyway were the one leg squats or pistols, they require no equipment at all but take a long time time to master, again a little research and you should easily find a description. also try hindu squats.
i hope you find some of my ramblings even a little useful, and i hope your knee gets better soon,

matthew