Serena Williams knee injury

Serena Williams knee injury won't keep her out of the Olympics

Despite pulling out of a recent tournament, tennis star Serena Williams believes she will have no problem recovering from her knee injury in time to compete at the Olympic games.

The American, currently ranked fifth in the world, is suffering from an inflamed knee joint, which needed an MRI scan to reveal the problem.

Inflamed knee joint

An inflamed knee joint is sometimes the result of a condition called Bursitis of the knee. The condition normally occurs when an athlete has been in a kneeling postion for a prolonged amount of time.

The knee joint is surrounded by the three major bursae.  At the tip of the knee, over the kneecap bone, is the prepatellar bursa. This bursa is often the area which becomes inflamed.

Tennis players like Serena Williams will do a lot of bending and flexing of the knee when moving around court and stretching to make shots, so it is not an uncommon problem for athletes from her sport.

Recovering from an inflamed knee joint

Recovery from an inflamed knee joint involves icing the inflamed area, resting up and doing some mild physiotherapy to restore flexibility to the knee.

Check out how Serena reacts to getting injured