patellar tendinitis

[hlcn8]

anyone else have this? I've read documentation both ways, saying to rest it, and some saying to rehab and work through it. anything besides ice and aspirin or other NSAID's to help with it?
My Dr. said to give up all leg presses, squats, etc., and yet several sports medicine websites have advocated strengthening the tendons/muscles/ligaments, what sort of exercises might do this for me?

[Curls4dGirls]

I'm just recovering from a terrible case of patellar tendonitis. Squats were the culprit. My doc told me to rest ... no leg exercises. Yeah, right.

Try glucosamine and chondritin ... didn't help much for me. I also used celebrex, which helped a lot with the pain, but is terrible for your system. When I took squats out of my routine, the pain would subside, but return once I put squats back into my routine.

I recently switched my squat form ... used to squat to parallel and now I go to the floor. No pain since I've switched. Check out this link:

http://danjohn.org/squat101_files/frame.html

If I were you, I would try to figure out which exercise is giving you the pain, and then make sure your form is dead on.

Also, check this thread starting at week 3 ... captures my battle with PT http://www.superiormuscle.com/vbulle...0&pagenumber=2

[hlcn8]

thank you bro, i will start making some changes in my routine tomorrow (next leg day)
thanx for the input!

[shortz]

Inactivity will always cause joints, connective tissue and tendons to become tight. The joint needs rest from work loads, but should still have light movements done to keep it loose.

[Shibby]

I'll just throw in the fact that you can't stregthen tendons and ligaments. You can increase there elastisity, but that can cause other issues. When you get pain in these it's from micro tears in it. How bad depends on the level of trauma. Strengthening the muscles around the tendons and ligaments help in takeing strain off of them. Tendons is fiberous tissue that conects muscle to bone and ligaments is fiberous tissue that connects bone to bone.

[johnpar]

Try warming up with leg extensions before squats. I use to have the same pain, started the LE warmup 2 months ago & haven't had any pain since. Also I have to use very strict, slow reps. Hope this helps, gotta do squats!

[shortz]

Originally posted by johnpar
Try warming up with leg extensions before squats. I use to have the same pain, started the LE warmup 2 months ago & haven't had any pain since. Also I have to use very strict, slow reps. Hope this helps, gotta do squats!

Leg ext can easily aggitate an injury depending on where in the knee it is located. They are actually harder on the knees than most other leg exercises.

[hlcn8]

well, i tried doing legs last night, got through about 2 sets before my knee felt like it was going to give out. i warmed my knees up carefully as always, and then tried to carefully use the form c4dg linked to, but i think i have to give my knees some time to heal before starting up again, thank you for your input everyone!

[dude]

You can train with that type of injury. Reduce your volume and focus on using a short range of motion. Do not go through the full range of motion as it will increase the torque on your knee joint. Make sure to ice the area with an ice cube massage for 8 minutes after exercise.

[Shibby]

Originally posted by dude
You can train with that type of injury. Reduce your volume and focus on using a short range of motion. Do not go through the full range of motion as it will increase the torque on your knee joint. Make sure to ice the area with an ice cube massage for 8 minutes after exercise.

Why train through the injury? Why not let it heal? Even with the shorter range of motion, your still going to put trauma to the injury. If your not going through the whole range of motion, your not working out properly anyways or going to get the benifits.

[Curls4dGirls]

There might be a way to "traing through the injury." Try to find some leg exercises that you can perform properly that also don't bother your knees ... an active recovery of sorts. That's what I did. I laid off of squats and focused on leg press and straight leg deads until my knees stopped hurting (about 4 weeks). Then, I added ATF squats at light weight back into the routine.

But, I agree with Shibby, if your knees hurt on every exercise, the only option is to lay off completely.

[NYCmitch25]

Originally posted by Shibby
Why train through the injury? Why not let it heal? Even with the shorter range of motion, your still going to put trauma to the injury. If your not going through the whole range of motion, your not working out properly anyways or going to get the benifits.

I dont think you quite understand its not an injury like when someone falls and breaks their arm. Its an overuse or inflamation of the tendon. Rest doesnt neccesarily "fix" the issue. patellar tendinitis aka jumpers knee common in hoops players and runners. Stretch your hamstrings!!!! Everyday. NSAIDS will help. ICE in 20min periods. After. ICE during the day, ICE often. youll be surprised. If its really painful swim in a pool non weight bearing xercise. These are good workouts. Try to get a referal to PT. Youll be back in no time. Dont ignore it. I studied AT/PT in college. Their are 2 trains of thought. Docs want to do surgery and give medication first. This is how they make a living. We want to treat it aggressively and avoid surgery. Possible cortisol injection all inflamation will disappear. TThen work on prevention. Quality of life for the indivual is important. As an advid lifter (which docs for the most part arent) they dont understand being out of commission for 4 weeks + is not good.

R I C E
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

[Shibby]

Originally posted by NYCmitch25
I dont think you quite understand its not an injury like when someone falls and breaks their arm. Its an overuse or inflamation of the tendon. Rest doesnt neccesarily "fix" the issue. patellar tendinitis aka jumpers knee common in hoops players and runners. Stretch your hamstrings!!!! Everyday. NSAIDS will help. ICE in 20min periods. After. ICE during the day, ICE often. youll be surprised. If its really painful swim in a pool non weight bearing xercise. These are good workouts. Try to get a referal to PT. Youll be back in no time. Dont ignore it. I studied AT/PT in college. Their are 2 trains of thought. Docs want to do surgery and give medication first. This is how they make a living. We want to treat it aggressively and avoid surgery. Possible cortisol injection all inflamation will disappear. TThen work on prevention. Quality of life for the indivual is important. As an advid lifter (which docs for the most part arent) they dont understand being out of commission for 4 weeks + is not good.

R I C E
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

Actually I understand just fine. It's actually and injury in the patellar tendon which attaches to the quadricep muscles. When the overstretching of the tendon occurs it has to give somewhere. That is the proximal anterior tibia, where the tendon starts to tear away from the bone. Resting for a couple weeks is the best care of the injury along with ice and antiinflamitory medicine after any strenous use (not from lifting if your suppose to be resting). If you're in the condition your suppose to be in to be a serious lifter, 2 weeks off won't be that detrimental, may even be needed. The use of a patellar strap could ease in the pain continuing or reacurring when continuing lifting. I am studying AT right now and I see it's been a while since you have studied it since it is now PRICE (Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) and no longer RICE. Both refers to immediate treatment following acute injury not chronic pain (pain lasting longer than 1 month.)

[NYCmitch25]

Great answer. However, you should have said that the first time. I think we are on the the same page. Dont u? If you read my response I suggest a non-weight bearing activity if he is in pain. I said RICE cuz people know this one. Plus you havent described details about protection for us? If you mention it you should talk about it.

Ok, this is part of my reasoning. I have rotator cuff tendinitis and/or subacromial bursa inflamation. I have rested my shoulder for multiple weeks-no help. I was eating NSAIDS like tic tacs. It suxs little help. The only thing to help was Ice and perform rotator cuff excersises strengthen other muscles. Do you have any sugestions for me?

[Shibby]

My answer may have not came out sounding right to you, but I try to "dumb it down" (for lack of a better term) for those who aren't into it enough to follow the detailed explination.


Those can take A LONG time to heal. Constant abuse to the bursa causes it to stretch and fill with extra fluid. The irritation and inflimation could be do to an improper form on a lift. Most common Laterall raises (unless you play baseball). When the bursa fills it shifts everything into the wrong position and can pinch the supraspinatus tendon between the clavical and humerus. Just from the sound of it you can imagine how long it can take to heal. Some cases the bursitis will need to be aspirated by a doctor to remove the extra fluid and get the bursa to it's original size. It all depends on how bad it has gotten. So just a few weeks hear and there when it's unbearable usually isn't enough. The most common problem amongst the athletes I have worked with is once the pain is managable(for any injury) or very recently gone they feel ready to go again. But the injury hasn't healed enough to go at it 100% even if that 100% now is not as much as there previous 100%. It's still to much for it to handle that soon. There isn't anything I can suggest other than what your already doing. Only thing is to try and rest it even longer if your willing. If it is still a problem, than you may need to see a physician.