How to Train With Tendinitis

A_Sober_Paddy

Hey all,

Just wondering how I'd go about putting together a training routine that I could do while suffering from tendinitis of the knee? I'm asking for a mate who's looking for some advice, but a little for me too. Just waiting for the Dr to confirm I've the same thing:(

Burkatron

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Hey all,

Just wondering how I'd go about putting together a training routine that I could do while suffering from tendinitis of the knee? I'm asking for a mate who's looking for some advice, but a little for me too. Just waiting for the Dr to confirm I've the same thing:(

This might be of interest

EDIT: I should've mentioned depending on how bad the problem is. Everything Weebushy said below supercedes the article if you can train!

WeeBushy

Stretch, stretch, and when you're done stretching, stretch some more. Invest in a foam roller as well. I long had problems with petallar tendinitis and it was only when I got really serious about stretching and foam rolling that its improved considerably. Spend a good 20 mins a day stretching and foam rolling. I can't stress its importance enough, to me anyway.

Make sure to spend a few sessions a week in the gym working on your legs. One of the reasons why I suffer is because my quads were pretty small and that was putting strain on the tendons. But only after a good stretching session first. And after.

Non load bearing sports such as swimming are good obviously. If you are doing any sort of running make sure you have good shoes,and if you can run on grass rather than a hard surface as it takes some of the stress out of it.

That's what's worked for me so far anyway. Its something you need to continually manage, I have found, but once I am on top of it I haven't had too many problems.

spence101

First of all, if it is patellar tendinitis get yourself a jumpers knee strap similar to this

.

I was struggling for months before I got one and it instantly relieves alot of pain while training, I can play a full 90 minutes football game with it on, but cant run for the train without it!

Stronger leg muscles will help tendinitis, and a strong VMO will certainly help tracking of the patella.

As for a routine, I have to manage the loads I exert on my knee but I do train at a relatively high level. But recovery days are important and I usually have to ice my knee 4-5 times a day after a tough session.

Good luck man.

Oh and I went to a specialist after waiting 3-4 months only for him to tell me, "yeah, you have tendinitis.....nothing much I can do except for the strap and ice...."

A_Sober_Paddy

Cheers guys,

I'm due in the Dr's office at 3ish, so I'll hopefully know either way for certain for myself. But judging my pain and were I'm felling it I've the same as my mate(tendinitis):(

Stretch, stretch, and when you're done stretching, stretch some more. Invest in a foam roller as well. I long had problems with petallar tendinitis and it was only when I got really serious about stretching and foam rolling that its improved considerably. Spend a good 20 mins a day stretching and foam rolling. I can't stress its importance enough, to me anyway.

Make sure to spend a few sessions a week in the gym working on your legs. One of the reasons why I suffer is because my quads were pretty small and that was putting strain on the tendons. But only after a good stretching session first. And after.

Non load bearing sports such as swimming are good obviously. If you are doing any sort of running make sure you have good shoes,and if you can run on grass rather than a hard surface as it takes some of the stress out of it.

That's what's worked for me so far anyway. Its something you need to continually manage, I have found, but once I am on top of it I haven't had too many problems.

@weebushy have you had to stop training for a while, totally or just change your programme?

I normally cycle can't swim and hate running:D

WeeBushy

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Cheers guys,

I'm due in the Dr's office at 3ish, so I'll hopefully know either way for certain for myself. But judging my pain and were I'm felling it I've the same as my mate(tendinitis):(

@weebushy have you had to stop training for a while, totally or just change your programme?

To begin with I cut down on the load of training but never stopped altogether. My physio said there wasn't much point in stopping altogether because if you do that then the muscles that are deficient around the knee and leg (which was my problem) aren't going to develop. He had me stretching and doing leg weights (bodyweight to begin with) and cut down on repetitive stress movements like running until my legs built up a bit. Then we increased the training as my legs developed so I was back to full rugby training, when I had been down to one session a week on top of my rehab to begin with.

I found going to the physio very helpful purely for the deep muscle massage, as they completely loosened my legs allowing for the muscles to support the knee properly. Now that I'm on top of it I don't go any more, the foam rolling takes the place of the massage and does the job. I would recommend going to a specialist sports physio, there's not much a doctor can do in my experience, all mine could do was give me a referral to a good physio. Which I found very important as my physio was an ex-rugby player so knew exactly what I was doing and what I needed to be able to do.

I do find that if I get lazy with the stretching and foam rolling they start to twinge again. But I have found that when being sensible with it, its a perfectly manageable injury, once you get over the worst of it. And I had it pretty bad, just walking down the street would hurt.

A_Sober_Paddy

WeeBushy wrote: »

To begin with I cut down on the load of training but never stopped altogether. My physio said there wasn't much point in stopping altogether because if you do that then the muscles that are deficient around the knee and leg (which was my problem) aren't going to develop. He had me stretching and doing leg weights (bodyweight to begin with) and cut down on repetitive stress movements like running until my legs built up a bit. Then we increased the training as my legs developed so I was back to full rugby training, when I had been down to one session a week on top of my rehab to begin with.

I found going to the physio very helpful purely for the deep muscle massage, as they completely loosened my legs allowing for the muscles to support the knee properly. Now that I'm on top of it I don't go any more, the foam rolling takes the place of the massage and does the job. I would recommend going to a specialist sports physio, there's not much a doctor can do in my experience, all mine could do was give me a referral to a good physio. Which I found very important as my physio was an ex-rugby player so knew exactly what I was doing and what I needed to be able to do.

I do find that if I get lazy with the stretching and foam rolling they start to twinge again. But I have found that when being sensible with it, its a perfectly manageable injury, once you get over the worst of it. And I had it pretty bad, just walking down the street would hurt.

Well the training I'm doing is 3 time a week in the gym, squating each of the 3 days, Monday, Wednesday & Friday split...At the moment the pain is grand but I've decided not to let it get to a stage were its a bigger problem. My mate is fairly crippled with it(doesn't help that his as lazy as a couch).

Burkatron

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Well the training I'm doing is 3 time a week in the gym, squating each of the 3 days, Monday, Wednesday & Friday split...At the moment the pain is grand but I've decided not to let it get to a stage were its a bigger problem. My mate is fairly crippled with it(doesn't help that his as lazy as a couch).

Does it not improve if you cut back to 2 days, or deload? How long have you being squatting 3 days a week? Are you doing a 5x5 variant?

A_Sober_Paddy

Burkatron wrote: »

Does it not improve if you cut back to 2 days, or deload? How long have you being squatting 3 days a week? Are you doing a 5x5 variant?

5x5 yes...

I'm up to 85kg I think off the top of my head, its only started over the last few days, thus the visit to the Doc today

Burkatron

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

5x5 yes...

I'm up to 85kg I think off the top of my head, its only started over the last few days, thus the visit to the Doc today

I see,

1 last contribution for the moment, I knew I'd seen something on "Jumpers knee" recently enough here

WeeBushy

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Well the training I'm doing is 3 time a week in the gym, squating each of the 3 days, Monday, Wednesday & Friday split...At the moment the pain is grand but I've decided not to let it get to a stage were its a bigger problem. My mate is fairly crippled with it(doesn't help that his as lazy as a couch).

Get to a specialist sports physio and find out what the cause is, and start working on rectifying that before it gets too bad if I were you. Its a pain in the hole knee of an injury.

WeeBushy

Burkatron wrote: »

I see,

1 last contribution for the moment, I knew I'd seen something on "Jumpers knee" recently enough here

Really excellent video, thanks. Says a lot of the stuff my physio taught me.

A_Sober_Paddy

Hey all, just back from the doc's...Its not tendinitis according to the good ole doc...

She reckon's I've just strained the tendon's and she's banned me from the gym and cycling for 2 weeks:(

Been given Difene & Paracetamol and when I go back to the gym I'll need a knee support

Hanley

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Hey all, just back from the doc's...Its not tendinitis according to the good ole doc...

She reckon's I've just strained the tendon's and she's banned me from the gym and cycling for 2 weeks:(

Been given Difene & Paracetamol and when I go back to the gym I'll need a knee support

Simply staggering.

Why do you need the knee support exactly?

I assume they recommend a course of action to stop the issue reoccurring?

A_Sober_Paddy

Hanley wrote: »

Simply staggering.

Why do you need the knee support exactly?

I assume they recommend a course of action to stop the issue reoccurring?

To wear a knee support was there recommendation?

Burkatron

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

To wear a knee support was there recommendation?

Typical!! Thats awful advice if it's a long term solution!

Hanley

Burkatron wrote: »

Typical!! Thats awful advice if it's a long term solution!

That's what I was getting at alright

You don't "fix" an issue by ignorIng it. You need to identify the cause and remedy it. Mwod is a great place to do that!!

WeeBushy

No point in treating the symptoms without fixing the cause. There is a reason your petallar tendon was damaged in the first place. Go to a sports physio, identify the problem, and it will be fixed long term, otherwise whatever caused it will just happen again.

A_Sober_Paddy

Cheers for all the feedback guys, Is there a chance that I may have just pushed myself a little too hard on the bike and in the gym to cause this?

Also I just realised the doc is pumping me full of drugs, difine 50mg x3 a day, Paracetamol x8 a day...Is that a little too much?

Also in regards to sports physio, can anyone recommend one for me in the Limerick area and how much would one cost?

diegowhite

Besides all the above have found tiger balm as a simple way for relieving tendontitis in my shoulder. Yes tissue manipulation and stretching seem to be the best long term relief of tendinitis and I've seen doctors, specialists, physio and ART on the way to realising this

WeeBushy

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Cheers for all the feedback guys, Is there a chance that I may have just pushed myself a little too hard on the bike and in the gym to cause this?

Also I just realised the doc is pumping me full of drugs, difine 50mg x3 a day, Paracetamol x8 a day...Is that a little too much?

Also in regards to sports physio, can anyone recommend one for me in the Limerick area and how much would one cost?

Yes it could be that, or it could be something else, why wonder. Go and find out what caused it.

I know nothing about drugs, so wouldn't want to comment.

Don't know Limerick but UL is probably the best sports facility in Ireland so I would imagine they have very good physios if you can go there.

A_Sober_Paddy

WeeBushy wrote: »

Yes it could be that, or it could be something else, why wonder. Go and find out what caused it.

I know nothing about drugs, so wouldn't want to comment.

Don't know Limerick but UL is probably the best sports facility in Ireland so I would imagine they have very good physios if you can go there.

Well one of the physio's based out there works with a certain Mr Bolt so he wouldn't be cheap

WeeBushy

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Well one of the physio's based out there works with a certain Mr Bolt so he wouldn't be cheap

Maybe someone else can recommend a sports physio in limerick, but you should really go to one.