Patellar Tendonitis

blatchcorn
blatchcorn Posts: 35
edited October 2016 in Training, fitness and health
I've had patellar tendonitis for about 4 weeks now and I'm really struggling to get rid of it.

Here is what I have tried:
Week 1 - rest (no improvement)
Week 2 - rest and stretches (lots of improvement)
I saw a Physio who identified a few potential causes and prescribed exercises which I have been doing
Week 3 - two bike rides, one run and stretches. The run hurt afterwards and set my recovery back a bit
Week 4 - Rest, ice, stretches and bike fit. The bike fit did correct stuff which could have caused the injury.
Week 5 - knee felt pretty much perfect and went for an easy ride. Next to none discomfort riding. The next day (today) I can feel tightness in the tendons and slight pain when putting load on the knee.

I feel like I am doing everything I can do make this go away but obviously it's not fully healed.
My questions are:
1) Will riding make any difference? I could see how it can definitely make it worse of the tendons are getting damaged, but I can also see that there are benefits in stimulating blood flow to the area to repair damage.
2) What else can I do to make this go away? I feel like it should have gone by now.

Comments

  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    I had a different form of tendonitis and I was advised to train through it at about 85% of normal effort. it worked.

    I also tried resting but it get worse as soon as you start training again.
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  • joenobody
    joenobody Posts: 563
    I had it a few years ago - tried to train through it, although on a reduced level, but it didn't get better. Needed to take a year off in the end. Not been a problem since though, so for me a complete extended break was the best choice, even if it was difficult to manage.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    Stop the running
  • blatchcorn
    blatchcorn Posts: 35
    Just to clarify, the damage was done cycling and returning to cycling has caused more damage
  • Bill Black
    Bill Black Posts: 39
    Tendons have no blood supply within them and that makes them very slow to heal and tendonitis can easily become chronic. For really stubborn tendonitis, a short course of DMSO (apply 2x or 3x per day and use pharmaceutical grade) should solve the problem although you need to sort out the initiating cause.
    Bill Black
  • gazrichards
    gazrichards Posts: 524
    And now the correct answer from a sports injury professional and qualified bike fitter!
    Rest will do very little except stop you aggravating the problem. This kind of problem will be very very slow to heal itself (hence the previous comment about having a year off!)
    Go back to your physio or see a sports massage therapist (preferably one that works with cyclists). You will most likely have some severe tightness in your quads and vmo etc. You will need this to be manipulated and stretched via massage, stretching and foam rolling.
    You should be riding all through the course of treatment otherwise you don't know if it is getting better. Start with short rides (20/30 mins) and add 10/15 mins at a time until you are riding at full length again.
    You will probably need 6 to 8 sessions of really painful massage starting at a week apart and then slowly getting further apart until they are monthly. It would be a good idea to keep seeing the therapist every month to 6 weeks indefinitely to stop the problem happening again. Treatments should cost £25-30 depending on where you live per half hour.
    Whilst running isn't my favourite activity, there is no reason you shouldn't be able to do it if it's what you want to do. A good therapist will work with you to get you running again. I have and will never tell someone they need to stop doing the activity they want to be doing!
  • geode
    geode Posts: 25
    I followed this http://www.fix-knee-pain.com/patellar-t ... endonitis/

    To help increase the blood flow I also used hot pads on my knee several times a day for around 30mins at a time.
  • vpnikolov
    vpnikolov Posts: 568
    Had the same issue as you (on both the patella and quadriceps tendons), gladly it did not take me very long to recover, but I managed to lock my knee on the bike while sprinting one day and impinged the fat pad. All this in the space of a month just before the Prudential. :roll:
  • kevin_stephens
    kevin_stephens Posts: 184
    I suffered from this for a few years. The solution after consulting an insole specialist was simply to move my shoe cleat as far back as possible on the leg concerned. This fixed it for me and its been fine ever since
    I want to climb hills so badly;
    and I climb hills so badly
  • thejames
    thejames Posts: 14
    A compression sleeve is all I use and it works wonders.. compression helps to keep my knee stabilzing and stop shocks from attacking the patellar and making thingd worse.
  • Dodger747
    Dodger747 Posts: 305
    I have tight quads which sometimes causes tendonitis of the knee - so I always ensure I do some good stretching of the quads and hip flexors...
    VO2 Max - 79 ml/kg/min
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