Patellar Tendonitis

[Fast Forward]

Its got me off the bike for 2 months already and the end is not in sight. Keen to hear if anyone here had any experience with this injury and willing to dispence with your experience.

It seems to be an overuse injury which I suffered during the Ironman and aggravated doing the Panorama tour. Also injured the popliteus muscle in the he event. Dr's advise was to do rehab training and wait it out.

This is killing me. Cancelled few races already. Sigh....

[fanievb]

How's you cleat alignment?

[outoftowner]

Been there, and unfortunately it is a long road back. Physio good place to start, but check your bike set up as well. Don't rush getting back on the bike, otherwise you can cause permanent damage.

[Fisan]

Its got me off the bike for 2 months already and the end is not in sight. Keen to hear if anyone here had any experience with this injury and willing to dispence with your experience.

It seems to be an overuse injury which I suffered during the Ironman and aggravated doing the Panorama tour. Also injured the popliteus muscle in the he event. Dr's advise was to do rehab training and wait it out.

This is killing me. Cancelled few races already. Sigh....

 

Nothing productive to add, but "in the same boat as you". Severe ITBS since 8 May. Been to physios, bios, doctors, only seeing some (minor) improvements now....

[Cruz Addict]

i dont have "Patellar tendinitis" as such but do have tendinitis in my right shoulder due to successive falls on the same side in Dec, have been struggling for months to just get rid of the pain with no luck, several physio visits have resulted in nothing more than bills, until last month. 

a friend suggested making use of ice and heat, i have used a bag of frozen peas for 5 minutes then immediately a hot wheat pillow, ( this causes the blood vessels to expand and allow more oxygen rich blood to get to the area from what i understand) tendons are notoriously blood and oxygen depleted which is why healing takes as long as it does, from my understanding.

any way since trying this i have noticed a significant reduction in pain and have the sense that i am actually getting better vs just waiting for things to happen on their own.

 

i am not a doctor and everything i have written here is my layman's understanding but i have noticed a big difference in just a few days( it may just have been the time for my body to heal by fluke but hey i am not complaining either way).

i cant say you will get the same result but i have been advised the same by my physio as well and so far it does seem to be working for me.

good luck on the road to healing.

 

[V12man]

Its got me off the bike for 2 months already and the end is not in sight. Keen to hear if anyone here had any experience with this injury and willing to dispence with your experience.

It seems to be an overuse injury which I suffered during the Ironman and aggravated doing the Panorama tour. Also injured the popliteus muscle in the he event. Dr's advise was to do rehab training and wait it out.

This is killing me. Cancelled few races already. Sigh....

I would question the diagnosis a little - given the extended recovery time already - many things it could be but finding out which one exactly could be expensive.

 

I would reccomend you get an experienced and  competent SPORTS physician to re-evaluate - but Ermelo is unlikely to have such - CT, Durban, Pretoria or Jhb most likely.

 

If you don't want to consider further investigation, then you could - in consultation with your local doc, consider a local steroid injection to help, or continue to wait it out with traditional physio assistance.

[Fast Forward]

Ive been to Dr Philda de Jager at the High Performance Centre at Tukkies. Im quietely satisfied with the diagnosis. The initial injury started at 140km - burning pain on the upper part of the calve behind the knee. Thereafter the knee started to pain at bout 24km into the run. Worst decision to do the Panorama 2 weeks thereafter. So, only my training and stupidity to blame. She did say check the bike setup and running shoes. That ill do once i can train again, however I did a comprehensive range setup 6 months prior. Im just keen to know others road to healing.

[V12man]

Ive been to Dr Philda de Jager at the High Performance Centre at Tukkies. Im quietely satisfied with the diagnosis. The initial injury started at 140km - burning pain on the upper part of the calve behind the knee. Thereafter the knee started to pain at bout 24km into the run. Worst decision to do the Panorama 2 weeks thereafter. So, only my training and stupidity to blame. She did say check the bike setup and running shoes. That ill do once i can train again, however I did a comprehensive range setup 6 months prior. Im just keen to know others road to healing.

Did they do an MRI or any kind of imaging?

 

The progression of the injury is odd - starting in the calf is unusual - although I can see that the progression from compensating for that might lead to tendonitis - I would still get it worked up again in more detail.

 

HPC at tuks is a good place with a growing reputation - Prof Schwellnus who heads it up is a good guy - perhaps go back to them/him for a followup.

[Fast Forward]

Did they do an MRI or any kind of imaging?

 

The progression of the injury is odd - starting in the calf is unusual - although I can see that the progression from compensating for that might lead to tendonitis - I would still get it worked up again in more detail.

 

HPC at tuks is a good place with a growing reputation - Prof Schwellnus who heads it up is a good guy - perhaps go back to them/him for a followup.

[Fast Forward]

Did a sonar. I Think it all started ared with the popliteus injury. Probably two different injuries just helping each other on. There is progress in the healing just very slow - lack of blood does make sense. Dr did say that the tendons take very long to heal.

[VT2jp]

If the cause is due to the patella not clearing (moving to the outer side enough) the ligament when the leg is bent, then strengthen your quad muscle on that leg (esp the outer part of the quad) - squats (not past 85deg); stretch hamstring and quad daily; Ice for 20mins daily below patella. Had the exact same issue on my left knee and this worked well for me post advice from a knee specialist.

[V12man]

Did a sonar. I Think it all started ared with the popliteus injury. Probably two different injuries just helping each other on. There is progress in the healing just very slow - lack of blood does make sense. Dr did say that the tendons take very long to heal.

Tendons most heal slowly - sometimes never... they have no real blood supply to speak of at all - but the cause of pain is the inflamation in the tendon sheath and associated swelling - kind of a never ending circle - inflamed, swell, more friction, more inflamed, more swelling, more friction etc - the trick is to break the cycle and drop the inflammation down - standard treatments are physio and ice, and medically with anti inflammatories - either oral or injected into the tendon sheath - were you treated with anti-inflammatories at all?

[sakkiebomskok]

Tendons most heal slowly - sometimes never... they have no real blood supply to speak of at all - but the cause of pain is the inflamation in the tendon sheath and associated swelling - kind of a never ending circle - inflamed, swell, more friction, more inflamed, more swelling, more friction etc - the trick is to break the cycle and drop the inflammation down - standard treatments are physio and ice, and medically with anti inflammatories - either oral or injected into the tendon sheath - were you treated with anti-inflammatories at all?

Did a sonar. I Think it all started ared with the popliteus injury. Probably two different injuries just helping each other on. There is progress in the healing just very slow - lack of blood does make sense. Dr did say that the tendons take very long to heal.

I see this alot with clients of mine. 80 percent of the time its fixed(not over short period) with better shoes. Shoes without a heel like vibrams or barefoot walking will very often fix the problem paired with stretching hammies, and chest and strengthening you upper back muscles. Cyclists generally get bad posture because of sitting position, paired with day to day activities causes the hammies to get really tight which makes the quads work more and causes knee pain.

[dave303e]

Nothing productive to add, but "in the same boat as you". Severe ITBS since 8 May. Been to physios, bios, doctors, only seeing some (minor) improvements now....

 

I had the same last year after the Wartrail challenge, couldn't run more than 2km after that without pain. I was already entered into the 500Km Expedition Africa, after 2 weeks rest there was no change in the knee.

So I went to Dr Barrow at sunninghill, had the ITB release opp the next morning(Friday), went to indoor cycle the following Wed after the follow up consult, was told to take it 2 mins at a time and stop if there is any pain at all.

Managed an hour on a wattbike(granted power output wasn't high and I wasn't pushing at all). Went for a mtb ride that Sat and felt 100% managed a 22kmh average on the dirt roads around pta and 6 weeks and 2 days later raced Expedition Africa without any knee pain at all.

 

My 2c, go see the doc and chat surgery...

[V12man]

I had the same last year after the Wartrail challenge, couldn't run more than 2km after that without pain. I was already entered into the 500Km Expedition Africa, after 2 weeks rest there was no change in the knee.

So I went to Dr Barrow at sunninghill, had the ITB release opp the next morning(Friday), went to indoor cycle the following Wed after the follow up consult, was told to take it 2 mins at a time and stop if there is any pain at all.

Managed an hour on a wattbike(granted power output wasn't high and I wasn't pushing at all). Went for a mtb ride that Sat and felt 100% managed a 22kmh average on the dirt roads around pta and 6 weeks and 2 days later raced Expedition Africa without any knee pain at all.

 

My 2c, go see the doc and chat surgery...

Before surgery - do the ITB stretch - I have posted it before here - search - generally surgery is avoidable.

[Dusty]

Nothing productive to add, but "in the same boat as you". Severe ITBS since 8 May. Been to physios, bios, doctors, only seeing some (minor) improvements now....

What V12 said and have your bike setup checked by a professional.