Patellar tendinitis, anyone have any experience with it?

[DougPaul]

The good news is that ice and large doses of Ibupofen (physician prescribed!) are doing their magic. Pain is down to the level of merely annoying, and I get some exercise by walking a mile at a time several times a day. Not very aerobic, but it burns some calories and gets me out of the house!

In my experience, getting the pain to go away is easy in the short term. Just don't use the injured tendon and apply a bit of inflammation control. The hard part is getting back to full function without reinjury. Exercise builds the tendons and muscles, but too much can cause reinjury and the feedback (pain the next day) comes too late to avoid reinjury. This was a very difficult balance for me. (The palpation method of evaluation was a big help to me in threading my way through this minefield.)

Once you start hiking again, It may also help to scale back your hiking difficulty and/or allow a rest day or two between hikes for a while.

Good luck.

Doug

 

[skibones]

I think that finding a physical therapist that is used to treating athletes and not just old patients is important for a quick recovery. My daughter had surgery on each knee for torn ACLs. The recovery the first time around was quick due to the fact that the PT was extremely aggressive and pushed her based on the fact that she was a recovering athlete. Second time around, she got patella tendonitis. The physical therapy the second time around was more conservative and more "cook book". First time around the physical therapist had her jogging after three weeks and doing drills and exercises that were related to her sports. Besides Advil and ice and rest getting someone with the right training to help with the treatment is important to get back hiking as soon as possible.

 

[Stan]

Sorry to hear about that knee injury. I have a different injury and the only thing we're certain of is that it is not arthritis and I'm getting an MRI tomorrow. Friends are betting it's a torn miniscus; I'm praying its just a stubborn sprain.

Whatever, here's my take on the exercise. I refuse to let it incapacitate me but I don't push my luck, it'll delay the healing and could make it worse. I too hate to lose conditioning, it is easier to maintain fitness than to get it back. However, with hikers' knees, it is easier to damage them further than it is to heal them. It is a mistake to let the physical comfort that pain killers provide lull us into the false sense of security that we're not doing harm if we don't hurt.

 

[bubba]

Mo, sorry to hear. I read the link to the injury and found it all too familiar!! So that's what keeps bothering me! Luckily any of my pain in not acute. My knees have "bothered" me on hiking 'downs' for a few years and I bought one Ace brace and it helps so much, I figured why only have one on... so now I'm double poled and double braced. It helps.

My current job sees me at a desk way too much, and it doesn't seem to do the knees any help!! That's been a surprise. All in all I think you (and me also) have found some good advise in the above posts. PT is probably a smart option. Daxs told me I should be on Glucosamine a while ago. I bought some, but you have to take it three times a day!! I can't maintain that schedule... or haven't chosen to step up to the challange.

So, hope it heals quickly. Generally, I think biking is a good form of non-impact training and it doesn't seem to aggravate my knees too badly (although I believe I am in some slight pain most of the time). A doctor recommended a pillow between my knees while sleeping for a minor back irritation -- I find it helpful with the knees, also.

Lastly, I can't imagine that Stan posted and didn't recommend Tequila!?!? For years he's been harping the positive tonic attributes of the drink.

 

[Stan]

Lastly, I can't imagine that Stan posted and didn't recommend Tequila!?!? For years he's been harping the positive tonic attributes of the drink.

I didn't want to be redundundant.

My MRI last night was hilarious. I almost ruined the thing by shaking with laughter. Here I am comfortably bound in this amazing contraption and admiring the marvels of technology and then the thing comes on and the horrendous noises drown out the elevator music they plugged in my ears. I am having visions of the original version of Frankenstein and wondering who I would be when they let me out. The din was one thing but in the background there was this unceasing rhythmic background sort like a bad rap soundtrack. Halfway through this adventure the technician asks me if I'd like her to change the station, the one plugged into my ears ... somehow with a straight faced I manged to tell her I couldn't hear it anyway.

It felt so good when it was over that I forgot all about the knee pain.

I highly recommend an MRI for knee pain.

But I prefer tequila.

 

[skibones]

Sorry to hear about that knee injury. I have a different injury and the only thing we're certain of is that it is not arthritis and I'm getting an MRI tomorrow. Friends are betting it's a torn miniscus; I'm praying its just a stubborn sprain.

Whatever, here's my take on the exercise. I refuse to let it incapacitate me but I don't push my luck, it'll delay the healing and could make it worse. I too hate to lose conditioning, it is easier to maintain fitness than to get it back. However, with hikers' knees, it is easier to damage them further than it is to heal them. It is a mistake to let the physical comfort that pain killers provide lull us into the false sense of security that we're not doing harm if we don't hurt.

I have torn miniscus in both knees. If I keep my legs in shape the floating miniscus stays where it doesn't hurt. If I don't, the pain gets so severe that I have literally fallen to the ground before I knew what happened. So it's important for me to keep up any activity that uses my legs-hiking biking skiiing. That's more fun than going in for an operation. Hopefully your MRI will tell your Dr what's going on.

 

[audrey]

Daxs told me I should be on Glucosamine a while ago. I bought some, but you have to take it three times a day!! I can't maintain that schedule... or haven't chosen to step up to the challange.

Bubba, you don't have to take it 3 times a day - I used to pop 1 double strength in the morning and 2 at night. It worked within 3 weeks. It took Pat about 6 weeks to feel it. After about 6 months, I decreased the dose to 1 pill for maintenance but it wasn't enough. I thought the the stuff had lost its effectiveness, but now I'm happy on 2 a day. Even my doctor told me not to stop, and she's not really into alternative medicine. Anyway, I buy Walgreen's brand, super size bottles that are almost always BOGO. It's probably the easiest safest thing you could try.

 

[bubba]

Audrey, there you go again... giving good advise. Thanks, I'll get with the progam.

Mo, what's the update?? Things better??

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Mo, what's the update?? Things better??

Bubba,

Thanks for asking! The condition improved as suudenly as it started. On Thursday (6/22) I was in severe pain which improved a bit with the Ibupofen. By Saturday (6/24) I was able to walk (slowly) a mile at a time, still taking large doses of Ibupofen. By Monday I was walking normal distances (4-8 miles on Rt 175) at normal speed, and stopped the Ibupofen.

I do not want to push things, but may start going up Tripoli Road today or tomorrow. The reason is that I have never learned to walk fast on the flat, so I cannot get a decent workout (fastest I seem to do is a mile in 17, sometimes 16, minutes). Tripoli Road will give me a decent cardiovascular workout, and I hope that it will be gentle on my knees.

I refuse to let it incapacitate me but I don't push my luck, it'll delay the healing and could make it worse. I too hate to lose conditioning, it is easier to maintain fitness than to get it back. However, with hikers' knees, it is easier to damage them further than it is to heal them. It is a mistake to let the physical comfort that pain killers provide lull us into the false sense of security that we're not doing harm if we don't hurt.

Stan,

That exactly echos my feelings, and my dilemma. Younger folks simply cannot understand how fast fitness is lost as the years accumulate, and how hard it is to get it back. But premature resumption of activity may lead to an even longer period of forced rest, and even more fitness loss.

 

[LivesToHike]

Bubba,
Stan,

That exactly echos my feelings, and my dilemma. Younger folks simply cannot understand how fast fitness is lost as the years accumulate, and how hard it is to get it back. But premature resumption of activity may lead to an even longer period of forced rest, and even more fitness loss.

Mohamed & Stan:
I fully agree. I'm in my late 40's. I partially ripped a gastrocnemius muscle in my left leg hiking down a local mountain about 4 years ago in June that year. I didn't require surgery, but I was still out of commission for the whole summer, but my fitness took me months after that to recover. It's far easier and faster to recover fitness when one is 23 than 43 or 53...

Mohamed: Good luck with your injury recovery. Glad to hear that matters are improving.


--LTH

 

[DougPaul]

Mohamed & Stan:
I fully agree. I'm in my late 40's. I partially ripped a gastrocnemius muscle in my left leg hiking down a local mountain about 4 years ago in June that year. I didn't require surgery, but I was still out of commission for the whole summer, but my fitness took me months after that to recover. It's far easier and faster to recover fitness when one is 23 than 43 or 53...

True, but fitness can be recovered--its just a matter of time and some work. If I have to let myself get out of shape to recover from an injury, then I will. Been there, done that.

Doug
mid-50s.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

On Friday morning I wrote:

By Saturday (6/24) I was able to walk (slowly) a mile at a time, still taking large doses of Ibupofen. By Monday I was walking normal distances (4-8 miles on Rt 175) at normal speed, and stopped the Ibupofen.

I do not want to push things, but may start going up Tripoli Road today or tomorrow. ... Tripoli Road will give me a decent cardiovascular workout, and I hope that it will be gentle on my knees.

Shortly after posting I walked up to Russel Pond (four miles each way with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain), and on Saturday I went all the way to the Osceola trailhead (6.2 miles each way with about 1,200 feet of elevation gain). I had no pain in the knee, but decided to take Sunday off. Today I went up the Osseo Trail to the Flume (5.6 miles each way and 3,150 feet of elevation gain). No pain, did it in a respectable (for me ) time: 2:55, so my two weeks of no hiking did not cause me too much loss of fitness.

No pain, but I am taking tomorrow off. If everything is OK on Wednesday I will hike again, and if there is again no pain after the hike I will officially declare the episode closed (I hope that my knee agrees!).

 

[kmorgan]

Go to a doctor and get p.t.!

Well, it's been a long summer of no hiking. When I first encountered this thread back in June I had been hiking with my injured knee for over 10 weeks. After reading the thread I diagnosed myself with patellar tendonitis and stopped hiking to let it recover. After a month and a half it was still sore going down stairs so I went to see an orthopedic surgeon. The X-rays looked good, but the MRI showed a tear of the patella tendon.

I've been in physical therapy now for 3 weeks and it's starting to get better. Still no hiking :-( but I can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just wish I had gone to the doctor right from the start. My recovery would have been much quicker.

So don't ignore those injuries!

Kevin

 

[sierra]

after 24 yrs on peaks yr rd Ill give you my advice. I had it in both knees real bad. You can listen to all these people if you want but they are normal and do whatever thier normal doctors tell them. I tried that and was worse off, heres my advice. do not get sucked into phiscal therapy, that will make it worse and ring up the doctors bills to no end its a joke. Resting it for more then 2 weeks is also a joke. follow these steps.
1. neoprene knee braces on all hikes from now on.
2. Always use poles.
3. for one month take 3 to 4 advil every 4 hrs everyday.
4. try to get a doctor to inject cotizone into your knee asap.
5. rest it for 2 weeks max, then hike as much as you can whenever you can, treat your body like it must heal and it will, teach it to be soft and it will be,.
This is not cenventional I know but believe me IM back to running descents and I have never had a a problem since.
If your set on working with a doctor you need a sports doctor, not your everyday doctor, who will always give you the same advice, rst and keep on PT so he will keep you on the spit and your money coming in.

 

[Sugarloafer]

I don't know if I'm breaking any interent forum etiquette, but here's a link to a ski forum discussion on this topic :

http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=23906&highlight=patellar+tendonitis

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Much of the discussion here has dealt with the need for real rest, and the reluctance of many of us to do it. Just read an article in the Washington Post on recovering from a torn hamstring: Hamstrung -- or a Humbling Lesson in Healing.

While I'm at it, let me add a plug for the Moving Crew section of that paper. While much of the material is pretty obvious, there are still many interesting insights.