Hi! Love your blog. I was diagnosed with Patella Tendinitis a year ago, went to physical therapy for a while, and eventually was doing a bit better. But the pain is coming back! I don't really do the pilates exercises so much anymore, but it didn't seem like that was making so much difference. I just want to be able to bike again without my knees hurting for days afterwards. I can't do the things i like, like jump rope & frog jumps. What sort of things are you doing to combat your tendinitis?
Holla tendinitis buddies! *high fives to the ceiling*
First off, I hear ya. Being in pain and not being able to perform like you used to sucks. I’ve had wrist tendinitis for 3 years, and tendinitis in both of my feet this past summer after an unfortunate choice of sandals and too much time on cobblestones. My strategy to dealing with it is lazily divided into two forms: active recovery and prevention.
Active recovery is anything I do for the short term to address the issue. This meant getting to a physiotherapist to start ultrasound and massage, and learning what stretches to do and what activities to avoid. I tried electrodes for my wrist, but didn’t find them helpful.
It’s important to consider that rest is part of your recovery. Tendinitis results from overuse, so avoiding the offending activity can do wonders to speed recovery while you work with a specialist. It sucks, but you want “feel the burn” pain when you work out, not “oh my god, is that broken?” pain. Eliminating activities and slowly reintroducing them will guide recovery.
For pain management, I still turn to a good ice pack (off and on for 10 minutes at a time) and elevation. Sometimes I will use Naproxen for a painkiller, but only on really bad days.
Prevention, of course, is more important than pain management. I’ve been at this for 3 years and through either stupidity or stubbornness I’ve discovered a fair bit about how my body reacts to abuse.
Anything that causes inflammation can be your downfall. For me, coffee is an absolute killer, but so are alcohol, sugar, and milk to a lesser extent. I can’t get through a cup of coffee without my hand aching, so I ditched that long ago. A big factor in my pain and performance is definitely sleep! Getting less than 7 hours of sleep ensures a painful day. Try to notice your consumption and sleeping habits and seeing how they affect your pain to adjust accordingly.
I find that cardiovascular exercise has become my saviour. Anything that increases blood flow will help with inflammation. Running and swimming were my favourites, although I only did them with the clearance of my physiotherapist.
I hope this could be of some help, and best wishes!
