Patellar Tendinitis

[Scholar]

As the title suggests I've got a textbook case of patellar tendinitis. It was brought on recently when I began a hill sprint workout without sufficiently stretching out my posterior chain leg muscles (glutes and hamstrings specifically). For the past two months I had been focusing on adding deadlift and squat to my PT to increase my overall strength, but had probably not paid enough attention to mobility. This, plus the fact that my stretching on the day of injury was minimal, meant that when I got to this hill sprint workout my posterior leg muscles were tight. This in turn put unnecessary strain on my patellar tendon resulting in the injury.

I have two questions
1. Who else has experienced patellar tendinitis and how did you go about strengthening yourself to avoid further flare ups?

2. For those physiology wizards I know we have: what exactly has happened here on the connective tissue level and will I cause any permanent damage by continuing to train while I rehab this injury?

 

[DocIllinois]

Have you consulted with a healthcare provider who has training and experience in treating musculoskeletal injuries?

Should you genuinely have an injury of a tendon associated with the patella, tendinosis may result from improper (or no) evaluation and healing.

Dealing with that on your hoped-for military path can be a limiting factor.

 

[Red Flag 1]

As the title suggests I've got a textbook case of patellar tendinitis. It was brought on recently when I began a hill sprint workout without sufficiently stretching out my posterior chain leg muscles (glutes and hamstrings specifically). For the past two months I had been focusing on adding deadlift and squat to my PT to increase my overall strength, but had probably not paid enough attention to mobility. This, plus the fact that my stretching on the day of injury was minimal, meant that when I got to this hill sprint workout my posterior leg muscles were tight. This in turn put unnecessary strain on my patellar tendon resulting in the injury.

 

[Scholar]

Thanks guys, I definitely plan to see a doc. I'm planning to wait until I return to my school in a few weeks because once there I can go to the athletic therapist at no cost. I guess I'll back off on the running/lifting and go back to push/sit/pull etc. until I can get a professional opinion. I'll be sure to keep this thread posted when I have information.

 

[x SF med]

Thanks guys, I definitely plan to see a doc. I'm planning to wait until I return to my school in a few weeks because once there I can go to the athletic therapist at no cost. I guess I'll back off on the running/lifting and go back to push/sit/pull etc. until I can get a professional opinion. I'll be sure to keep this thread posted when I have information.

Any delay in a full diagnosis will also delay proper treatment and extend your recovery exponentially. Your choice, but you could go from a quick recovery to a lifelong (and expensive) issue by waiting and continuing to train. Not so smart for a "scholar", but 'scholar' denotes book smarts not common sense.

 

[Scholar]

Thanks med, you're absolutely right. As I said my plan is to not do anything that puts stress on it until I've had it inspected properly by a professional, hopefully within the next 14 days. Considering I couldn't get an appointment with an appropriate specialist anytime within two weeks, this seems to be the least senseless course of action.

 

[Scholar]

UPDATE as promised.
I visited the athletic trainer at my university last week despite the fact that all symptoms had subsided. He confirmed what I described was either a strain or minor tear of the Patellar tendon. He said that it most likely resulted from a failure to warm up properly in combination with all the squats and deadlifts I had been doing. He said that in most cases with this injury, resting from activities like running and jumping for a week or two is generally the best treatment. Additionally, doing heel inverted, isometric squats in a limited range of motion using only the injured leg can be effective in strengthening the tendon. Icing and heating the area can also help. Finally he said as long as I stretch and maintain mobility in my posterior chain I probably wont have an issue with this in the future.

 

[Red Flag 1]

f

 

[DocIllinois]

Agreed - thanks Scholar.

Inverting one's heels sounds horrendously painful. :blkeye: