Patellar Tendonitis

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blatchcorn
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:20 pm

by blatchcorn

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.

RimClencher
Posts: 194
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:00 am

by RimClencher

Did running cause it or did cycling cause it?

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blatchcorn
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:20 pm

by blatchcorn

RimClencher wrote:Did running cause it or did cycling cause it?

Cycling.

Cycling continues to make it worse unfortunately do. As did the one run I went on.

RimClencher
Posts: 194
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:00 am

by RimClencher

When I got it, raising my saddle height helped, along with reducing load on the knee while cycling. I did this by starting from traffic lights in my lowest gear, increasing cadence overall, and favouring the opposite leg a lot (i.e., almost riding one-legged). Adjusting riding style like this can take a bit of getting used to though. It means no sprinting away from any traffic lights, and no heavy gears whatsoever.

Might be best to stop running completely until it clears up enough to cycle.

User Name
Posts: 611
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:32 pm

by User Name

ooops, edit

User Name
Posts: 611
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:32 pm

by User Name

blatchcorn wrote:I've had patellar tendonitis for about 4 weeks now and I'm really struggling to get rid of it.

.
Did your knee get better? If so, what did you do?

petereps
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 3:50 pm

by petereps

I was dealing with knee pain earlier this season and wasted tons of money on worthless doctors, MRI's, parts and bike fit, but what eventually made it go away was a combination of the following (in order of most improvement to least):
-Deep foam rolling/massaging of the IT band. If I neglect this the pain comes back like clockwork. I think this ultimately cured it, but some other things helped.
-Higher seat, about 5-10mm above what all "the best" fitters recommended.
-Short cranks, I spent a few years on 170's with no pain. The pain popped up after 4 months on 172.5's. The pain went away after a couple months of using 170's again. Not sure if this is a coincidence, or if it just took awhile to improve the pain. Either way, shorter cranks can't hurt.

Ultimately, training or time off the bike made little difference in the pain going away. But after spending 10+ minutes foam rolling my IT band everyday, the pain went away after a couple weeks. And to this day it comes back if I skip a week or so of foam rolling. Good luck!

simoncx
Posts: 223
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:27 am

by simoncx

I had the opposite, pain in the back of the knee with my hamstring, after lot a doctors visits didn't do very much but tell me that it hurts. I hurt it in late Sept and am finally riding without pain again, lots of stretching and foam roller helped, for me it didn't matter if I rode or not it hurt the same. Kinesio tape worked great and really helped a lot when I had my leg taped up, if I removed the tape I could feel a difference the next day. Just keep doing lots of stretching and foam roller and give it time there's not much more you can do, slowly it will get better.

KCookie
Posts: 1963
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:40 am
Location: Pom living in Australia

by KCookie

I'm in the same position to, pain to the side of my left knee. Never had any pain to my left knee before, only my right. Being on the bike doesn't seem to hurt, even going up 22% hills, nor does it at work, paving all day lifting weight etc, but as soon as I run I can feel the pain, which is unfortunate as I have a marathon in 3 months, third in a row.
I agree with others about the foam roller and plenty of stretching, Been doing this religiously for about 6 months to help my right knee, now moved sides. Using an ice pack and deep massaging will help recovery to, unfortunately it takes time, which non of us like being off our bikes to long, Ive run once in 2 weeks. Finding it very hard to not to say f@&k it and run like Forrest Gump. Can't afford the time off, with the marathon so close. Debating going for a ride tomorrow, could be a mistake. Who knows.
Hopefully with some rest you'll be back on your bike soon. Good luck. :)

User Name
Posts: 611
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:32 pm

by User Name

My knee has been bothering me for about six long months, but it's mostly painless tightness and twinging in the patella tendon and toward the outside of the knee (rather than any pain) when I ride hard off the saddle, but it's a BIG twinge if I push it, which I haven't done for a while. I've had a couple of 2-week breaks which did nothing. It only hurts about once a week when I'm walking around. I guess it sounds like low-level tendonitis, but I dunno.

I went to one physio who didn't do much. He just pigeonholed me into tendonitis and/or IT band syndrome, and gave me the most basic 101 stuff that I almost started giggling. He told me to stretch my hammies, quads, glutes, hip flexors and calves, rest for 2 weeks, and ice 2 or 3 times a day. When I told him I've tried all that for the last few months, he didn't seem to have much of a retort, other than, "oh, ah well, it can take time, so try it all again and maybe come back in a few weeks."

This has put me off about seeking professional help in the short term, but I'll go to someone else when I get some recommendations from people in the know. At the moment I can't afford to see ten people for no results. It's coming into Winter in Melbourne, so I'm not as desperate to get it sorted as I was in Summer. I can still roll around on the bike at half pace with no problems, so my plight could be far worse (talk about first world problems. Ha :D).

I've been doing a fair bit of stretching, foam rolling and little exercises with a weighted roller blade (about 5 pounds), but I should do more.

ANYWAY, the main reason I'm posting is to mention some of the lesser-known stuff I've read about knee injuries. It seems as though lateral, medial and anterior knee problems can be caused by tension or weakness in just about ANY muscle (or tendon or tight fascia) between the sternum and the toes.

Here are some (most) that spring to mind: tight and/or weak of the following:

hammies, inner hammy, outer hammy, adductors, abductors, abs, all the glutes, tibialis anterior, all the quads, peroneus longus, psoas, piriformis, tensor fasciae latae...eh, that's all I can think of for now. Then there's the whole arch support thing.

Duck feet may be an indication of too much external rotation of the femurs, which lead to knee problems.

I've also read some conflicting stuff about the medialis. Some say that it's impossible to isolate, except with a tens machine, and the muscle's strength may have nothing to do with patella tracking, anyway.

https://thesports.physio/2012/09/23/run ... y-tom-goom

perwjensen
Posts: 92
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 2:09 am

by perwjensen

blatchcorn wrote: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.



I had Patelar Tendonitis a while back too.

Currently, I'm without any pain whatsoever, and here is what i did:

1. Went to my orthopedic doctor. He told me that while painful it would not cause damage to ride. So I kept riding.
2. Stretched hamstrings and quads intensively.
3. Experimented with raising saddle and its angle. Here I was helped by greater hamstring flexibility gains.
4. Throttled down a bit on distance to <1hr per every other day

perwjensen
Posts: 92
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 2:09 am

by perwjensen

simoncx wrote:I had the opposite, pain in the back of the knee with my hamstring, after lot a doctors visits didn't do very much but tell me that it hurts. I hurt it in late Sept and am finally riding without pain again, lots of stretching and foam roller helped, for me it didn't matter if I rode or not it hurt the same. Kinesio tape worked great and really helped a lot when I had my leg taped up, if I removed the tape I could feel a difference the next day. Just keep doing lots of stretching and foam roller and give it time there's not much more you can do, slowly it will get better.



Pain in the back of the knee is often caused by saddle too high or hamstring got less flexible. Cure:

1. Stretch quads and hamstrings every day.
2. Reduce saddle height in small steps of 3 - 5mm a time.

User Name
Posts: 611
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:32 pm

by User Name

a couple of anecdotes I've read say that the standard quad stretch of standing with the foot pulled back to the bum is too hard on the inflamed tendon, because of too much knee flexion. Did you have any problems with this? I assume not. This is driving me crazy : :(

User Name
Posts: 611
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:32 pm

by User Name

I found this really long thread that has every treatment imaginable.
https://www.mobilitywod.com/forum/discu ... 6-years/p1

There's a post on page 6 by 'cmillerCMT' that's very interesting coz it comes from left field. It says that a tight/dysfunctional diaphragm can be the root cause of many injuries. The simple explanation is that it connects to the psoas, so when the diaphragm constricts that, it starts a chain reaction that can cause problems all the way down the body.

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simoncx
Posts: 223
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:27 am

by simoncx

perwjensen wrote:
simoncx wrote:I had the opposite, pain in the back of the knee with my hamstring, after lot a doctors visits didn't do very much but tell me that it hurts. I hurt it in late Sept and am finally riding without pain again, lots of stretching and foam roller helped, for me it didn't matter if I rode or not it hurt the same. Kinesio tape worked great and really helped a lot when I had my leg taped up, if I removed the tape I could feel a difference the next day. Just keep doing lots of stretching and foam roller and give it time there's not much more you can do, slowly it will get better.



Pain in the back of the knee is often caused by saddle too high or hamstring got less flexible. Cure:

1. Stretch quads and hamstrings every day.
2. Reduce saddle height in small steps of 3 - 5mm a time.


Seat height wasn't the problem, I hurt my hamstring in a cross race and it got worse as the cross season went on, finally had to cut my season short because it was too painful. For a while stretching seemed to make it worse, after about 2-3 weeks of really resting my leg I started stretching again and it started to help.

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