Quad Tendonitis

MightyMandarin

I'm just wondering if anyone has suffered from quad tendonitis, or any other tendonitis, and how did they get over it?

I've been suffering from quad tendonitis in both my knees for the past month, and I haven't squatted much in that time; although there was one day where I got over the pain and went straight back to normal training, but then my knees were shot for a week after. My lower body training is mostly just stiff leg deadlifts and lunges now.

I've been foam rolling and stretching twice a day for the past month as my quads and it band were incredibly tight before, but now they're much looser. I've also started taking fish oils as I've heard a good few people talk about their benefits for joints.

I've also been told by one guy at my gym (who is very strong to be fair) that it's just a part of strength training and essentially I should just work through the pain. While I've had niggles at slight pains in the past, I really don't like the idea of working through this, but maybe some of the guys like Hanley or COH who've lifted for a good while and put up high numbers might refute this?

I know advanced/elite level lifters and athletes probably suffer from stuff like this all the time and do what the guy at my gym told me, but while I'm training hard and have made good progress this year, I'm still at that intermediate stage, so I doubt I should be eating ibuprofen and fish oils like sweets and icing my knees every day.

pconn062

MightyMandarin wrote: »

I'm just wondering if anyone has suffered from quad tendonitis, or any other tendonitis, and how did they get over it?

I've been suffering from quad tendonitis in both my knees for the past month, and I haven't squatted much in that time; although there was one day where I got over the pain and went straight back to normal training, but then my knees were shot for a week after. My lower body training is mostly just stiff leg deadlifts and lunges now.

I've been foam rolling and stretching twice a day for the past month as my quads and it band were incredibly tight before, but now they're much looser. I've also started taking fish oils as I've heard a good few people talk about their benefits for joints.

I've also been told by one guy at my gym (who is very strong to be fair) that it's just a part of strength training and essentially I should just work through the pain. While I've had niggles at slight pains in the past, I really don't like the idea of working through this, but maybe some of the guys like Hanley or COH who've lifted for a good while and put up high numbers might refute this?

I know advanced/elite level lifters and athletes probably suffer from stuff like this all the time and do what the guy at my gym told me, but while I'm training hard and have made good progress this year, I'm still at that intermediate stage, so I doubt I should be eating ibuprofen and fish oils like sweets and icing my knees every day.

Have you been to see a physio? It might be worth a visit just to get it checked out, they might be able to tell you if there is tendonitis (or more likely tendonopathy as a tendon can't really become inflamed) or maybe a small tear in the tendon. I come from a different sport (running) but in general training through pain in a tendon is not a good idea, as it could cause more microtears. Tendons are notoriously slow to heal, due to poor blood flow so try and get as much blood into the area using a combination of ice and heat. Also, some training (so long as there is no pain) will also get some blood flow into the area. You need to be careful with tendons, long term damage can be done and it can develop into tendonosis, permanent damage to the tendon.

MightyMandarin

pconn062 wrote: »

Have you been to see a physio? It might be worth a visit just to get it checked out, they might be able to tell you if there is tendonitis (or more likely tendonopathy as a tendon can't really become inflamed) or maybe a small tear in the tendon. I come from a different sport (running) but in general training through pain in a tendon is not a good idea, as it could cause more microtears. Tendons are notoriously slow to heal, due to poor blood flow so try and get as much blood into the area using a combination of ice and heat. Also, some training (so long as there is no pain) will also get some blood flow into the area. You need to be careful with tendons, long term damage can be done and it can develop into tendonosis, permanent damage to the tendon.

I went to a physio yesterday and yeah it's more likely tendonopathy than tendonitis, he wasn't 100% sure as the points of pain are very different in each knee. He's an elite runner himself (mark kenneally) so he's had it before and got me doing some pistol squats (which are very hard to do as my ankle mobility is ****e) and lots of massaging the area etc.

I've been training through pain the past week and he told me to keep going as it takes a long time before you do damage to tendons. There's no benefit to resting when trying to heal tendons according to him so at the moment I'm just taking some ibuprofen before I train and taking longer warm ups and more time foam rolling and stretching each day as I find it beneficial for pain relief.

I'll see how it goes in the next few weeks and see what the physio says.