Here’s another update. Since my last post I reintroduced some full ROM light squats. After some time it seems like some dull ache starts crowling back again. So I dropped frequency, first from 3 to 2 squat days a week, and lately to only one. Basically now I can squat pain free if I do it once a week, but for the next 4-5 days the tendon still feels kinda achy and soft. After 6-7 days it feels solid again, so I train and I’m back to square one.
I tried training once every 10-15 days but after each and every squat day I still get my usual 4-5 days of dull ache and softness under load (even stairs, sitting up/down), then it goes back to normal. I’m kinda stuck right now. Should I just go on training this way, hoping that over timey tendon strength will build back up again? Honestly it sucks for somenone with powerlifting goals to squat only once a week, it will definitely limit me over time, and also I used to train 3-4 days a week with no issues whatsoever before facing this issue, I just want everything to go back to normal but I’m starting to feel a bit hopeless right now.
[quote]dezer7 wrote:
Here’s another update. Since my last post I reintroduced some full ROM light squats. After some time it seems like some dull ache starts crowling back again. So I dropped frequency, first from 3 to 2 squat days a week, and lately to only one. Basically now I can squat pain free if I do it once a week, but for the next 4-5 days the tendon still feels kinda achy and soft. After 6-7 days it feels solid again, so I train and I’m back to square one.
I tried training once every 10-15 days but after each and every squat day I still get my usual 4-5 days of dull ache and softness under load (even stairs, sitting up/down), then it goes back to normal. I’m kinda stuck right now. Should I just go on training this way, hoping that over timey tendon strength will build back up again? Honestly it sucks for somenone with powerlifting goals to squat only once a week, it will definitely limit me over time, and also I used to train 3-4 days a week with no issues whatsoever before facing this issue, I just want everything to go back to normal but I’m starting to feel a bit hopeless right now.[/quote]
[quote]dezer7 wrote:
Here’s another update. Since my last post I reintroduced some full ROM light squats. After some time it seems like some dull ache starts crowling back again. So I dropped frequency, first from 3 to 2 squat days a week, and lately to only one. Basically now I can squat pain free if I do it once a week, but for the next 4-5 days the tendon still feels kinda achy and soft. After 6-7 days it feels solid again, so I train and I’m back to square one.
I tried training once every 10-15 days but after each and every squat day I still get my usual 4-5 days of dull ache and softness under load (even stairs, sitting up/down), then it goes back to normal. I’m kinda stuck right now. Should I just go on training this way, hoping that over timey tendon strength will build back up again? Honestly it sucks for somenone with powerlifting goals to squat only once a week, it will definitely limit me over time, and also I used to train 3-4 days a week with no issues whatsoever before facing this issue, I just want everything to go back to normal but I’m starting to feel a bit hopeless right now.[/quote]
How heavy are you squatting?[/quote]
Around 180 lbs for 3-5 sets of 5. I used to do the same workload with 330 before the tendonitis. 180 actually feels very light at this point but apparently my tendon thinks otherwise. As you see the volume is pretty low, I don’t understand…
How did this work put on the end mate? I’m having literally the exact same problems. Don’t want to give up squatting for a long period, but if it solved the problem I might have to give it a try.
FIRST THING IS STOP ALL LEGS WORK.JUST STOP IT. Really I toke about 3-5 weeks off legs. I would suggest stretching all your hams/hip flexors.and back. You hip flexor being to tight and you hamstrings being to weak are to blame. So after 3-5 weeks start doing RDLS. but do not bend your knee expect for when stretching and foam rolling.
SECOND. Start take turmeric 1g-1.5g day. Collagen for joints/tendons. and Cissus. Cissus is a huge one. It is really great. super dose that stuff like 2g a day for a few weeks and then maybe like 1.5g. (I use super cissus)
THIRD. Eat to recover(greans/fruits). Fish oil. REST DONT DO LEGS. I just started deadlifting last week, I have not done any legs since June.
It really sucks but it will take time. Just stretch and take the pills. Not using your legs really helps. Also consider a knee brace and ART therapy.
Very good, I would 100% recommend taking 20-25 grams of fish daily, throughout the day. Start smashing it with foam rollers/lacross . Increase your hamstring increase. Please ask me any questions! I found rest and ice helps out a ton!
Thanks for bringing this up again because I completely forgot I did even make this post. Yes, the issue eventually went away after a few months spent doing very light high bar deep squats, then gradually moving to higher weights after a few weeks. Mid december I had a moderate flare up. Basically it happened when I started squatting heavy twice a week again. What I did was taking 10 days off from leg work, then I started doing my heavy work on Mondays, and switched to front squats for light volume work on Fridays.
During my layoff I still did very controlled bw squats daily and flossed the the knees before every training session. I also refrained from using the hardest foam rolling tools because apparently when the inflammation is up it’s very irritating and slows down healing. I also avoided static stretching because I figured every time I did it my tendons were feeling worse, not better. It took me a month to make every tiny feel of discomfort or soreness the day after the workout go away, but eventually I was feeling great. All I do now is flossing before every workout, especially when I feel more stiff.
Then I do dynamic stretching, I play around with a hip circle and foam roll (gently). No static stretching of the quad, like ever. I’d much rather do deep pause squats with a bar and leave it at that. I also think that switching to fronts for assistance really helped because I don’t stress the joint from the same angle more than once a week. I haven’t had any pain since the end of January, and my my squats are progressing nicely again since then. Pretty sure your mileage may vary, but this is the workaround I found for myself and I’m happy so far.
Oh and one more thing. I’m not even supplementing anything right now. All I do is eat a moderate portion of fatty fish every day, and keep my vitamin c intake quite high. I mean I don’t go out of my way to take anything special and I feel good. Sometime some supps can have a mild antinflammatory effect, so they reduce the sense of discomfort you get and in my opinion they make you train past the pain and basically prevent you from staying 100% in tune with your body. That’s just something I was thinking about these days but maybe there’s some truth to it. Good luck to everybody experiencing this, it’s tough and I feel for you, but eventually you will make it through if you smarten your training up and really listen to your body.
Right now, the pain comes and goes. Some times, I would do bodyweight squats to test the knee without pain, other times I would bend over to pick up something, move my knee and feel discomfort.
I could keep squatting as the pain is not debilitating yet, but I don’t want to aggravate it or worse, tear the tendon (is that even possible?).
I am going to take a month off from legs (4x upper body a week at this point) and will start doing some slow eccentric squats on a slant board.
The frustrating thing is I don’t know WHY this started. I mean, it could have been a couple of things, but I cannot pin-point the exact cause.
I’ll keep you posted.
Ok, my knee is getting slowly better. I saw 2 orthopedic surgeons for it.
The first one was a complete idiot. His diagnosis was meniscus tear. Sounds right. Pain localized at the top of knee has a lot to do with a tear in the meniscus.
The second doctor just confirmed quad tendonitis. He is the guy that helped with my shoulder last year (labrum tear). Great doctor. Let me know if you need more info about him (UCLA Westwood, CA).
He prescribed an anti-inflammatory meds and he’s ok with straight leg deadlifts while my knee gets better. He’s ok with the rehab I’m doing: slow eccentric one-leg squats on slant board.
I also saw a podiatrist that diagnosed me with flat feet and I am getting orthotics for that.
Will update in 2 weeks once I have orthotics and one run of anti-inflammatory meds.
Was that knee excessively noisy? Cracking, popping, clicking? I’ve been diagnosed with PFPS and the affected knee clicks in the same places during the same movements. Trying a host of corrective exercises and stretching, but not getting a lot of luck.
Both my knees click , but it’s not always for the same movements and, most importantly, it’s never painful.
The pain I have is not even in the knee, is 1 inch on top of the left knee.
The anti-inflammatory drugs I was prescribed is working very well. I haven’t felt pain that much yesterday.
Overall it was already getting better, but it’s getting better quickly now.
I maybe able to go back to squat in the next 3 weeks. I’ll start very light, like 90lbs for 3 sets of 10, and see what happens.
So, I went back to squatting today.
I did 5 sets of 6. 90x6, 90x6, 110x6, 135x6, 155x6. No pain at all, felt very solid.
I also, eliminated some of the bounce, trying to control the weight more.
I have some log push press tomorrow, regular push press on Thursday, light Strongman events (Yoke, Tire Flip, Farmer’s) on Friday and sprint/jumps/throws on Saturday. I want my knee to slowly get into moving serious weight again.
I never stopped doing cardio 3x a week (2+ hours total), a mix of walking and running.
The knee doesn’t hurt anymore during the day while sitting down or standing up.
Hi All,
Wanted to share my pain here as I saw others managed to recover from quad tendonitis.
I am struggling for the last 10 months to recover from both Patellar and Quad Tendonitis. I tried almost everything:
Physical Therapy
Anti inflam meds
Turmeric + chondroitin and glucosamine
Resting + Icing
Streching
Watched all possible rehab videos on youtube
I know I was over training my quads and that back then my form was lacking. However, when the pain started I immediately stopped hitting legs what so ever. The weird thing is that with time, the pain gradually increased, not decreased. I couldnt (and cannot still) even get out of the car without having pain. I have to sit with both legs out and push myself out using my hands.
After 6 weeks of full rest (and endless amount of pain), I decided to check it out and had an MRI. The findings showed that I have both Patellar and Quad tendonitis as mentioned above. I was devastated and decided to try and undergo a procedure called Tenex (www.tenexhealth.com). My doctor recommended me to do either this procedure or PRP which I heard is useless.
After the procedure and two weeks with crutches, I started to gain my strength back and the pain in my patellar tendon was gone. The pain in my quad, however, was still there. Since the Tenex, there’s also some sort of Bulge right above my kneecap. I did another MRI to understand what it is and apparently its scar tissue.
I tried to use a Slant Board as recommended in other forums and also a lot of eccentric movements for the quads. Still hurts.
At this point, I dont know what do. My left quad (where the issue is) looks smaller than the right one and everything I try to do does not help. For the last 10 months I was a full time MBA student and any spare minute I had was used to ice/stretch/lacross ball/etc on my quad. I dont trust doctors anymore and dont want to undergo surgery. My day to day activities are limited and even sitting too long in a the movie theater for example makes my quad ache. I can actually sometimes feel my heartbeat above my kneecap.
Any recommendations? Will try Cissus soon although I have low hopes for that…
Do you think jump rope will prevent tendon healing? I also have quadracept tendonosis or chronic tendonitis, I’ve had it for over a year and I can relate to everyone’s pain, I started powerlifting and after Serious and squating 2 to 3 times a week for about 6 months bang it came and never left, a year later I’m desperate. This thread was very helpful and gave me hope because this is a very depressing injury to have if you love powerlifting. I’m just beginning my journey of recovery and I’m not going to do any quad work for 2 months, is jump rope ok or should I stay away. Thanks
Thanks for replying, I agree with you I tried jump rope the other day and it got inflamed the next day wasent sure why because the jump rope diddnt hurt. Thanks