How to treat Patellar Tendinitis – Knee Pain

Did they just say you need a surgery? Don’t believe them!

If you already know how to train and eat, probably this section is the most important part of this website for you. Literally, there is barely anything useful on the internet, and that is kinda scary if I can be honest. We have the internet full of medical and fitness websites, forums and all the useless bullshit, while people just suffer and suffer, and sometimes end up undergoing some surgery, while the treatment actually does exist, and it is easily accessible and everybody can do it by themselves. For real! So don’t worry, science has always the answer!

The most common injury is tendonitis, or some call it tendinitis. Translated into a human language it means inflamed tendons. It happens when you overexert them, and they can’t regenerate. In contrast to the muscles, tendons heal much slower, and while you can recover from a super heavy workout in days, in tendon years the same would take weeks.

What is Patellar Tendinitis?

Patellar Tendinitis, also known as Jumper’s knee is a common type of tendinitis. There are many types of knee injuries that require medical intervention, this is not one of them. So if you injured your knee tendon in the gym by being stupid, this is the right page for you, but if you just sucked or licked your way up to the career ladder, then better go to a doctor before it is too late, and reevaluate your life choices and your self-worth. As you can deduct from its name, it means that your tendon is either inflamed due to bad exercise execution or injured from jumping-like movements. It starts as a sharp pain in your knee. This is a signal that you have to intervene, otherwise it is going to be much worse…much worse! Imagine becoming so incapacitated, that taking the stairs or driving a car can be an ordeal for you. Do you really want to go there?

After this, people realize that something is indeed not very kosher, and only now they go to the doctor, or just google their symptoms finding out they have brain cancer.

What will the doctors suggest?

  • physiotherapy with magnets
  • physiotherapy with a laser
  • surgery

I cannot emphasize enough: do not undergo surgery! It is extremely risky, and it will take months to heal…if it will heal. I’ve been working in medical fields for a while, so I am definitely not against medical science, but there is a much easier way, and I will show you how to forget this menace completely.

What can cause Patellar Tendinitis?

In order to understand the healing process you need to get familiar with what causes patellar tendinitis. As you age your tendons become more prone to injuries, so it’s better to banish all the primitive workouts requiring you to jump and do some imbecile monkey tricks. Not only your knee tendon will be grateful for it, but all your tendons, trust me.

Repetitive movements

Repetitive movements occur mostly at work, etc. However, in case case of patellar tendinitis it’s a little different, since it is quite unlikely that someone is so retarded that they take the stairs in self-destruct mode. However, if your clutch is too heavy to push, while you drive a lot in the city, it may lead to this if you have the wrong posture.

Overtraining

Yes, you can easily overtrain your tendons with bad exercises or with poor execution, but most commonly: with very frequent application of both. You think you can get thighs so big that cannibal recipe books will reserve a separate section just for your meat, butI doubt becoming the human Angus is a healthy aspiration.

Strains and sprains

It’s not a coincidence that usually the fitness-related tendinitis is also called repetitive strain injury. Many people think that they can maximize their exercise movement range by over-stretching the muscle, and while it also hurts the muscle itself yielding no benefit at all, it can be fatal for your tendons. This is why it is extremely important to execute every exercise properly, thus you can avoid any repetitive strain injury, and hear about them only from your uneducated friends.

The remedy

The most important part is prevention…yeah, it’s a cliche, but still. These methods work, and I have developed and tested them on myself. In my case, the pain did never go away, and regardless of how long I kept my tendons rested, no improvement occurred. That is why it is crucial to engage your tendons in activity, because only if you use them, only then they start to synthesise collagen again, and only then it will heal, and only then the pain will go away.

How to prevent it?

  • set up a good position if driving a lot
  • relax your legs when in a constant position
  • do mild stretches and take breaks
  • watch your posture when training legs
  • you don’t need infinite exercises and repetitions for your leg workout
  • no over-stretching
  • warm up properly
  • quit smoking
  • cut down omega-6 fatty acids (sunflower oil, grape seed oil), use healthier oils
  • sleep enough (seriously, it’s the most important dietary supplement ever)

You may not even realize, but a bad driving position can literally make you disabled. Don’t let your ass to slide down and keep a proper distance from the clutch. Some people keep their legs constantly flexed without even noticing. This may lead to long-term damages, so just pay attention, and then your subconscious will quickly adopt the healthy state. Breaks are always welcomed, especially if you use your legs a lot, just make some movements with them, stretch a little (not too much!). When training legs improperly you can expose your knee tendons to a lot of pressure. During squats and leg presses try not to move your knees sideways, and also do not push your knee way too forward past the ankle’s line. Try to find the best natural position for your own anatomical proportions. Also, try to push yourself by the back of your foot. Remember, you are not a ballet dancer! Last, but not least, find the perfect position between the constipated virgin girl and the cowboy with hemorrhoids. When people directly train them, they tend to overstretch them for the bigger movement range: don’t do that! Do not try to stop it at the bottom point either. Moreover, do not overstretch them when doing leg extensions. Check the leg exercises page for more info. Proper warm-up is the most important part of the leg workout. Rub your knees to increase circulation, and then do the exercise on the bottom of the page. Smoking decreases blood flow and increases inflammatory activities. I mean, it’s unhealthy on default, but when it’s with a little exaggeration about life and death, then it’s the perfect opportunity to get rid of an addiction, thus building a stronger personality as well. Omega 6 fatty acids increase inflammatory activities in your body. There is nothing wrong with using sunflower oil once in a while, or using grape seed oil (for example for steaks due to its higher smoke point), but in general, try to use them as less as possible, and look for more balanced fatty acid profiles, like olive oil. Check the Ingredients page for more info, you won’t regret it. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of sleep. You may get by by sleeping less, but you will eventually pay the price for it. 8h is good, seriously, just do it. And don’t tell me you don’t want it, lol!

How to treat it?

Phase 1.

  • set up a good position if driving a lot
  • relax your legs when in a constant position
  • do mild stretches and take breaks
  • NO leg exercises that cause pain or cause pain on the next day
  • use knee sleeve
  • icing and anti-inflammatory creams and medication ONLY at the beginning, as long as it is still swollen

When you reach the 1st healing phase there are two things to keep in mind: leaving your tendons to rest and then taking care of the inflammation. Inflammation is a natural process that is designed to provide the much needed blood flow for the injured tendon, however, the swollen tendon tissue may damage the surrounding tissues, and that damage could be irreversible. Stretching is not recommended, only very mild ones, because your tendon is very sensitive and vulnerable right now. This is why ditch the leg exercises that cause pain, and use wrist splint as often as possible, because this phase is about nothing else but healing. Some exercises may not cause pain during the workout because of adrenaline and beast mode in your brain, but on the next day you will feel it. You can easily battle inflammation with icing and anti-inflammatory creams. I would not quite recommend anti-inflammatory tablets, but if the problem is way too severe, couple of days of tablets won’t do any harm. Keep in mind that while anti-inflammatory treatments reduce inflammation, they also inhibit healing, since they interfere with collagen synthesis, thus with rebuilding the damaged tendon tissue itself.

Phase 2.

  • increase the circulation (massage, puttingsomething warm on it, sauna, etc.)
  • gradually start to engage them in exercises gently (avoid exercises that cause pain, use knee sleeve when pushing heavy)
  • gradually decrease the knee sleeve usage as your condition allows it

And this is why the 2nd phase of healing is about actual healing. The 1st phase was your Stalingrad to stop the nazi inflammation, and now is your turn to march all the way to Berlin! Now is the time to rebuild your war-torn tendons. At first, increase the circulation by every way possible. Massage your wrists and palms, drown them into a warm water, go to sauna, etc. Sauna is an excellent way for “this type of cardio”. You have to realize that increased collagen synthesis that is desperately required for your recovery will be stimulated by stimulating the given tendon itself, hence you will have to engage it in activities again. If workout is too much for them, you can use a rice bucket and then you can at least finally unleash your weirdest fisting-fingering fetishes. Knee wraps are not recommended, see more here.

The Wonder Weapon: Patellar tendon rebuilding exercise

This exercise should be used as part of the warm-up of every leg workout even without any symptom of injury. I will include a video soon, but until then:

  • stand normally, feet facing forward, in one line with your shoulders
  • put one leg 3 feet forward
  • lean on it until your heel can still stay on the ground
  • push yourself back from your knee
  • do 30 reps
  • repeat with the next foot

This exercise is the very best to stimulate your patellar tendons in the good way, and it will help you to rebuild it extra quickly. As part of warm-up it will make sure you’ll never injure your knees again, because they will be prepared for the heaviest loads possible!

And that’s it, if you pass these steps, you can gradually return back to the normal, and can be stronger/faster/etc. more than ever! Happy healing!

What about light therapy?

Light therapy won’t do any harm, but it is mostly intended to kill malignant microorganisms on a healing scar, it’s not some healing magic beam. Basically a flashlight could do the job better, since it provides more warmth.

How about visiting a chiropractor?

Dude, I love Harry Potter too, but magic doesn’t exist, and giving tons of money to charlatans is a transgression against civilization.