Patellar Tendinitis Recovery Time 4U?

teamgomez

Howdy all-

I got what I think is a nasty case of Patellar Tendinitis that hit me like a ton of bricks at mile 32 of a very mild ride (4 days b/f the new Madone came in, I might add...hrumph!).

Prev mileage avg'd 50/wk for prev 6 weeks. Outside air temp was a chilly (for San Diego) 58 deg and at mile 32 on my bike of 20 years I got what felt like an ice pick coming out of my right kneecap. Rode final 4 miles home w/ right leg out of cleat 1/2 of the time. Could hardly walk on it for 3 days; flight doc told me 2400 mg of motrin/day for 10 days. Walking pain subsided (stairs really did not feel well) after about 5 days. Been heating the knee nightly with a moist pad.

First short trip on the new steed to check knee out 7 days post-injury yielded same pain but to a lesser degree (about half of original pain) after about 1/4 mile. Got my first whopping 2 miler in on the new steed!

Next test today (flat terrain w/ mild climb)- 11 days post injury- pain after about 1/2 mile that was about 1/4 of original pain. Ride intensity was just enough exertion to keep bike going fwd at approx 65rpm and logged another 1.5 miles....

Trend in the right direction but disappointing nonetheless. Would appreciate hearing from anybody having overcome this type of injury to see what regimen you undertook, how long recovery took, and how susceptible you were to reinjury.

Thanks all!

WarrenG

[QUOTE=teamgomez]Howdy all-

I got what I think is a nasty case of Patellar Tendinitis that hit me like a ton of bricks at mile 32 of a very mild ride (4 days b/f the new Madone came in, I might add...hrumph!).

Prev mileage avg'd 50/wk for prev 6 weeks. Outside air temp was a chilly (for San Diego) 58 deg and at mile 32 on my bike of 20 years I got what felt like an ice pick coming out of my right kneecap. QUOTE]


Do you wear something over your knees when it's below 65-70 degrees outside?

teamgomez

Nope. Was in shorts and kind of think that some vaso-constriction could have been to blame (gotta blame it on something besides getting old, right?).

WarrenG

The ligaments and tendons are stiff as it is, even moreso when they're out in the cold. The wind chill you presented was around 35 degrees-not good.

OscarC

dude, you need leg or knee warmers. I'm just north of you in L.A. and I have been wearing leg warmers to protect my knees. Anything below 60 to 65 degrees I wear them.

Try taking Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements.
Each tablet contains 1,500 mg of Glucosamine and 750 of Chondroitin. I take this 3 times a day with my meals like the bottle says. I got mine from GNC and I think it's called Triflex. It helps joints and cartilige regeneration. Kinda of expensive but well worth it.

inSANe DIEGO

I came down with PT at the end of January. I still haven't gotten back on a bike. I've been acting like a Tri wannabe and swimming to get my cardio. Sucks because since I haven't swam in such a long time I have to take it easy or I'll get tendinitis in my shoulders.

My case seems pretty mild compared (symptomatically) to what everybody else I've read about has described for themselves. Even though, It's gotten much better, but it's still hanging around. I went back to the doc last Thursday and now they say I have Patellofemoral Syndrome and I'm waiting for a P.T. referral to go through. Man this is frustrating!!!! I've been cycling on and off for six years now and have never experienced anything like this. I just hope this is because I overloaded the hell out of my knees when starting up again this last time (went from a 30 mile ride once a month to about 20 miles during the week and 45 miles on Saturday) and It won't be a recurring problem. Any thoughts on whether or not it will be?

I myself wore legwarmers everyday I rode.