Ever since grade 8 Ive had really “bad” knees. Basically the tendon below my knee cap gets progressivly sore and worn as the training week goes on so that some days its too painful to do squats or plyos.
I was diagnosed with osgood slaughters in grade 9, a pretty common adolescent growth development thing in the knee and ever since then ive had this problem.
Does anyone else have this or know how I can work towards making it better or being able to do squats and plyos?
Don’t know if you’re talking patellar tendonosis, but I’ve dealt with that in the past. Hard to alleviate. Ice massage helps as do anti-inflammatories, and rest, of course. I think you just have to figure out the things that cause the greatest problem and avoid those until it subsides. Plyos and squats can be tough. You might try deadlifts, hang cleans, reverse leg press, glute-ham raise or others to see if there are some lifts you can do that don’t aggravate the problem. With plyos, you might be able to handle certain ones – maybe high skips, speed bounds or others that are less problematic than hopping or high bounding moves. You might try Mach drills – A skips in particular. If all of those things are bad, just stick to sprint work.
thanks, yeah basically my problem is that it never goes away, I can do all the plyos and never really take it over the edge but it seems im always doing them below my potential, when i take a week off and come back i can do it way better.
My knees feel infinitely better when I stay properly hydrated. Not only does the pain go away, even the popping and cracking stops. Staying properly hydrated means not only getting enough water (I aim for a gallon a day) but also COMPLETELY avoiding substances that dehydrate like caffeine and alcohol. I can drink enough water to spend the day in the bathroom, but if I haven’t avoided caffeine and alcohol for at least a month, I don’t get the pain relief in my joints.
I would probably adjust your training to compensate for the patellar tendonosis and get continuous therapy for the tendon (there definitely is a structural problem with you that needs to be addressed; see Erica or Gerry perhaps?)
I’ve had the same problem, the tendon is still swollen on my left knee. If have pretty much zero pain or problem with it though. What I think you should do is simply strengthen your leg muscles, at least that seemed to work 100% for me.
how old are you?
Try ice baths. they help me with my shins
I have been suffering from patella problems also (in left knee).
Here is a number of things I do to help ease the problem when training.
In my case it is a slight biomechanical problem. So getting hip alignment & leg lenght assessment helped. Preferably by someone ho knows what they are talikng about! Orthotics helped ease the problem.
Getting the right balance it muscle around the area. Ie. Strenghtening up the Quads & hamstrings.
A good ratio around 80% -100% - meaning if the hamstrings can curl 80kg, the quads should be able to extend 100kg.
I was particularly weak within Vastus mediallus muscle (Inner quad).
Taping the patella tendon helps - always type starting from the inside of the knee (going away from the body) - Dont tape to tight or you will cut off blood flow!
Anti-inflams, take before and after training
Ice bathing - as mentioned by other members
Good supportive footware.
Hope this helps.
Tomo1
I’ve just been researching for an article I’m doing on functional athletic knee testing and their use in prevention and assessment of injuries.
The key thing with most patellar injuries IMO and experience is lack of flexibility in the Quad muscle group and hip flexors rather than Ham/Qaud strength ratios. Because there are fewer Q injuries you find people stretch Hams far more than Quads and this increased Hypertonicity causes more and more pull on the patella, the OS is also a contributing factor in your case though.
Unfortunately a proper functional muscle assessment is needed to accurately diagnose the injury causes, but I feel it could be helped greatly with flex work.
Orthotics can really help if you correct muscles imbalance/restriction.
I’ve often found athletes (soccer player) with bad knee because they had hyperpronation and TFL restriction.
Fascial release/specific stretching (after trigger point work) on inner calves, TFL and sartorius/gracilis can help you.
(Specific muscle tests on lower leg are indicated).
I had suffered from patellar tendonitis/osis for 2 years and experienced much of the same symptoms and pains that you had. I researched the internet and found alot of useful information, however much of it dealt with alleviating the symptoms of the pain, none of it did anything to get to the root of the problem. NSAIDs and ART and two methods which were highly recommended. After completing my ART treatment, I can not lie, my knees felt amazing. However, shortly thereafter my symptoms and pain reappeared.
Patellar tendonitis is a complex problem and it needs many courses of action to solve the problem. Here is what I did:
Single Leg Full Range Of Motion Exercises. Squats and Plyos only worsened my condition, I began by doing full ROM single leg - leg press focusing on pushing through the heel. This built up the strength in my less used muscles, the vastus medialis and hamstrings. I later moved onto full ROM bulgarian split squats. Why use single leg exercises? To first, eliminate any imbalances between legs, and second, to better activate the hamstrings.
Intense stretching of the hip flexors and quads. Some believe you only need to stretch two or three times per day. In this situation it is not enough. Frequency is the key, what I would do is stretch these muscles for 15 secs at a time, about 10 times per day. It becomes easy when you say “I will do these stretches whenever I go to the basement” (or any other activity you frequently do). By doing this you will notice quick improvements in your flexibility within 1-2 days.
Sit as little as possible. Sitting is terrible, it compresses your spine and tightens up your hip flexors. Get off that damn computer and walk around! However, if you must sit (eg you have a desk job), combat this by stretching your hip flexors often and getting up and walking around as much as possible.
Hydrate. This will help further loosen up those tight quads of yours.
Hopefully this will help you get on your way to ridding yourself of this annoying injury. As I had said, I’d been plagued by it for 2 years. After much trial and error, I have found these methods to work the best. Now, with my patellar tendonitis gone, I feel like a new man.
Good luck
How old are you?
thanks alot, ill try out some of this, im 22.
This condition is treatable, by adressing the mechanics. A good Osteopath should be able to discull a management with you.
I suspect there may be some training errors at play here. What sport do you play? What is your typical training week look like?
Tom