How to fix tendinitis for good
and a quick lower body iso guide to get out of pain
A new patient came in recently with a diagnosis of patella tendon tendinitis, aka knee pain.
His biggest complaint - getting OUT of the car after driving to work.
Me: “How long has this been going on?”
Patient: “2 years. It’s full of inflammation.”
I’ll share the exact rehab protocol I started this guy out with, but first lets discover how tendintis works.
-itis is one of the most common diagnosis given out in the medical system
Here’s a short skit on how this goes down:
You: “My knee hurts.”
Doctor: (pokes, prods, moves the knee around) “Probably some tendinitis, here’s some ibuprofen.”
And scene.
Wish I was joking but that’s really as complex as it gets.
I think Big Medical is looking at changing the name to “bill-my-insurance-itis”
Most people seeking treatment are usually dealing with the chronic variety, aka tendinosis.
Why’s this a problem?
You will get the WRONG treatment.
Tendonitis vs Tendinosis
You get tendinitis when you try to do an activity that is too much or too often.
3 hours of pickelball after not playing for 3 months
maxing out bench press EVERY day (too often)
Inflammation makes an area more sensitive. That’s why bruises hurts. It’s one of the body’s protective strategies.
Acute inflammation (-itis) also means healing (a good thing), despite the pain.
Chronic inflammation (-osis) usually means poor tissue quality and degeneration (a bad thing). This happens when the acute version never heals.
Which one do you have?
We guess by how you DESCRIBE your pain.
The first line treatment for -itis is easy
Stop whatever is irritating it.
You did some level of activity your body was NOT ready for, so now it is inflamed (and painful)
If it hurts to run, hopefully you can still walk
if it hurts to jump, you MIGHT be able to run
There’s a lot of individual factors that go into this.
What happens when you mess this part up?
(and how not to mess it up since we won’t let you)👇🏽