I’ve had a this nagging tendonitis for a few months now. Tendonitis of the semimembranosis, for all you docs/PTs out there. The pain is in the back/inside of my knee, I feel it most usually after exercise, especially running. Also, I can feel the tendon ‘popping’ (as it passes over a bursa?) when I bend down to tweek my leg a certain way–doesn’t hurt, but I feel it. It’s gotten much better than it was, and the pain definitely doesn’t stop me from doing anything–but I’m realizing that it’s really not going to go away unless I completely halt cycling (stopped running a week ago). I’ve done the dose pack thing, no marked improvement. Next suggestion was a cortisone shot, but I’m thinking that’s more of a last resort for pain management. I don’t want to mask the problem either, which is my impression of what a cortisone shot does–right or wrong?
So, I’m open for recovery tips. No running, no cycling. Swimming likely with PB only, no kicking. Ice 2-3 times a day? Gentle stretching? Yoga?
What else would you do during a week that you couldn’t cycle/run, that doesn’t involve the hamstring??
Try to see if you can find a sports medicine or occupational therapy clinic that has a Microcurrent machine. It’s like a TENs unit (electronic muscle stimulator) on steroids. Current is so fast your muscles don’t contract but man does it speed up healing. It actually increases intracellular ATP production by 500%, causing the cellular fluid transfer to increase to incredible levels. This speeds up the healing process as the fluids can carry away waste products and bring in nutrients to the damaged tissues so much faster. I’ve seen torn shoulder muscles swimming in only two weeks, range of motion return in 1/2 the time and swelling reduce within hours. My wife works in an office with one of these machines and all the athletes fight over the time slots for treatment. It’s nice to have it at our disposal for post race recovery, speeding up the process by about 50%.
Thanks. That’s not the same as an ultrasound though…? I have a PT friend whom I called for recommendations on what to do next. A while back he had mentioned that I could drop by, and he’d see what he could do with ultrasound. And then just the other day when I talked to him again he suggested the cortisone shot. So, I bet his PT clinic has one, but I probably need a 'script from the doc. At any rate, maybe I’ll bug him again and see if he can slip me in. Thanks for the help.
How’s your bike fit? All the time off in the world won’t solve the root cause of the problem (unless the root cause is overtraining), and it’ll probably just return as you start training again. Pain behind the knee is a common indicator of a saddle that is too high.
A good thought, but it hasn’t changed one bit since March of '04. I am however at a loss for what the cause is/was. Lack of hammie flexibility I bet plays a key role, gotta get better there. When it first developed, it hurt anytime I would plant and turn…or when I would swim breaststroke (kicking out and in would stress it). If I had to imagine what a torn ligament felt like–this would be it. But I guess it wasn’t. It’s gotten I’d say 75% better from where it began. Anyways, I digress…thanks for the suggestion.
Jhen, have you made any progress with your behind the knee pain? My brother is/was having the same type of symptoms that you described on an earlier post. He had to bail on a ride this weekend and called his wife to come pick him up in the car. It is very painful when it flares up. Lowering his saddle did seem to help for a week or so then it just came back during a routine ride?
Definitely NOT the same as ultasound. It’s at magnatudes of power higher frequency. 10^6 versus 10^3 in wavelength. There are only about 100 machines nationwide of this type. Where are you? I’ll see if my wifes boss knows of a place in your area with one or not. She’s on the couch in the living room hooked up right now, working on some calf muscle pain and scar tissue break-up.
Saddle too high. This was the second time I was fit with my saddle too high. I even told the fitter that I wanted to be on the low-end of the range. Over the course of a couple weeks, I ended up lowering my saddle by about 1 cm total and it’s like I have brand new legs - tons more power and no knee problems.
I have been recovering from hamstring tendonitis myself. I was dealing with the semitendinosus tendon. Once I began getting regular treatment for the injury 2x a week I was promptly able to resume light training and now after 6-8 weeks of treatment I am very close to being fully recovered. (Note: the injury went untreated for a while and it DID NOT heal on its own with time/rest/stretching (4-5months.) I went to a sports PT and a sports chiro. I found a combination of deep tissue massage, stim and ice to be very effective for treating the injury. The treatment was in combination with a stretching program then strengthening program which I was given to do on my own.
While I was receiving treatment I lowered the saddle on my bike so I could train mostly pain free. I stayed on the trainer to avoid hills, as long as the workout didn’t make the leg worse I continued. i stopped running for a while then slowly built back up running 3’ then walking 1’ at a very, very slow pace on the treadmill. I began w/a total of 9’ of total running and slowly built up, both speed and distance. This very cautious approach resulted in zero setbacks and i am now running 1hr at a time at a decent pace pain free.
We noticed that once we got the tendonitis somewhat under control other “problem” areas began to appear. The biggest breakthrough for me was when we began treating my adductor in combination with my hip flexor. I didn’t notice the pain in these areas until the tendonitis inflamation had gone down. I also, per the advice of a very good professional bike fitter (fitwerx), added some shims under my cleats on my shorter left leg. This appears to have been the cause of the injury (combined w/overuse). I have slowly 1mm at a time raised my saddle back to its usual height and I have been riding normally and haven’t had any problems.
Hope some of this information is helpful to you and good luck with your recovery.
Thanks for the reply, very helpful, glad to hear you’re over the hump. Man I’ll be kicking myself if my recovery takes that long…
I’ll see what lowering the saddle does for me. As it is, I barely feel any pain/twinge when cycling, but maybe lowering the saddle will further reduce any aggravation of that insertion. Thanks again
I have been recovering from hamstring tendonitis myself. I was dealing with the semitendinosus tendon. Once I began getting regular treatment for the injury 2x a week I was promptly able to resume light training and now after 6-8 weeks of treatment I am very close to being fully recovered. (Note: the injury went untreated for a while and it DID NOT heal on its own with time/rest/stretching (4-5months.) I went to a sports PT and a sports chiro. I found a combination of deep tissue massage, stim and ice to be very effective for treating the injury. The treatment was in combination with a stretching program then strengthening program which I was given to do on my own.
While I was receiving treatment I lowered the saddle on my bike so I could train mostly pain free. I stayed on the trainer to avoid hills, as long as the workout didn’t make the leg worse I continued. i stopped running for a while then slowly built back up running 3’ then walking 1’ at a very, very slow pace on the treadmill. I began w/a total of 9’ of total running and slowly built up, both speed and distance. This very cautious approach resulted in zero setbacks and i am now running 1hr at a time at a decent pace pain free.
We noticed that once we got the tendonitis somewhat under control other “problem” areas began to appear. The biggest breakthrough for me was when we began treating my adductor in combination with my hip flexor. I didn’t notice the pain in these areas until the tendonitis inflamation had gone down. I also, per the advice of a very good professional bike fitter (fitwerx), added some shims under my cleats on my shorter left leg. This appears to have been the cause of the injury (combined w/overuse). I have slowly 1mm at a time raised my saddle back to its usual height and I have been riding normally and haven’t had any problems.
Hope some of this information is helpful to you and good luck with your recovery.
I’ve had a this nagging tendonitis for a few months now. So, I’m open for recovery tips.
The inflammation in your tendonitis has probably degenerated over “a few months” to mostly non-inflammatory fibrosis (tendinosis). The healing process now has to be encouraged by more specific interventions for tendinosis, such as low-level laser therapy and eccentric exercise training (e.g., Nordic curl). Otherwise, it will continue nagging you for a long time.
Thanks for the reply, very helpful, glad to hear you’re over the hump. Man I’ll be kicking myself if my recovery takes that long…
I’ll see what lowering the saddle does for me. As it is, I barely feel any pain/twinge when cycling, but maybe lowering the saddle will further reduce any aggravation of that insertion. Thanks again
I would not say cortisone is a last resort. but a way to get medication into the target tissue. It is interesting that you say you feel it flipping over the Bursa and don’t think that you have bursitis but then again your not really complaining of Pes Aserine Bursitis so I am not sure what Bursa your talking about. In any event a stint of PT focusing on some eccentrics may be of assistance and a good option for you if you are planning to steer clear of Meds this would often include your Electrical/Sound modalities if the MD see appropriate. Since you are going to the Othro you may want to ask him what his thoughts are on PRP (probably something you won’t want to do since you were against Cortisone) but may have some therapeutic efficacy. There are always some docs that are using topicals from compounding pharmacists now with mixed results, you have your Oral NSAIDS etc… so it seems you will have a good amount of options to see if you kick this.
