Tendonitis/Tendonosis

[tubbytockley]

TO someone who DM'ed me - message limited to 1000 characters - need 3000.

Gday mate - yeah it's going on 2 years now. Both shoulders (both have tendinosis, one has torn labrum, commonly referred to as a "slap-tear". Confirmed by MRI's.

Mate I'm flat-out driving my car, cleaning my teeth (luck y I'm missing a few LOL ) . Probably going to have to go under the knife (to clean up under the acromium's).

NSAID's don;t work, as it's not an "inflammatory" condition. At least Tendinosis isn't anyway.

One important thing that I learnt: you can't train through it. Tendon cells take 100 days to heal/repair. As a bodybuilder, you just don't want to accept that you can't train. But you've just got to mate, or else you end up like me: hardly able to use your arms.

Another factor to take into consideration is your genetics. I have a narrow structure and my acromiums (shoulder bone) is curved forward. This means I was always at risk of impingement. Add to that the years of bulking (using gear) and heavy/hard lifting, not only did I wear my shoulder tendons out, but my muscle development led to imbalances (my internal rotators were MUCH stronger than my external rotators) - internal rotators such as: Back, Chest, (even Arm development "pulls" the shoulder joint forward were much stronger than the external (rotator cuffs). At times I've put on 35-40 lbs of muscle in 8 weeks. Sounds good but did a job on my tendons.

Treatment: have had a lot of physio - I wasted $$ on shit physio's early on until I found a good one. He's increasing my range of motion which helps with healing.

My 2 cents:

- make sure you pay attention to your rotator cuff strength - don;t go too heavy as they are red-twitch fibre - and respond to very low weight/high reps
- tendons take fucking ages to heal - 100 days (collagen turnover)
- make sure your posture is top-notch and your shoulder blades are in the correct position
- GET a good physio to check all these things, ideally one who's experienced with SHOULDER problems
- don;t take painkillers to mask the pain so you can train - you will get fucked up later on.

Anyway excuse my rant my shoulders have been excruciatingly painful for 2 years now. Having said that I'm 43 so I had it coming - all the shit I've done it's time to pay the piper

I am going to try some GH soon as it may work to heal the tendons - but given I've stuffed my shoulders, surgery is definitely on the horizon.

If I were you mate I would:

- rest for a few weeks (it's not going to hurt you, and muscle memory is not a Myth - you put on size straight away as you begin training)
- learn as much as you can about rotator cuffs
- get scans (MRI's)
- find a good physio - shoulder specialist
- look at your development: are you over-developed in the front delts and chest - is your posture causing the classic "body-builder slouch?" make sure you're doing back training and especially have a good mind-muscle connection with the lower traps/rhomboids

Mate hope this helps - learn as much as you can - I really miss my lifting

[Gunsblazin]

I'm not totally getting the "relative rest" thing...does this mean lift or don't lift? I have tennis elbow, not sure if it's caused by tendonitis or tendonosis, it's painful when I lock out my elbows, or if I do any exercise with arms pronated (pullups, any kind of press movement, reverse wrist rolls) & the thing that hurts the WORST is supinated chin-ups. I'm also getting pain in that shoulder where I think my shoulder's been trying to overcompensate for the elbow. Should I attempt partial reps with a low weight to give the tendon & muscles some stimulation or should I rest my right arm completely for 100 days?????

[tmno]

very informative post and it is also useful.. nice

[Mikejm]

I have what I believe is either quadricep or patella tendonitis now for a few weeks. I've basically been training through it, although backing off a bit with lighter volume and longer days off between leg workouts. I know I got it from hack squats, so I've been avoiding those. It goes away after around 3-4 sets and my knees feel pretty much normal and even for a few hours after my workout. Is it okay to continue training like this? I need to start icing I guess. I'm having a hard time determining where the exact location of the pain is. Anytime my knee is bent some and I flex my quadricep I have some discomfort in the knee. One knee is worse than the other and sometimes I can feel the discomfort more than others. I also feel some slight stiffness at times if I'm laying down and not moving for a period of time such as waking up from a nap. The more my knees bend and the closer I get to parallel the more discomfort I feel, but I must be applying weight with my leg bent or flexing my quad up in the air with my leg bent. Has anyone had a similar issue? Did you recover, how long did it take, and what steps did you take? Thanks

[Steve Rao]

Nice article.

[jluff01]

Generally when you have an injury the joint above and below it can be one of the primary causes of the injury. In this case the shoulder and wrist joint should be assessed as the elbow may be compensating for a deficiency in a dysfunction present within one of these joints'

[musclefactory]

Help -

I've tried PRP, Localized HGH for knee tendonitis. Either didn't work or too expensive to run longer Than a month.

I'm now trialling Deca Durabolan.

Thoughts / experience s?

[Kaladryn]

This article doesn't tell the whole story, the truth is, tendinitis and tendinosis are present in almost all cases of tendinopathy.

[musclefactory]

Delete

[TKA42]

Fantastic post. Informative and concise! This is my second semester as a physical therapy student, and we have been discussing the difference between -osis and -itis musculoskeletal conditions - most people are generally experiencing -osis type conditions, but there is still disparity in the vocabulary among healthcare professionals. The newer PT's and PTA's in the field are using terms like "Plantar fasciosis" instead of "fasciitis" now, especially if it's a chronic, recurring condition. Thank you for sharing!

[Barny]

Thanks!

[gracy29]

Can you suggest any diet for strengthening collagen fibers?