Help: special Patellar Tendonitis - Osgood-Schlatter disease

Torsten Hauptmann · 10-21-2009, 01:56 PM

i hope i can expain my problem well enough because i am not a nativ speaker of english:

my doctor said that i have a special patellar tendonitis (swollen tibial tuberosity) - again. i used to have it quite often. but the last patellar tendonitis i had dates a while back. at first i stopped training as the doctors sugested but after a few patellar tendonitis i realised that training does not hurt or slow recovery down. indeed training helps to reduce the pain which i only have during rest.
but this injury has a history: about 15 years ago i was told to have the Osgood-Schlatter disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osgood-Schlatter_disease) and that made me basicly quit playing soccer. but i still have the swelling on my left tibial tuberosity - on which i have the tendonitis right now. but i know from soccer training that i had even at that time a very limited side split. and trying to improve the side split caused pain somewhere at the outside of the hip maybe it is the TFL? i mention it because i had recently successfully improved my side split (still had pain at the hip). i am still very limited in my side split but it is becomming better. but now i have pain in my left tibial tuberosity again. it can not be a sign of overtraining because i am currently training less than i did a month ago. the only thing i changed besids volume and intensity are unweighted lunges which i use now more frequently.
i suspect that i have some kind of strange tightness of my hip muscles. my left knee is shaking like andrews (http://www.cathletics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4163) but only 1 or 1/2 inch in range. it is not very easy to see i realised it during cycling and stairs climbing but i can remember that i had observed it 15 years ago there i had the same issue with my left knee.

i used to read the PM article about patellar tendonitis when it was released and started to stretch out my hip flexors. but my success was limited because it feels like stretching the glutes of my forward leg or something at the hip when utilising the lunge stretch... but actually it does not feel that much like a stretch but more like my hip flexors are locked that i can not stretch them. i use methods of thomas kurz and pavel and both worked very well on other muscles. even foam rolling did not help. therefore i suspect that i am missing the actual tightness. maybe someone could give me an hip mobilization routine which works everything. or a hip flexor stretch where i can "wait out the tension" (term from pavel) i searched but did not find something which was usefull in my case - or something was is similar to my case at all because the wicked thing is the swollen tibial tuberosity i now have consulted quite a number of doctors with good reputation but none of them could give me a treat which helped or knew a similar case. they all had the same opinion stop doing whatever you do. but all in all i did well in the last 15 years while working out and this is the only injury i had. it just seems to get me every then and there without hurting me heavy but there must be a cause for this and i think it is the tightness of my hip....

thanks in advance!

Steven Low · 10-21-2009, 08:23 PM

Yep, this is the exact same injury I have.

Best advice I can give to you is treat it like tendonitis with this protocol:
http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/08/on-tendonitis/

Make sure you DO NOT do anything that aggravates it. If you reaggravate it, then you WILL be set back at least 1-2 months. I've reaggravated mine at least 6-7 different times, and I have learned my lesson with pretty much being incapacitated for almost 2 years now. I am now just getting back into sprinting and such. DO NOT push too fast. Let it heal.

I strongly suggest taking Vitamin D and a calcium supplement if you are not already to help heal the bone-tendon junction. I wish I had known about this 2 years ago:
http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/1...-at-vitamin-d/

Torsten Hauptmann · 10-22-2009, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Low

Yep, this is the exact same injury I have.

isnt that funny? we are a rare species

thank you for your advice i was only browsing it briefly yet. can you give me advice on mobilization drills of the hip - i am longing to see the hip mobilization video on the CFJ. do you have a tight hip too?

edit: i forgot to mention that my hip makes a popping sound when i recreat fgollowing: i lift one knee while standing to my chest at least that high that there is a 90° angle between my torso and my thigh and when i lower it with relaxed bended lower leg (usually in this position approx 90°) the popping sound occurs. my hips used to pop during situps but i suspect that after getting a stronger core i could keep everything tight and do situps without popping. when i am not relaxed while the above dexcribed motion and when i doing and contracting my core hard then there is no popping sound.

Steven Low · 10-22-2009, 07:56 AM

My rectus femoris gets tight because the rest of my quads are shortening and atrophying from my patellar tendon pulling away from the tibial tuberosity. Thus, why I hip flexor stretch a lot.

Otherwise, I have good hip mobility.

if your hip mobility is poor then you're going to have to figure out some different stretches to hit stuff. What exactly is tight?

Torsten Hauptmann · 10-28-2009, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Low

if your hip mobility is poor then you're going to have to figure out some different stretches to hit stuff. What exactly is tight?

good question - i do not know exactly. basicly everything besids hamstrings. that means i can stay upright in the squat. it is still far from perfect but i can squat with acceptable form. everything else is tight.
i think that i can not hit my hip flexors because of tightness of some other muscles. and when stretching for side splits i have pain at the outside of the hip maybe at the TFL. and i found out that i can not stretch my IT band (or it is overstreched - did never do IT band stretches) with the reverse cossack from pavel. i can get in the position but i do not feel the stretch.... but still the pain at the outside of the hip is bothering me.

i think the best thing would be a mobility drill for the hole lower body at least to figure out what exactly is tight