I'd like a magic pill, please

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

To cure my ailing knees. I’ve been diagnosed with tendonitis in both knees (on and off for over five years now), “anterior knee pain” in both knees (where the doctor told me that - surprise! - my knees hurt), and a possible minor problem with the meniscus in my right knee.

It’s my own doing, I freely admit: overuse and working through the pain, which I did my damndest to ignore for nearly a year as it got progresively worse. However, I work out as much as I do the way I do because that’s my routine, which I’m completely psychologically dependent on to deal with stress. I’ve tried not doing it, and the physical results were not worth the emotional crap I went through.

The doctor said that, possibly, steroid injections may help. That would be an injection - meaning, with a needle - into my knee, and the very thought of that is enough to literally make me feel panicky. A possible help is not worth a full-on panic attack. Other than that possibility, I was told to do some stretches and strenghtening exercises (which are ridiculously stupid, as the stretches are part of my normal workout routine, and my legs are ridiculously strong proportionally to my size), rest my knees when they hurt, keep taking ibuprofen before working out, and…pay attention to my right knee and get to a doctor ASAP if it gets worse. This is extremely frustrating, especially as I’m now back at school, therefore, my stress level is up, therefore, I need to work out even more.

So, my request to the hordes of brilliant dopers out there: A miracle cure, please, which at least will be covered by insurance. Injections would be acceptable if there is a 100% guarentee of complete and total success with no chance of relapse. Miracle surgery, however, is not an option, as (for various reasons) I will not endure anesthesia or being sliced open, even if it is a guarenteed fix.

Have at it, Dopers. I’d like your submissions within two weeks, and don’t forget to show your work and print your name, neatly, at the top. :smiley:
(seriously - if anyone knows of any ways to help with any of these things, please do share.)

2

Have you looked into Iontophoresis? Basically a mild electric current is used to push the steroid through the skin into the tendon. I had it on my elbow for tendonitis, and it doesn’t hurt – it just tingles or stings like “pins & needles” when your hand falls asleep.

Two thngs:
1.The tendon has to be quiite close to the skin for this treatment to be effective – I’m not sure if it would be possible with your injury.
2. Your insurance will not cover it, if your insurance is Aetna. All others will cover it. (fills me with grrrrrr)

I have some articles about the procedure if you’re interested.

Also, what about ultrasound, massage, icing regimes… have you looked at those already?

3

On re-reading I am shocked that no one has discussed icing with you yet. Ask for a referral to a physical therapist (most insurance covers it under the “outpatient hospital” section of your coverage). From what you have described so far, your doctor is not informed enough about the rehab process to help you move forward. I don’t remember where you’re located, but if you have a University hospital I would suggest going there for your Physical Therapy if at all possible.

The other thing you need to do, and stat, is find a new workout routine that does not punish your body so destructively. If you’re running, switch to walking. If your already walking, maybe try swimming. I don’t know. But doing the same thing and expecting different results is like a mild form of insanity.

BTW, my PT told me that it takes about the same amount of time to heal from a tendon injury as the amount of time you felt the pain – in other words, considering you were “pushing through” your pain for at least a year, look at that time frame at the minimum for a near-full recovery. I say near-full because I was informed that a tendon which is injured, will always be more prone to reinjury.

Accept that you simply cannot continue to do as you have done in the past without suffering continuous reinjury, find a way to adapt your workout routine to your injury and move forward.

4

Hmm. Icing was mentioned, mostly as an “if it helps, do it”, which was pretty much all I was told. THe doctor offered to refer me to a PT, but since I was leaving for school in a week, I declined. I’m not sure what they’d do, anyway, other than just tell me to do the stretches and exercises the doc recomended.

Finding a different workout, for the reasons I explained in the OP, isn’t really an option. Why would I assume that the problems would come back? Papercuts don’t come back after they scab over, usually. I’m not putting all that much stress on my knees, really. I trained more regularly when I first started martial arts in an art that has a huge amount of jumping, which didn’t do any damage. Now that I’m doing something in which you almost never jump and is much slower (TKD vs. Shotokan, for anyone who cares), I’m putting less stress on my knees, but the problem is worse. Anyway - I’m not going to give martial arts up unless I physically can’t train, at all, anymore.

(The doctor told me that I could go back to working out when I could, pain-wise, and there was no time estimate given. I’d assume that the damage slowly happened over a year or so, so if I’ve been doing a tenth of what I normally do, it should heal ten times as fast.)

5

I’ve had more steroid injections into various joints, tendons, and muscles than I can enumerate. The relief can be rapid and dramatic, although it isn’t permanent. The injection itself isn’t that bad. The only really painful steroid injection I’ve had was into a cartilaginous area of the sternum called the xiphoid. Hurt like a mofo.

6

A PT is not a gym teacher. They are experts in rehabbing injuries. They will talk to you about icing, ultrasound, ionto, massage, lifestyle changes unrelated to sport (my PT had me change the way I sleep to help heal my injury!), appropriate bracing, and maybe other things I don’t know about. They will be able to explain to you in great detail why you have the pain (it may have root causes other than impact), and may be able to help you modify your workout without abandoning it altogether, in order to reduce the potential for reinjury.

Papercuts are not the result of chronic damage to connective tissue, which your injury is. Once you have damaged your tendons, they are permanently weaker than they were before. Its a sad and annoying fact.

Just pointing out againt that your doctor is not an expert in physical rehabilitation (unless he is a physiatrist, in which case I retract that statement.) So you don’t want steroid shots… get thee to a physical therapist. Really. If you want to heal more quickly and return to your sport, do it.

IANADoctor. but I have tendinitis (elbows). My brother has tendiitis (ankles). A good friend runs cross country (ankles, knees hips). You want a magic pill. Take the referral to PT.

7

Aah. My point about seeing a PT is it’s not a feasible option since I’m back at school, not that I expect to find some sort of replacement here. There’s nothing in the insurance network that would be fully covered, and even if there were, I don’t have transportation, time, or money for it.

8

Man, I thought Ninjas were invincible (unless someone cut their heads off).

You just ruined my day. No one wants gimpy ninjas :frowning:

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  1. how do you know that this entire thread is nothing more than a Cunning Ninja Trick?
  2. The mental power of Ninjas is unstoppable. I can do backflips with my mind.