Tendinopathies in my whole body

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Patient

Hi Laz

I have had insertional achilles tendinitis on both my heels and a shoulder tendon impingement for several years impacting my daily keep fit routine and even walking about whilst attending to routine matters. I underwent surgery on my right heel about 17 months ago. Was on crutches for 8 weeks of which 3 were non weight bearing. Was tough. Recovery has been slow. However, with time there has been some improvement albeit a bit slower than what i desire. I am 60 years old and a recently retired finance professional living in Sri Lanka. I am enjoying my life in full inspite of the physical pain i go through daily. Life has its challenges all the time . However, with a positive mindset and determination you can overcome all these challenges. Whenever, i have felt a bit down i have always thought about how fortunate and fulfilling my life is compared to many millions of others who don't even get to eat 3 meals a day.

So mate be positive and keep your chin up. As the moderator has mentioned you should have a chat with someone who can help you. Take care and get well. Don't ever give up.

Sanjeewa

hey there

A little about me Ive been into hardcore fitness 14-47 and trainer at times.

iI have had L meniscus tear and patellar tendonitis. r middle finger tendinitis. r elbow tendinitis w ulnar nerve subluxation (resolved with surgery) 2i ankle sprains. Big toe fx w arthritis.

Feel better now? lol

One of my orthos put it in plain english to me: tendonitis is an athletes disease not an old mans disease.

Our bodies become so TIGHT that we make our tendons and ligaments more susceptible to injury ..

It becomes important as we age to stretch more and I mean ALOT more!

No one who doesnt ever live and breath fitness will EVER understand how therapeutic mentally fitness is for us. I still need to spend a lot of time coping with the fact that Im not the super hero i thought i was,and that I need to be thankful for what I can do now because a lot people cant even do my modified exercises.

If you need to talk Im here 😃

DC

Thank you for everything guys, i really appreciate your support, im gonna carry on training and keep a positive mindset. Im just wondering if your rehab process has been with ups and downs as mine, so its really difficult to know whether im on the right path or damaging my tendons more. Btw im 27 years old.

thanks again

Hi Laz,

While my list is not as long yours I have struggled with tendinopathy in both ankles for many years (about 7 years on the left, only 2 years on the right). My physical activity levels are also not as intensive as yours - (when well) I cycle to work, dance, and am generally active in terms of walking, gardening etc - but these activities are integral to my sense of wellbeing and who I am. So I totally identify when you talk about how it effects you mentally, not being able to do those things as you are used to.

At my worst I could hardly walk at all and had to work from home because I just couldn't commute to work. Even when I started to make a bit more progress, it was tortuously slow with frequent set-backs, and it was making me depressed. It is so important at those times 1, to not judge yourself for feeling that way, and 2 to seek whatever help you need to get through it.

In terms of rehab - honestly, physiotherapy was a mixed experience. I think the strengthening exercises are useful to know, but the therapists always thought I could do a lot more repetitions than I actually could. I would follow their regimes and just get worse. A lot worse. After months of disappointment and the therapists getting p****d off with me because they thought I must be lazy or something (I would have done anything they said if it bloody worked!) I gave up on them and decided I would have to take it much slower.

My partner supervised my activity levels, because I couldn't really be objective about it at that point, I was so miserable. We started with 5 minute sessions on the cross-trainer. Then gradually started me cycling again, just 5 minutes around home to start with, and building up over the weeks as the ankles could tolerate more exercise without getting swollen. They also started responding positively to a few heel-raise exercises from PT. I am now much improved - I can do most of my activities again, just not as intensively as before.

Anyway, these long spells of inactivity forced me to realise that I can have a meaningful life that I enjoy without exercise if I have to. I will always want to be a active person, but I accept now that I'm probably never going to be the same as I was before my injuries happened, and I will get relapses sometimes. And I will be upset when those happen, but hopefully will cope better because of my previous experiences.

All the best, be kind to yourself,

Sharon

Laz, this issue of multiple tendinopathies is a serious problem deserving more attention. I have it too. Yet it is hard to find many patient stories of what worked for them.

Sharon's reply

"In terms of rehab - honestly, physiotherapy was a mixed experience. I think the strengthening exercises are useful to know, but the therapists always thought I could do a lot more repetitions than I actually could. I would follow their regimes and just get worse. A lot worse. After months of disappointment and the therapists getting p****d off with me because they thought I must be lazy or something (I would have done anything they said if it bloody worked!) I gave up on them and decided I would have to take it much slower."

points to a serious problem with the health care system!

I share her problem in that I try to follow good fitness practices and have a personal trainer, but he seems flummoxed by how these tendinopathies erupt despite what to him are low exercise loads. My physiotherapist simply says as to the cause of my multiple tendinopathies, "It's in your genes" -- a response that doesn't help.

If anyone has seen additional resources that may help, please post them.

The best resource I can point people to is the book "Built from Broken" by Scott Hogan.

Good luck to other tendinopathy suffers.