Bill

Any of you ever had knee surgery for patellar tenonitis/tendinosis? I have had it for 17 years or so and until recently it only affected my running. For all practical purposes, I gave up running. During the last two years or so it has been affected by swimming and cycling. I have been through all kinds of treatments for it, and it seems that nothing works. The doc says that the only thing left is surgery. I don't want to go through something that is ineffective or something that causes scar tissue that makes things worse. I wonder if there is anyone with any experience with this surgery.

CrankAndYank

Why would you run and swim when you own a bike?

TrojanHorse

What kind of doctor? Have you gotten a second opinion?

There's an orthopedic practice near me that specializes in sports medicine (matter of fact, most of the pro team's team doctors are in that practice). I would seek out somebody with that particular focus to give you a second opinion. if your current doctor is in sports medicine, I would probably seek out a second opinion anyway. It's hard to undo surgery once you've had it.

I say that as I sit here recovering from tendon repair surgery in my ankle... *sigh*

Menel

Questions for your doctor and your second opinion.

Find a orthopedic surgeon who are runners/cyclist/swimmers themselves.

Bill

The doc I have been seeing is a well-known orthopedic doctor. He works a lot with sports-related people. He tends to be on the cutting edge of things. I just had a PRP procedure done--one where they inject your own blood into the tendon (something that Tiger Woods had done). This was not successful. I'm tired of dealing with it.

merlinextraligh

Have you had your bike fit checked by someone who's really good? Improper saddle height exacerbates Pattellar tendonitis.

https://sweatscience.com/cyclists-adj...-bone-density/

https://www.cptips.com/knee.htm

Dfarlow

I could write a book on nagging overuse knee injuries. Gave up tennis 4 years ago and started cycling. Patella Tendonitis is better now but still not 100%. Have visited one of the top knee experts in the country (Thomas Myers in ATL). Was originally given some PT of building up the VMO which did seem to help, albeit temporarily. Now the pain is back, in the middle of race season, so I'm headed back next week for a consultation to discuss a relatively new surgical treatment called TENEX FAST. No sutures, in/out in 45 minutes, return to physical activity quickly, etc. I guess it involves using ultrasound imaging to identify scar tissue and seeks to break up and remove damaged tissue without disturbing surrounding healthy tendon tissue. Look it up. Will report back if I end up being a candidate for the surgery.

Bill

Thanks very much for this info. Let us know if you are a candidate and what happens.

qcpmsame 

Bill,
Will the surgery be arthroscopic or open incision? I know most is arthro now but yours sounds pretty far gone, I had friends that had the old school knee surgery in high school and that recovery time and rehab is gruesome and the amount of return of function isn't great. My brother had arthroscopic on his knee after tearing up several of tendons in his knee in a fall, he is 100% and the recovery was fairly quick with the PT doing a lot to help him, full return to duty in about 4 weeks as a deputy then. Best of luck and hope the surgery goes well for you.

Bill

Sean Gordon

General rule: Surgeons are surgery experts, not necessarily knee experts.

I've had two knee surgeries in the past year, one to treat a torn meniscus and another to remove damaged/inflamed synovial tissue. Make sure you don't have any other inflammation related issues. I found out after my first surgery that the cause of most of my pain and loss of function was from Lyme disease; Other causes can be from Celiac or Rheumatoid arthritis. Try to see a rheumatologist to do some broad spectrum tests to try and identify any auto immune problems, infection, or any other pathology that could be contributing to your pain.

Bill

My understanding is that the surgery will be arthroscopic. It is a matter of getting rid of some of the bad tissue and stimulating the tendon's ability to rejuvenate itself. If it were successful, I was told I could be running in three months. Now I haven't been running for quite a while, so if I could get my swimming and cycling back with no discomfort I would be thrilled.

qcpmsame 

Sounds like the right way to do things, Bill. Best of luck when you have the scope, my brother used an Orthopedic Surgeon that the Sheriff's department prefers since he was on duty when it happened. We also now have the Andrew's Institute here, he is the doctor that scopes all the college and pro football players you hear about, pretty good guy, they do the HS football physicals for free every year.

Bill