Dealing with Tendinitis: My Story.

Okay so its been a while since we’ve had an update on what I’m doing and where I’m at.

As most of you probably know these past few months I’ve been battling with tenditis, or also known as jumpers knee in both of my knees. For those of you who don’t know what tendinitis is, its basically a when the tendon below your knee (the patellar tendon) becomes damaged and/or inflamed because of overuse, poor mechanics (like when jumping or running) or weaknesses in certain muscles.

In my case it was caused by a little bit of everything. I put too much stress on my body without letting myself recover properly, along with having weak VMO’s ( quad muscle that stabilises the knee) and weak glute medials (small muscle group on the side of your glutes that help stabilise your knees), along with poor landing mechanics when I shoot a basketbal. On top of this, my left knee cap is actually out of alignment which is something I was born with and will never be able to change. This misalignment unfortunately forces my knee to land in sometimes awkward positions making proper stabilisation and landing mechanics that bit more complicated to work on.

So as a result, I was out of basketball and sports of all kinds for quite a long time. Four months to be exact. And it was tough. Not being able to play the sport you love is tough. Not even being able to shoot around or run or jump slightly without getting a bad pain inmy knees was tough.

Luckily however I have a great physiotherapist who got me through and has gotten me healthy again. Canta Clinic Carlow have the best phsyiotherapists around for miles. I couldn’t be grateful enough to my physio, Mairead, who has got my knees back healthier than ever before.

So what have I been doing to get my knees healthy? Well first off, if your having problems with your knees get yourself to a physio who can diagnose YOUR problems and what has caused them. What caused my problems can be completely different to yours. With that said, heres what I’ve been doing:

1. Rest and Rehab: Like I said I took four months away from playing basketball and going to the gym. And its what made the difference. Spring forces ( forces made from jumping and landing constantly, like running jumping and playing sports or moving rapidly) provoke the tendons and worsen tenditis. So by stepping back from the game I allowed my tendons recover as much as possible as quickly as possible. Along with doing the exercsises to strengthen my VMOs and glute medials as prescribed by my physio, this is the quickest way to recover. It is the most painful way emotionally and mentally because you have to pull yourself away from the sport you love, but it will get you back to playing fully as quickly as possible.
2. Diet and Sleep: Getting enough sleep and maintaining a healthy sleep pattern ( I get roughly 7 hours or sleep a night) can make all the difference. We all know the benefits of sleep. Having a good diet also is a huge key. If you do like me and sit out for a long time, you are going to gain weight and get a small bit unfit. But, a good clean and healthy diet can minimise weight gain while also providing essential nutrients which will be needed to rebuild those knees healthier and stronger.
3. Find other ways to stay involved or active: If you try and just sit through having tendinitis your going to lose your mind. So you have to stay active. For me this meant going to all of my teams training sessions and helping out as much as I could, in particular helping the younger and weaker players develop in the background while our coach did his job. Small things like filling water bottles and organising jerseys kept me feeling like I was contributing instead of just being dead weight while I was out. Simply just being the best supporter or my team I could helped ease off the feeling of being driven crazy by not playing. Getting really invloved in my club also really helped.

After roughly four months I finally got back hooping again. I’ve been back playing now roughly a month. Although I’m not fully free to workout and play whenever I want it feels great to be back on the court again. But returning to playing has brought its own new challenges. Naturally from not playing I’m not as fit or as in game shape as I’d like to be. My strength numbers (how much I can squat/deadlift etc.) have dropped significantly. My shot and handle doesn’t feel as naturally as it used to and my movements are a bit less explosive.

I knew these problems were coming and I look forward to working through them and getting back to beasting again. Its the joy of owning your grind, I have more fire and fuel now to get back in the best shape I’ve ever been in, get my body as healthy and fit as possible and become the best hooper I can possibly be.

So, if your to take anything from this blog, just remember time is on your side. When I stopped hooping four months ago I swore the world was ending. Now that I’m back I have to control myself not to overdo it and rush trying to get back fit and end up injured again.

Be patient, be consistent and have faith. It’ll all work out eventually. I know it will, I’m living it.

Stay workin’

Aaron.