Hey guys, I’m a 25 year old powerlifter and ive been dealing with quad tendinopathy for 4 years. It’s been really hard to compete and train without pain.
This past year was the worst and despite laying off competition and heavy squatting (currently only sticking to leg extensions and belt squats which seem to be the only movements I can do pain free) for the past 6 months the pain is still there if I try to squat with a forward knee travel or any sort of weight (even 80 kg that’s like 30% of my 1RM hurts, sometimes not the first session but after session 2 or 3 pain starts to appear).
I’ve asked here before and mainly the response I got was load management. That there were no treatments that actually worked.
I’m interested to know your thoughts on ESWT treatment for this issue since I don’t really know where to go to be able to do a real back squat again.
These are a couple of studies that show some possible positive outcomes.
Also curious about ESWT treatment, and getting frustrated trying to manage tendinopathies that don’t go away (I’m at a year of trying to treat these problems, including working with BBM therapists). I’m still at debilitating levels of pain – can’t do the career I want, can’t do hobbies, and can’t train. This shit fucking blows.
So bodyweight squats give you pain? Have you tried a stationary lunge and tried to build capacity with that? What about doing partial ROM squats to minimize knee travel and gradually increasing ROM?
No bodyweight squats are mostly fine, but as soon as I add some weight they start to hurt. I’ve been doing split squats, belt squats (both with vertical shins cause forward knee travel seems to make the pain much worse) and leg extensions. I’ve been progressively overloading all of them both in terms of ROM and weight very conservatively, but still if I try to barbell squat even starting super light, I can’t get past 60-80 kg