I have had tendon pain for about 7 years now. I have pain in my knees, shoulders and stiffness in my neck. Sometimed I feel tenderness in upper chest. I have seen many doctors who basically prescribed supplements and pain killers. Now, I decided to start some physio myself. I’ve started the gym and I am taking Triflex fast acting two tablets a day. I do heavy weight exercises on chest and arms while very light weight exercises on legs and shoulders. Is my approach correct? Can I cure this pain in this method? If not, what is recommended?
Hi, sorry to hear that you’ve been dealing with this for some time now. Would love to help and provide you some guidance but we will likely need more information. Overall, I would say this is less about “curing” and more about managing your situation and finding a plan that allows you to progress forward and accomplish your activity goals. That being said, you definitely would be able to do this with some sort of training/rehab program, so starting up at the gym and remaining active is excellent.
When in particular do you currently experience your symptoms (per body part) and what activities/movements are limited by them?
What are your goals for activity and what does your current gym routine look like?
When you say you’ve started physio yourself, are you seeing a clinician or are you referring to the gym routine you started?
Also, it is unlikely you need to be taking the Triflex supplement.
Hello Mike,
When I said Physio, I meant my gym routine which is:
Monday - Chest around 5-6 exercises
Tuesday - Biceps and triceps with 5-6 exercises each
Wednesday - Back - 5-6 exercises
Thursday - Shoulder, very light 2-3 exercises
Friday - Legs, very light 2-3 exercises
Saturday - Fat Burn Cardio
I experience stiffness in my neck almost all the time, while I quite often experience discomfort in my back shoulder. Knee pain is also constant so any activity that involves bending the knee (like sitting and getting up) causes discomfort. I am a male, age 25, height 5ft 8 inches and weight is 76kgs.
I am not seeing any clinician. I avoid any exercise in the gym that causes pain. My goals are weight loss and tendon strengthening. I sometimes take NSAIDs.
Hello Mike,
When I said Physio, I meant my gym routine which is:
Monday - Chest around 5-6 exercises
Tuesday - Biceps and triceps with 5-6 exercises each
Wednesday - Back - 5-6 exercises
Thursday - Shoulder, very light 2-3 exercises
Friday - Legs, very light 2-3 exercises
Saturday - Fat Burn Cardio
I experience stiffness in my neck almost all the time, while I quite often experience discomfort in my back shoulder. Knee pain is also constant so any activity that involves bending the knee (like sitting and getting up) causes discomfort. I am a male, age 25, height 5ft 8 inches and weight is 76kgs.
I am not seeing any clinician. I avoid any exercise in the gym that causes pain. My goals are weight loss and tendon strengthening. I sometimes take NSAIDs.
Great, thanks for the additional information. I just have a few more questions that might help out with this whole process:
Do you have any specific examples of the 5-6 exercises you do the first 3 days and the “very light 2-3 exercises” you do for shoulders and legs?
Where in particular do you experience your knee pain?
For your discomfort in the back shoulder, are you referring to the shoulder blade area?
Part of tendon-related pain rehab and strengthening tendons comes with progressive resistance training, going heavier over time, and probably being okay with some tolerable discomfort during training, especially if the knee pain is constant as you say. That might be part of the issue here, if you’re avoiding any exercise that causes pain and staying “light” with legs and shoulders. That being said, to make the diagnosis of tendon pain, the questions about location of pain may help.
Heavy Exercises:
For my chest: Chest Press with a 15kg rod and 5kg plates, Flat flys with 8kg dumbells, Incline flys, decline flys Peck Deck flys, Cable flys.
Biceps: Bicep Curls with 8kg Dumbells, Preacher Curls, Plate Curls, Barbell Curls
Triceps: Skull Crushers, Tricep Dips, Rope Push down
Back: Cable Rows, Barbell Rows, Assisted Pull ups, Lat pull down
for the above, I keep the weight so that effort is required and I feel soreness afterwards. The above exercises are not easy and leave me tired afterwards.
Light exercises
Legs: Leg Extension on 10 kg with both legs x 2 sets, 5 kg wheb using only one leg, Seated Leg press x 2 sets with 20kg weight, Calf Raises x 2 sets with 30 kg
Shoulders: Shoulder Press with 10kg rod and 2.5kg plates x 2 sets, Shoulder press with 6 kg dumbells x 2 sets, Rope Face pulls 12kg x 2 sets
The knee pain is mostly in both knees, underneath the knee cap. I can bear a cracking sound every time I extend my knee. There are days when the pain may only be in one knee. There are days when there is no pain at all but still a cracking sound. Sometimes I feel the back of my knee swells, but the doctor said that this is not a bakers cyst. I’ve also had an xray done and can post pictures if that will help.
The shoulder pain is not in the blades. It’s more of a particular point in the back shoulder where there is tenderness and irritation. Not exactly pain. But I feel discomfort throughout the day. If I press on it I feel more tenderness and discomfort. It may also be in both shoulders, one shoulder or no pain at all. My neck is also stiff most of the times and sometimes there is discomfort felt in the back edge of the neck which connects with the shoulder.