I need help guys - joint and tendon issues

[chaos]

X2

Sneaking around, trying to avoid left hook/right uppercut combo?

[Coach is Back!]

I’ve been lifting 5 days a week for almost 25 years and I have an extremely active lifestyle, I have no plans of taking a break or time off because I truly believe I’d go insane.  That being said, I’m 40 y/o and am beginning to develop some joint and tendon issues in my right shoulder, the heel of my right foot and my hip.  These are nagging issues that developed over months so I’m not necessarily looking for a quick fix but more a recommendation of how I can treat them and prevent others.  Any advice welcomed , thanks.

Seems all of your injuries are on the same side. All on the right side. That being said your entire kinetic chain on that side is affected. Chances are since your hip is giving you problems on that side, your QL is probably nagging you as well.

This might be where a good Chiropractor comes in. Have him/her check your gait, measure your hips (might be off)/leg length, etc.

If this is what it is (and it sounds like it is) a couple of adjustments might be in order.

Once your hips are in line, your gait will straighten out and within a few days to a week you’ll feel relief from your shoulder to your hips.

[deadz]

I’ve been lifting 5 days a week for almost 25 years and I have an extremely active lifestyle, I have no plans of taking a break or time off because I truly believe I’d go insane.  That being said, I’m 40 y/o and am beginning to develop some joint and tendon issues in my right shoulder, the heel of my right foot and my hip.  These are nagging issues that developed over months so I’m not necessarily looking for a quick fix but more a recommendation of how I can treat them and prevent others.  Any advice welcomed , thanks.

All part of the game.

[Primemuscle]

This is why I mention adding in a low dose NSAID

NSAID works for me. My preference is for Aleve.

[Griffith]

NSAID works for me. My preference is for Aleve.

Most effective for me are the selective COX-2 inhibitors. They're designed to have less effect on the stomach, which involves COX-1.

[Moontrane]

Joint issues may be a matter of inflammation, which can be quite serious. Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease and it is degenerative. Most people who have arthritis, have osteoarthritis which is caused by injury or damage to one's joints. Arthritis can cause tendinitis.

The pain of tendinitis can be significant and worsens if damage progresses because of continued use of the joint. Most damage heals in about two to four weeks, but chronic tendinitis can take more than six weeks, often because the sufferer doesn't give the tendon time to heal.

For many people, the older we get the longer it takes to heal. Maybe it is time for you to take a vacation from working out. Trust me, you won't die or lose all your muscle if you do and when you're healed, you'll be ready to regain all that you lost and more.

I fixed my biceps distal tendon pain with 100 reps everyday routine (thankful to tacotrescombo on that!!!)
Maybe high rep dumb.front raise and bentover laterals would do a similiar trick, no?

I’ve had my share of soft-tissue injuries from exercising, but this was the worst.  One by one, I had
to drop exercises until all I could do for back were pullovers and extremely strict DB rows.  

I went through PT, which didn’t do much in the short-term, but I kept at the baby-weight (2.5-lb curls)
eccentric movements.  It took a year to fully resolve, so dude, take Prime’s advice and take a break
before you develop something chronic.  Time is on your side, so use it.

[Rambone]

Just take 2 weeks off from working out

In my experience, taking 2 weeks off is something you should not do if tendinitis is truly the issue. The break is nice and all from a mental standpoint, but I can’t tell you how many times lingering issues like tendinitis was there waiting for me to easily get irritated just like I never took that time off. I’d ice the painful areas, take no more than a couple days off, stretch, get some deep tissue work done and start doing rehab exercises combined with avoiding exercises that cause pain. Train smart and listen to your body.

[POB]

In my experience, taking 2 weeks off is something you should not do if tendinitis is truly the issue. The break is nice and all from a mental standpoint, but I can’t tell you how many times lingering issues like tendinitis was there waiting for me to easily get irritated just like I never took that time off. I’d ice the painful areas, take no more than a couple days off, stretch, get some deep tissue work done and start doing rehab exercises combined with avoiding exercises that cause pain. Train smart and listen to your body.

I agree with this 2 weeks isn’t enough time and it may feel worse. You could also do what a older guy at the gym did and add a little deca and dbol to his trt after not using them in over 20 years and he claims it went away happier than ever to it seems

[Primemuscle]

In my experience, taking 2 weeks off is something you should not do if tendinitis is truly the issue. The break is nice and all from a mental standpoint, but I can’t tell you how many times lingering issues like tendinitis was there waiting for me to easily get irritated just like I never took that time off. I’d ice the painful areas, take no more than a couple days off, stretch, get some deep tissue work done and start doing rehab exercises combined with avoiding exercises that cause pain. Train smart and listen to your body.

Doesn't this depend on how someone defines time off? If you put your back out and follow the doctor's directions for optimum bed rest as my wife once did, you could end up worse off then when it first went out. After several days in bed, she could barely move well enough for me to take her to a chiropractor, who made some adjustments and she walked out of his office with almost no pain. When I've put my back out, my doctor has recommended to me to take a long brisk walk to relax the muscles and tendons. Surprise, it really works.

In your case, a couple of days may not have been enough time for the tendinitis to be completely resolved, but just enough time for you to feel less pain and then do too much too soon. The wisest thing you said was to pay attention to how your body is responding (listen to your body). If you jump the gun because you think everything is fine, you should quickly be able to realize that you were wrong and give the healing process more time.   

[Notomorrow]

It's called getting over 40 years old after training for 25 years. Hate to break it to you, but it gets worse. Not sure if you're natty, but Deca is known to be good for joints.

[willl]

Try add in 25g of hydrolysed collagen protein to your diet and some curcumin pills. That cleared up my heel and hip issues.

glad to see someone else knows about this...

every time i use this, my joint aches go away in 3 days

i guess the ultimate stack for joint repair enhancement ( normally it takes 4 months to regenerate tendon collagen type 100%):

- low dose pharm deca (25 to 50mg/wk is sufficient)
- collagen type 1 (doesn't matter if hydrolised or not, but the hydrolised version produces less stomach upsets and is easier to mix)
- flax seed oil
- msm
- glucosamine

if you have a hardcore problem: hyaluronic acid

[Skeletor]

glad to see someone else knows about this...

every time i use this, my joint aches go away in 3 days

i guess the ultimate stack for joint repair enhancement ( normally it takes 4 months to regenerate tendon collagen type 100%):

- low dose pharm deca (25 to 50mg/wk is sufficient)
- collagen type 1 (doesn't matter if hydrolised or not, but the hydrolised version produces less stomach upsets and is easier to mix)
- flax seed oil
- msm
- glucosamine

if you have a hardcore problem: hyaluronic acid

Good list. I would also say that magnesium glycinate and cissus quadrangularis help as well.

[harmankardon1]

Excellent idea to reduce inflamation.

But don't forget to train even more because you can't feel the pain.  You'll heal faster by causing more trauma.

Pay no atttention to the dosage recommendations.  Triple the dose to stimulate your liver.

No pain, no gain.

Tom prince style baby.... 

[harmankardon1]

I agree with this 2 weeks isn’t enough time and it may feel worse. You could also do what a older guy at the gym did and add a little deca and dbol to his trt after not using them in over 20 years and he claims it went away happier than ever to it seems

I had decent knee tendinitis for two years.... I tried a few prolonged breaks, didn't do shit.

In the end it was 100mgs asprin everyday for a few months and some walking/postural stretching changes that got my knees back to 100%

[oldtimer1]

Injuries are a part of athletics. Want to stay injury free? Don't work out. Rest and watch tv not moving. Take months off of lifting. Guys that have no issues train like pussies. I have been lifting and working out almost continuous for over 40 years. I have a lot of wear. Here are some real world things to mitigate problems. If your hip joint is truly shot nothing will fix it except an operation. I'm not a doctor or a physical therapist. Consult one. These things listed below helped me. It might aggravate your problems.

1. If an exercise hurts don't use it. Find a less painful substitute.
2. Do your research. Some standards in lifting are not good for the health of your joints like the bench press. Yes, many can do it for decades without a problem but it eventually it causes so much problems for many.
3. Find ways to do an exercises that won't cause impingement. An example is doing delt lateral raises with the thumb pointed toward the ceiling while slightly bent over. Front delt dumbbell raises according to my physical therapist should be done from forming a V with your arms instead of directly in front. So many modifications to lifting you can do. Many find benching with a swiss bar with hands facing alleviates pec and delt pain. Simply benching with dumbbells with hands facing each other gives relief to many. Some bench with a reverse grip is the magic pain reliever. (do this with spotting bars).
4. A course of anti inflammatory meds could help get the inflammation out.
5. Many problems lifters have with shoulder joints can be helped with light rotator cuff work and stretching. Many guys who have been pursuing that big single rep in the bench have horrific inflexible shoulders that leads to minor and major tears.
6. A cortisone shot can work wonders for many. Yes it can weaken connective tissue so that's a major concern. About ten years ago I had such a painful shoulder I couldn't raise my arm. One shot and a few days later I was lifting again and the pain didn't come back. Now I have almost the same situation in the other arm. This new doctor is anti cortisone. He said it's a last resort.
7. Your heel pain might be helped by gentle stretching. The best way I found for that is to walk on a treadmill and every lap increase the incline 1% every lap. It leads to a gentle and gradual stretching of the tendon in real use. See a good foot doctor. They really have some good solutions like shock wave therapy and the old standard cortisone. An MRI might show a tear that needs repair.  
8. Yes, rest is an answer for many injuries. It's a two edge sword. Many take off months when it really is an excuse to be lazy and fat.

[oldtimer1]

I fixed my biceps distal tendon pain with 100 reps everyday routine (thankful to tacotrescombo on that!!!)
Maybe high rep dumb.front raise and bentover laterals would do a similiar trick, no?

What was that labeled on a thread awhile back? Feeder sets?  I was curious and did them for a couple of days. I had the same experience. Minor distal tendon pain went away after the first time I did them. I think it's the flood of blood to the area. Naturally if someone has a tear doing the 100 reps would spell disaster.

[Primemuscle]

Injuries are a part of athletics. Want to stay injury free? Don't work out. Rest and watch tv not moving. Take months off of lifting. Guys that have no issues train like pussies. I have been lifting and working out almost continuous for over 40 years. I have a lot of wear. Here are some real world things to mitigate problems. If your hip joint is truly shot nothing will fix it except an operation. I'm not a doctor or a physical therapist. Consult one. These things listed below helped me. It might aggravate your problems.

1. If an exercise hurts don't use it. Find a less painful substitute.
2. Do your research. Some standards in lifting are not good for the health of your joints like the bench press. Yes, many can do it for decades without a problem but it eventually it causes so much problems for many.
3. Find ways to do an exercises that won't cause impingement. An example is doing delt lateral raises with the thumb pointed toward the ceiling while slightly bent over. Front delt dumbbell raises according to my physical therapist should be done from forming a V with your arms instead of directly in front. So many modifications to lifting you can do. Many find benching with a swiss bar with hands facing alleviates pec and delt pain. Simply benching with dumbbells with hands facing each other gives relief to many. Some bench with a reverse grip is the magic pain reliever. (do this with spotting bars).
4. A course of anti inflammatory meds could help get the inflammation out.
5. Many problems lifters have with shoulder joints can be helped with light rotator cuff work and stretching. Many guys who have been pursuing that big single rep in the bench have horrific inflexible shoulders that leads to minor and major tears.
6. A cortisone shot can work wonders for many. Yes it can weaken connective tissue so that's a major concern. About ten years ago I had such a painful shoulder I couldn't raise my arm. One shot and a few days later I was lifting again and the pain didn't come back. Now I have almost the same situation in the other arm. This new doctor is anti cortisone. He said it's a last resort.
7. Your heel pain might be helped by gentle stretching. The best way I found for that is to walk on a treadmill and every lap increase the incline 1% every lap. It leads to a gentle and gradual stretching of the tendon in real use. See a good foot doctor. They really have some good solutions like shock wave therapy and the old standard cortisone. An MRI might show a tear that needs repair.  
8. Yes, rest is an answer for many injuries. It's a two edge sword. Many take off months when it really is an excuse to be lazy and fat.

I'd rather train like a pussy than be crippled.

[karasan]

What was that labeled on a thread awhile back? Feeder sets?  I was curious and did them for a couple of days. I had the same experience. Minor distal tendon pain went away after the first time I did them. I think it's the flood of blood to the area. Naturally if someone has a tear doing the 100 reps would spell disaster.

Yes feeder sets, I gave up in a week, it was meant to give daily pump and size but it was therapeutic for me!

[IroNat]

Tendonitis?

That just means you need to train harder.