College Running Back With Sharp Pain In The Knees. Knee Tendonitis

by Jamar Cromwell
(Pittsbugh, PA)

Hi, my name is Jamar and I am a football player.

I'm currently in college playing football and I'm a running back.

I've been having problems with my knees; sharp pains in the middle of my knees that make it very difficult to explode out of my stance, cut, and especially stop & start.

For 2 years now, going on 3, I've had what my trainers call Tendonitis, and 2 years is too long for no progress.

In high school I could cut, start & stop, etc.

I'm not very big, 5'8" usually weighing 195-205 pounds depending on if it's the off-season or in-season.

I don't feel like I eat well. I don't eat fast foods anymore, but I only eat twice a day, and if possible 3 times. There are days though that I only eat once and some snacks.

I read another conversation between you and another football player and you mentioned that protein maybe be the issue and I can tell you now I most likely don't take in enough protein.

The 2 times that I eat a day will begin with pasta, and may end with pasta or pizza or a burger, or chicken...maybe. I don't eat fried foods and I don't eat pork.

I have to workout 2 times a week being that we're in season now and it is painful to squat and sometimes run, and when I'm running, I can barely get any power going and I like to use a lot of power when running.

My trainers have tried Stim and nitroglycerin patches for my knees.

I usually ice them but not often, tho when I freeze water in a cup and use it to rub directly on the inflamed area, it seems to work ok. I take Motrin and Tylenol before practice and it somewhat works but not much help.

If you can help me, I would be so grateful and finally be able to get back to my game.

Thanks


Jamar



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Joshua Answers:

Hello Jamar. Thanks for all the details.

Ok, let's deal with the food thing first.

YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH CALORIES, AND YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH PROTEIN.

Yes, that was me yelling at you.

So, you're what, 19, 20, 21?

Youth will take you a long way. But you just can't compete at a high level of performance without the basic building blocks of enough quality nutrition.

Well, maybe some people can do it. Like i said, youth will go a long way. But I assert that -you- can't.

Flat out, from what you've described, your body is hurting for calories and nutrients and protein.


I remember college, and being 20ish. Between finances and schedule and being young and dumb, it can be tough to eat right.

And, probably there's guys bigger than you and faster than you that eat crappier than you that are doing just fine, but -you- specifically are having limiting knee pain.

So let's take a look at that.

1. Do your knees 'squeek' (or creak) when you bend them?

2. Where exactly does it hurt. How exactly does it hurt? Is it hard to get power etc because of pain, or something else?

3. Is this the first time your knees have ever hurt? Did your knees hurt in highschool ball?

4. Who diagnosed is as Tendonitis? And, what exactly did they say about it? Where exactly is this tendonitis? Of what tendon?

5. When/if you poke around, does it hurt all over, and/or does it just hurt in a couple specific spots? Can you find specific hot spots?

6. Do your muscles hurt anywhere? Or just the hard surfaces of the knee/joint?

7. Have you always been the weight/size you are? Or is there a bunch of new weight/mass?

8. Did the knee pain come on all of a sudden, or slowly over time?

Answer those questions.


So we're going to need to deal with a couple things. We're going to need to remove any nutritional roadblocks that well slow or prevent you from healing.

We're going to need to deal with inflammation, and we're likely going to need to deal with muscle/connective tissue tightness.


And, if nutritional deficiency is a factor, both weakening your structures and keeping you from healing, then we -have- to conquer that...or none of the other stuff will matter.

Flat out, if you don't have enough useable protein, you don't have the building blocks to repair the tendon. (And you're at risk for more injury.)

Answer those questions, and we'll go from there.





Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com