Bursitis
Hello Medical People,
While my hip problems are much better I have developed what seems to be bursitis in my right knee just below my patellar tendon. My ART/Chiro gave me the diagnosis. I've had it for the last month or so. It's pretty mild but is sore and tender to the touch. Not sure what could have caused it. I have been doing lunge and squat variations but am using proper form. My knee doesn't extend beyond my toes.
I have not seen an MD.
Any information would be appreciated. I've been taking NSAIDs but am tapering off those and I've iced it a bit.
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Comments
Matt-
I've seen this occur with twisting and or hitting the area. It's not comfortable, but it can be self limiting. So far I would say that NSAID and ice is fine, but as you can see, is not getting it done. Some patients get relief with heat/ warm compress as it does bring blood to area and help heal bursae. These can respond to cortisone injections as well.
If you've had trauma to the joint, not necessarily related to exercise, you know, like tripped over a bike and fell on the knee or banged it on a low table, it might be worth looking into an x-ray to r/o any other possible cause for the pain.
I generally go with the assumption (bad I know) that you are already stretching and massaging the area appropriately.
I get the same thing but mine is a posterior tibia from leaning into treatment tables all day with my left lower leg. Probably not your issue but if you've run into a low table/object...it's something to consider.
Vince
Hey Matt- refresh my memory. Was the hip ITB, hip flexor? I totally forget...
Diagnosis was a strained psoas. The hot spot was high on the muscle in the groin area. The doctor ruled out a sports hernia. That was on my left side and the bursitis is on my right. The bursitis did flare up after the hip thing and after I had begun PT.
sorry for the hold up. got side tracked this weekend.
My guess is that without any real swelling (and by that I mean a visible spongy feeling bubble), it's probably not bursitis, but more muscular in origin/possibly patellar tendonitis. Would make perfect sense while making your comeback.
Things to think about if it were me:
Whether it's true or not, assume that you will favor the bad hip until it is truly 100%. This means extra strain on the other leg to pick up the slack. As that hip gets tired during harder efforts (especially the bike), the other leg can get cranky and start to stiffen. When it does, it can lock your knee cap down against the tib/femur.
So: 1) break out your tools. stretch, foam roll, trigger point that leg, back and front. Key areas = calf, hammie, and then quad. it's all connected. There's also a link up on the wiki right now about stretches that people carried over from the old forums. These are more running specific than the old die hard favorites.
2) revisit your current bike set up. You might need to make some tweaks for the mean time. are you riding in the bars or on a road bike in the OS?? I'd ease up on the aggresive position to begin with and use a more hybrid position until you start to feel 100% again. some tricks: no time in aerobars or drops, lower the seat a little and slide the cleats on your shoes back from the ball of your foot.
With some position tweaks and home work you should be able to calm it down quickly. Maintain your icing!!!
Hi Leigh,
Thanks for the feedback! I definitely have a little lump which is right where the tenderness is. It's not spongy though. It's kind of hard. It's about 1-2 inches below my kneecap and does seem to be on the patellar tendon, maybe where it attaches. The tendon running up to the knee is not tender though.
Matt-
The bump you describe below the patella, at the tendon attachment to the tibia-
has the bump always been there and is now tender?
Have you always had a problem kneeling, but now it's worse?
A pic might be of some use.
@Leigh - can you add a quick intro to that wiki page? (In the marketing world we would call it positioning copy.) I just put the links up without really anything else.
@ Matt- that hard bump sounds like the patellar tubercle (bony prominence that is where the tendon itself attaches). They can vary in size between knees but both sides should have something similar. are we talking something that or something very different between sides??
also, keep us posted on how it's going. if the stretching/rolling etc help or it doesn't seem to be helping. Lots of variations we could use.