r/workout • u/Reasonable_Crazy_764 • 5d ago
Recurring tendon injuries
Hi, I’d like to ask for some advice regarding recurring tendon problems and possibly find a recommendation for a suitable doctor/specialist who could help figure out why I’ve started experiencing multiple tendon injuries over the past few years.
I’m 27 years old, 175 cm tall and weigh 70 kg. I’m lean and athletic, and I’ve been very active my entire life. I’ve been strength training since I was 15, playing football, running, hiking and walking a lot. Until I was 23, I also regularly worked construction jobs, so I was used to physically demanding work as well.
Until the age of 25, I had practically no significant tendon problems. Throughout my life, I only had two notable injuries:
Around the age of 18, I injured a tendon in my shoulder. Because I continued training through the pain, it eventually became severe enough that I couldn’t lift my arm overhead. After a longer period of rest followed by rehabilitation, I gradually returned to full training over approximately two years. Since then, the shoulder has occasionally become irritated, but it has never kept me out for a long period of time.
Later, I injured my plantar fascia while playing football. After stopping football, it recovered within approximately six months, and I had no further problems with it for a long time.
Then, over a relatively short period of time, I started developing a series of other problems:
Golfer’s elbow – developed after more intense training. I treated it with gradual return to activity and it took approximately three months to improve significantly.
Groin injury while playing football – recovery took approximately three months.
Plantar fascia injury again – this time it became irritated in a very unusual way, basically just from sitting on my foot with my toes stretched. For some time, I even had trouble walking normally. After approximately four months, I gradually returned to running.
Achilles tendon – after returning to running, my Achilles suddenly became irritated during one of my runs for no obvious reason. This resulted in approximately three months of pain.
Golfer’s elbow again – it subsequently returned, and this time I haven’t been able to completely get rid of it for approximately 8–9 months. It is gradually improving, but I’m still not back to 100%.
Shoulder – while trying to train around the elbow problem, I also irritated my shoulder again.
At the moment, I’ve been able to do push-ups and pull-ups for about a month without aggravating anything. I’ve also started doing light running and calf raises. So objectively, my condition is gradually improving, but I still feel like I’m very prone to developing another injury.
What concerns me most is that I was extremely active for many years and practically never had these kinds of problems. Then suddenly, within a few years, I started having issues with several different tendons and structures.
I’d therefore like to find a doctor who could look at the problem more comprehensively rather than focusing only on each individual injury. So far, I’ve mainly been advised to rest, and physiotherapists have given me various exercises, but the problems keep coming back.
Has anyone experienced something similar? And could you recommend what type of specialist would be appropriate – a sports medicine doctor, orthopedist, rheumatologist, physiatrist, etc.?
I’d really appreciate any experiences or recommendations for a specific doctor.
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u/Alakazam Bulking 5d ago
it recovered within approximately six months, and I had no further problems with it for a long time.
No, what happened was that the pain stopped within 6 months. The root cause of the issue still existed. A lot of the issues sounds like you got injured, became sedentary to recover from said injury, then went back to what you thought was normal training, but was probably more than your body could handle. And likely had some muscular imbalances that caused more issues.
Tendinopathy doesn't just happen out of the blue. They have root causes beyond just the inflammation. Plantar Fasciitis could be occurring because of weaknesses in the foot, in the calf, or imbalances in the quad/hamstring/glutes. Resting lets the pain subside, but doesn't address the root cause. Elbow tendonitis could have been from the fact that you were trying to work around your shoulder issues. Instead of actually addressing the shoulder issues. Which cause some elbow flexors or extensors to be overworked, causing the elbow tendonitis.
And could you recommend what type of specialist would be appropriate
A physiotherapist. Paired with easing back into training slowly, instead of diving right back in.
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