I think I either have tendonitis or that I may be developing it. Sometimes after long bikerides my knee cap is sore (patellar tendonitis.) As you can see in another thread, I'm planning on going on a long bikeride in under a week. I don't want to screw myself permanently by overdoing it though.

So, that's the scary part, but then I read on a sports website that one can return to regular activity after the following:# Your injured knee can be fully straightened and bent without pain.
# Your knee and leg have regained normal strength compared to the uninjured knee and leg.
# Your knee is not swollen.
# You are able to jog straight ahead without limping.
# You are able to sprint straight ahead without limping.
# You are able to do 45-degree cuts.
# You are able to do 90-degree cuts.
# You are able to do 20-yard figure-of-eight runs.
# You are able to do 10-yard figure-of-eight runs.
# You are able to jump on both legs without pain and jump on the injured leg without pain."
But my knees don't hurt at all after jumping and they've never been swollen! They're just sore at the area of that tendon after long bikerides and here and there throughout the day.

Maybe I'll go to the doctor tomorrow. Agghh.

Sorry to hear your plans may fall through. I know how much you were looking forward to it. :-/

I feared that something random like this was going to happen after I officially announced it. Just last night I announced it on this board and in a mass email and now, just a day later, everything has gone to hell.

It's amazing what the difference between thinking "I have a sore knee, but I'll take it slow in the begining and it'll get better" and thinking "I have a degenerative condition that's only going to get worse" does to a summer trip you've been planning for several months.

By the way, I'm quite sure that patellar tendonitis is more serious than what I quoted up above. I think that website author must have been from the school of thought that one should push through the pain. That, of course, is not a good idea.

egads, mikie... I really, really, hope that it's just some fluke and that it's really just knee-flu or something :p and you can still do your trip. :hug:

I really, really, hope that it's just some fluke and that it's really just knee-flu or something :p
Haha, knee-flu. I hope it's just sore knee from being used so often, but after reading everything I did tonight, what I found seems to fit like a glove.

How do I even go to the doctor about this? Do I just walk into an emergency room? I don't have time to make an appointment and wait a few days.

sometimes hospitals have "urgent care" which isn't the ER, but is more urgent than a regular GP.

Sometimes standard clinics have that too. Are you on insurance? Your provider would hav e a list of preferred vendors and you'd be able to find out who has urgent care.

Otherwise, if you don't, I think that most places like sutter & kaiser have urgent care clinics.

I just got back from a doctor.

I had to go to 4 doctor's offices before finding one that took walkins. I called my insurance and they told me where to go. When I got there, the receptionist says, "Oh, we don't take walkins" and she refers me to another place that did the same. Again I was referred, and finally, one more time I was referred. The last place the woman says they're full and I ask if she can tell me where to go and she tells me she doesn't know! So I ask her if she can ask someone who would know and whoever was on the other end of the phone said that it was OK for her to take me. Agghh!

So, after waiting two hours, a nice doctor saw me and investigated my leg. He confirmed that I probably am developing jumper's knee, but he said that if I take it slow, stretch, and take ibuprofen, there's a good chance that it won't get any worse than it is now. He said that I should go and if it's going to get worse, I'll know it within the first week or two.

So that made me feel soooo much better. :)

I'm going to Critical Mass tonight, but after that, I'm not going to ride my bike for a week until I start my trip. I'll do some stretches everyday and rest my knee and hopefully it'll heal enough so that I'll be good.

Good luck! I'm glad you resolved your problem. I had tendonitis in my shoulder and it was horrible :|

Good luck! I'm glad you resolved your problem. I had tendonitis in my shoulder and it was horrible :|
Ahh! Please tell me more!

What did you do? How did you get rid of it?

Yikes, I hope you are still able to go through with your plans. I have tendonitis in my left foot, and it hurts if I walk for a long time. Like any time I go to an amusement park where I'm walking the whole time, my foot is killing me by the middle of the day. And I used to love to go hiking, and still do, but it's pretty painful after a while. My doctor said the only thing I could really do is take ibuprofen, and hope for the best. I suppose I could go to a podiatrist for a better opinion, but it isn't that big of a problem as I don't do a lot of extended walking. I can walk my dogs without a problem, just not more than a couple miles, and even then I'm usually okay with the pain level.

Ice, Mikie. Lots of Ice. Lots. A ton. And you might try to wear an ace bandage around the area, if you can. I had tendonitis in my hela and calf, and ice just worked wonder. :)
I hope your knee gets better! Take care fo yourself, then worry about the trip! Have a kickass time!!!

Ahh! Please tell me more!

What did you do? How did you get rid of it?

After like 6 wks of not sleeping (I could only sleep on my side that wasn't my sore shoulder because if i slept on my back it was too much weight on my shoulder, and I certainly couldn't sleep on the side of my sore shoulder... so I could only sleep on my right side with my left arm positioned just so and when it moved I woke up in horrid pain), and being in pain, and having my hand go numb and turn purple... I went to the doctor and he gave me a cortisone shot and it got better within about 12 hrs. He told me I shouldn't've waited so long cause ignoring it could cause permanent damage, but I didn't know I had tendonitis! I thought he'd just tell me to quit my whining, cause my doc is sorta dumb. Either way, I still can't do much overhead lifting or it gets sort, and this all happened in September/October.