159. Patellar and Achilles Tendinopathy: Management Strategies w/ Jake Tuura
Jul 30, 2024
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Jake Tuura, a strength coach and tendon health expert, joins to unravel the mysteries of patellar and Achilles tendinopathies. He discusses misconceptions around tendon management and stresses the need for strength coaches in rehabilitation. Tune in to learn about effective strategies, such as gradual training adjustments, individualized recovery processes, and the crucial balance between loading and healing. Tuura's insights on handling acute versus chronic pain are eye-opening, emphasizing patience and tailored approaches for optimal recovery.
Effective tendon rehabilitation requires collaboration between athletes, strength coaches, and medical professionals to ensure a comprehensive approach.
Managing acute tendon pain involves temporarily reducing high-impact activities and adjusting training loads to facilitate natural recovery.
Addressing metabolic health is crucial in tendon rehabilitation, as factors like nutrition and sleep impact recovery and overall performance.
Deep dives
Understanding Tendon Management
The podcast delves into effective management strategies for Achilles and patellar tendinopathies, addressing common misconceptions. It highlights that many athletes often passively engage with medical professionals instead of actively collaborating with strength coaches during rehabilitation. Strength coaches tend to overlook the importance of understanding the specific activities that provoke tendon pain, especially in high-impact sports like basketball. The conversation emphasizes the necessity for a seamless integration of rehab and strength training, suggesting that strength coaches should focus on appropriately reducing agility and explosive activities while promoting slower, more controlled movements.
Approaches to Acute Tendon Pain
For athletes experiencing acute tendon pain, the podcast suggests an approach centered on allowing the body to recover naturally. When tendon pain surfaces, particularly with the Achilles, taking a short break from high-impact activities can help alleviate symptoms. The discussion recommends effectively managing training loads by adjusting frequency, intensity, and volume to give the tendon appropriate time to heal. For cases of acute patellar tendon pain, the advice is strikingly similar, emphasizing the importance of resting the creaky tendon and then gradually reintroducing training to avoid exacerbating the injury.
Long-Term Tendon Rehabilitation
Long-standing tendon issues, such as persistent tendinopathy, call for a more comprehensive rehabilitation plan that incorporates various stages of recovery. The conversation outlines a structured rehabilitation protocol that begins with isometric exercises to strengthen the quadriceps and rehabilitate the surrounding muscles, avoiding immediate high-impact engagement. Strength coaches need to foster strong quadriceps muscles to absorb landing stress during high-impact activities, balancing both strength training and recovery. Importantly, the need for patience in the rehabilitation process is highlighted, as healing can take months, necessitating realistic expectations for both the athlete and their support team.
Integrating Overall Health in Tendon Care
The podcast emphasizes the significance of addressing overall metabolic health as a component of effective tendon rehabilitation. Systemic factors, such as diabetes and cholesterol levels, can significantly affect tendon healing and performance, highlighting the need for a holistic approach to athlete care. It discusses the potential negative impacts of certain antibiotics on tendon health and the importance of ensuring athletes maintain general wellness to promote recovery. Moreover, metabolic factors, such as sleep patterns and nutrition, are relevant to not just tendon health but overall athletic performance, making them vital considerations in rehabilitation programs.
The Importance of Gradual Progression
The discussion stresses that recovery from tendon injuries should involve a gradual and carefully monitored return to activity. Athletes are advised to start with low-intensity training and progressively increase their load to avoid triggering pain. This method of graded exposure allows the tendon to adapt and strengthen over time without risking reinjury. Furthermore, the concept that patience is essential throughout this process is reiterated, as rushing recovery can lead to discouragement and further complications, emphasizing that proper management and a tailored recovery plan can lead to long-lasting improvement.
Chris Hughen sat down with Jake Tuura to discuss all things tendons. We dive into the management strategies, and misconceptions of, acute and persistent achilles and patellar tendinopathies.
