Supplements for tenonditis

Magnesium is probably THE single most important nutrient to take in high doses if you have any form of tendonitis. If you have tendonitis that is 'local', as in carpal tunnel or plantar fasciitis, you can use a magnesium supplement called Transdermal Magnesium Gel. Some people can eliminate localized tendonitis completely by rubbing Magnesium Gel right into their affected area. I've seen huge improvements in tendonitis with high dose magnesium supplementation.

Tendonitis is an inflammatory condition so in theory, anything that reduces inflammation should help. But really that is irrelevant because what you need to do is find out why hat inflammation is there in the first place. It is important to note that those treatments you were describing before aren't cures, they are band-aids. Do yourself a favor and see a medical professional (MD, physical therapist, chiropractor). The earlier you seek treatment, the better outcomes tend to be. You can cover it up with supplements or asprin but its better to address the problem at hand. It could be as simple as improper bike fit, tight muscular compartments, fibrosis around a joint, or it could be not tendonitis at all! As we say in the biz, its just a guess until you test!

Out of curiousity, is it in your knee, or achilles?

In Austria, I was told to put cream cheese (frisch käse) on my achilles overnight. Kind of interesting mess to smear it on, cover in plastic, then wrap in a tensor bandage, but it may have helped. Supposedly it draws moisture from the area or something. But lots of different people there told me to do it, in a kind of "of course it works, everybody knows that" way! Maybe it affects inflammation there somehow?

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Originally Posted by vindicate [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

I was reading some different cures for tendonitis and I read about some that are supposed to help. Should it be safe to take all these together?

Fish Oil Pills ( 3 a day)
Vitamin B Complex (1 a day)
glucosamine chondroitin with msm (4 a day)

Will I be fine to take these? I know you guys aren't Dr's but maybe you have some experience.

Cream cheese? You're joking right? Rest, ice, gentle stretching and finding out what caused the over use of the effected area should be on the top of the list, not being part of some oddball therapists food smearing fetish.

Now, if your therapist was a hot, tall brunette scantily clad in lingerie and leather boots I could see the attraction but otherwise... meh.

the only supplement that helped my tendinitis was ibuprofen.

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Originally Posted by swampy1970 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Cream cheese? You're joking right? Rest, ice, gentle stretching and finding out what caused the over use of the effected area should be on the top of the list, not being part of some oddball therapists food smearing fetish.

Now, if your therapist was a hot, tall brunette scantily clad in lingerie and leather boots I could see the attraction but otherwise... meh.

yeah, seriously! If you image/regular google search on "quarkwickel"...supposedly it's an ancient european natural remedy for swelling and other injuries too.

And just sharing this, because I was the king of tendonitis for awhile: For achilles tendonitis the magic cures are eccentric calf drops (search "“Heavy-Load Eccentric Calf Muscle Training for the Treatment of Chronic Achilles Tendinosis”) and moving your cleat back on your shoe. I wish everybody knew about these 🙂

But knees are another can of worms.

Without knowing dosages, it's impossible to tell someone whether a certain amount of pills of something is 'safe' and more importantly,
those dosages may not be effective. For instance, many cheap fish oils come in ridiculously small amounts per pill, such as 100 mg or 200 mg of omega 3 fatty acids.
You might need 30 pills per day to be effective, but if you have pills with 2000 mg of Omega 3 fatty acids each, then 3 pills would be possibly too much.

So, when you ask if a dosage is 'safe' or would be effective, you need to discuss dosages and not number of pills.

Actually in the case of magnesium, vitamin d (and food sensitivities) that may not be a 'band aid' at all.
Tendonitis can actually be caused by a magnesium or vitamin d deficiency.
I've definitely seen non-active people have fairly severe tendonitis that went completely away when their magnesium or vitamin d deficiency was resolved or when they addresses food allergies - particularly gluten sensitivity.

So, those who've been to tradtional docs, therapists, etc and haven't got relief, and rest doesn't help (which would rule out bike fit or overuse) then supplements and/or dietary changes can many times fix the underlying problem.

Check out any popular supplement dealer (go online for better deals; NOT GNC) and they usually sell vitamin packs for different things. i.e joint, muscular, hair, skin ect...Just find one to suit your needs.

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Originally Posted by kerri38846 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Actually in the case of magnesium, vitamin d (and food sensitivities) that may not be a 'band aid' at all.
Tendonitis can actually be caused by a magnesium or vitamin d deficiency.
I've definitely seen non-active people have fairly severe tendonitis that went completely away when their magnesium or vitamin d deficiency was resolved or when they addresses food allergies - particularly gluten sensitivity.

So, those who've been to tradtional docs, therapists, etc and haven't got relief, and rest doesn't help (which would rule out bike fit or overuse) then supplements and/or dietary changes can many times fix the underlying problem.

Wow- you've got a great website! I like how you're promoting good underlying health. I've been cutting gluten and supplementing with D for a few months now (not so much magnesium, but will up that now too) and it seems to help all kinds of other little health issues I've had (asthma, digestion). The whole "mild inflammation" thing could probably help lots of people with their health, not to mention improve their cycling performance (and in a natural way) 🙂

'General' vitamin packs work for some, but most of the time simply don't have high enough amount of what people would need for these conditions to make a difference. Plus everyone needs a different amount. For tendonitis specifically, it may take anywhere from 600 mg to 1200 mg of magnesium per day to find relief. Almost no vitamin packs have doses of magnesium over 400 mg per day. Same goes for Vitamin d, which varies from person to person from NO extra vitamin d needed for a cyclist living in San Diego or Colorado in the summer, to 10,000 IU's per day for an office worker in Michigan in the winter. Virtually no vitamin packs contain more than 2000 IU"s per day and most have 400 to 800 IU"s per day. That is 1/10 th or 1/20 th of what many people with tendonitis might need to improve their condition.

Just getting a vitamin pack from GNC is a shotgun approach that may work for a small percentage of the population but fails to address individual needs and will likely fail for most people.

Great info everyone - thanks! I have been dealing with a lot of pain in my left knee recently and not sure what it is. I have an appointment at a local bike shop to check my fitting but I have a sneaking suspicion that isn't the problem. The pain doesn't really kick in till I'm like 25 to 30 miles in to a ride,,,,does that mean something to any of you? I will make an appointment to see my doctor as well but I am getting really frustrated - have a century ride coming up that I pre-paid for and the pain is making it hard to train without worrying about permanent damage. Not sure if this is tendonitis but I will try the Magnezium and let you know if it helps.