Tendinitis-Improvement after Whole30?

[Kaye15]

Just wanted to hear stories/comments if other athletes have experienced relief from long term tendinitis after Whole30? My interest was sparked after reading about Dallas' shoulder improving in It Starts with Food.

 

My background is in classical ballet- I have severe achilles tendonitis and flexor hallucis tendonitis-have had it since I was 13, I am now 25. Overuse injury from dance, and now have pretty persistent scar tissue in a large region of my calf. I have done PT, get it massaged every 2 weeks, and now as a Pilates instructor I am aware of strengthening the whole body to prevent injury. 

 

Not expecting the tendonitis issues to entirely disappear, but curious to experiment and see if the chronic inflammation improves. 

 

I began Whole30 August 2, 2015. Prior to that, I was not eating any legumes. I was eating dairy and wheat, so interested to see if there are any changes to this chronic condition. 

 

Interested to hear your experiences. Thanks! 

[Tom Denham]

I am sure improving your diet will help, but I developed somewhat chronic tendinitis in my elbows while eating Whole30-style. Food is important, but there are other issues...

 

My problem was that I felt good enough to exercise more than I had in the past and began to suffer what I assume were overuse injuries. I worked through elbow problems in relationship to pull-ups, but then began to have it again when I started doing 20-40 push-ups per day. This time, I stopped doing ordinary push-ups and started doing remedial exercises to strengthen the joints... I am doing wall push-ups and horizontal pulls to condition my ligaments and cartilage before I progress to full push-ups and pull-ups again. It took more than a month of avoiding the stress of full push-ups and pull-ups for my elbows to stop hurting. I have been pain free for about 2 months now, but am still doing the remedial exercises. I do three sets of 100 wall push-ups and three sets of 35 horizontal pulls, so I feel like I am still making strength progress. I plan to progress to the next exercises in the progression I am following soon. 

[ultrarunnergirl]

I gave myself tennis elbow trying to make my own coconut butter, ironically (I know, worst injury story ever). With all the cooking, stirring, chopping I do it never got better, despite my clean eating. I finally ended up going to an acupuncturist who helped but not until I went to a hands-on physical therapist and did the prescribed exercises did I truly shake it.

[Bet]

I'm not an athlete, but I do suffer from chronic tendinitis. I had a lot of issues with my PTT and did physical therapy for that and that helped. But I also gave myself tennis elbow pruning trees. The initial injury wasn't bad, but it stayed for months and was getting worse and worse. At times I could not lift my arm at all or hold a cup of coffee in that hand.

 

I did my first W30 partly because I read that it may help with tendinitis. I have hashi's (auto immune thyroiditis), so I decided to do the AIP W30.  5 days with out eggs and the pain was GONE. I used to get this hot searing pain when I took a shower in the morning and went to lift my arms to wash my hair. I was in the shower and actually winced from habit when I noticed my arm did not hurt.

 

I had gone paleo a few months before that and was eating 2 eggs for breakfast every morning. I don't completely avoid eggs, but they are not a staple in my diet. The pain has not returned. Just something to consider.

[jmcbn]

Yep, another one with tendonitis in my elbow (probably due to a similar reason as Tom), and subsequent pain in my opposite wrist from the over-compensation on that side when training.

 

I've just had a full three weeks off of training, and I performed a massage type exercise on my elbow every other day as suggested by a sports injury therapist, with little improvement. She did say my diet would help immensely but that tendonitis is a long and slow recovery. There'll still be lots of remedial exercises and massage in store over the next three (her estimate) months.

I'm interested to read Bet's experience of the pain subsiding by omitting eggs - I've never felt that I had any AI issues, but it might be worth a shot.

[Kaye15]

That is fascinating how food can trigger inflammation.

Like I said my itis is from years of dancing through pain on and not getting enough to healing time in.

I'm not a regular egg eater, but will probably increase my consumption on whole30

My pre WH30 dairy intake was splash of milk in coffee, occasional yogurt, and ice cream

But curious to really see what absence of gluten and processed crap does for inflammation. even a little would help.

[MTNan]

I had a chronic shoulder problem for over 20 years (competitive tennis, over stretching and instability, and a dislocation at one point). I underwent a variety of treatments for it with minimal, temporary or no improvement. After my whole30 earlier this year it is much improved. Not completely resolved, but probably 85% better. I hope you have some success!