Month 4

The healing seems to have plateaued. There are definitely more good days than bad, and the pain seems to shift from one knee to the other. Still not at a level of running of where I want to be, but I seem to be making progress. According to studies the platelets are still active in both tendons, so there should still be some degree of healing still taking place, even 4 months after the initial PRP Injection. 

I have continued taking the following supplements daily:

• MSM (I feel this is helping the most)
• Fish Liver Oil (good at keeping the inflammation down)
• Chondroitin
• Glucosamine
• Knee supplement that has all of the above including:
• Flax seed oil
• Boron
• Manganese
• Collagen Type II (2)
• Mangosteen Extract
• Vit C
• Vit E
• Vit B1
• Vit B2
• Vit B6
• Vit B12
• Pantothenic Acid
• Zinc
• Selenium
• Silicon
• Multi-vitamin

I have been doing foam rolling on my quads, calves, glutes and ITB for 10 mins every night before bed as well as stretching.

I have also been stretching these areas of my body.

Progress is slow. Whenever the knees feel good I attempt a run and seem to take a step backwards. I believe the key is patience and consistency

How have you found your PRP Injection experience? Has it helped you? What rehab protocol are you following? What has and hasn't worked for you? Do you think I should go for another shot? I am get lots of support and positive feedback and I would love to hear from you and hear about your experiences...

Week 4

This has been an interesting week. I've had some good days and some bad. At the moment my left knee feels a bit stiff and tender in comparison to the right. It's got a kind of constant ache, perhaps this is due to the inflammation and the biological changes taking place within the tendon?

I attempted an easy 1km run today, the left tendon flared up a bit after a few 100 metres. However, the left tendon is not sore in comparison to the right when going up or down stairs and no longer seems to have the 'sharp' pain that has bothered me for the past 1.5 years.

The tendon as at it's most painful first thing in the morning and then once it warms up a bit it feels better than the right knee. I've had periods when there is absolutely no pain in the left knee and periods where it's noticeably more painful than the right knee. This could be the 'roller-coaster' effect I mentioned in Week 3.

I have continued with the Eccentric protocol on my right knee- 3 x 15 sets of one-legged squats on slant board at night. I have now reached 3kgs in the backpack. I have been doing about 10 dips on the left leg every second night, without any weights. My reasoning was that this would help direct the alignment of the collagen fibres in the tendon as it repairs.

I bought a foam roller yesterday, I have done a bit of this, but I'm now going to try and do 3 mins of rolling on each leg every second night.

I have currently been taking:

• MSM
• Glucosamine
• Chondroitin
• Fish Liver Oil
• Vitamin C
• Gellatine

In Week 2 I discussed the testimonial about the patient who was dissappointed and complained to his Doc that the PRP Injection did nothing after one month, and by 2 months he was completely healed and his knee felt 100%. So I'm going to give it more time and try take it easy. The Platelets are active for 6 weeks and the healing benefits of PRP continue for up to 6 - 9 months.

I'm PRP shot to my right knee on Monday.

Day 3

There is a bit of swelling around the front of the knee. Feels like a bit of fluid surrounding the tendon. The knee isn't too painful, its more of a tender stiffness. And there is no discoloration. I'm not going to upload a pic as the knee looks pretty much the same as it did in Day 1.

I haven't attempted any form of exercise as the tendon stills feels quite weak. I'm going to give it a full week before I try some swimming.

I also went for a B12 shot yesterday as this is said to help in tendon healing and the formation of new collagen. I had one couple of a few weeks in order to build up my immune system for winter and I noticed that my tendonosis felt a bit better a few days after the shot.

I am currently taking MSM, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Fish Liver Oil and Vitamin C supplements. My thinking is to give my body all the building blocks it needs to effectively heal the tendon.

If it worked for Rafa, it should work for me.