Unresolving tendonitis

[BorisKaravasilev]

Both distal quad tendons(below the kneecap) get red, swollen and stiff after about 3-5 hours after physical exertion. It takes about a week to settle afterwards.
I doubled my squat, deadlift, press and bench on NLP, gained 10 kilos of BW and stopped because the program was making the knee worse. I've posted on this forum before - switched to box squats, no power cleans as well. Attempted to run an NLP agian, but the knees got no better, each workout triggered the injury.
I listened to Stan Efferding's video about his knee problem - his advice was find the source, eliminate it and move. I started a knee journal that tracks my physical movement and how inflamed my knees get( a 5 step scale: 0 - no inflamation, 4 - the most stiff, red and swollen ). I started eliminating movements from my day-to-day. Once I had a big increase in inflamation I observe and remove the movements that could've caused it. I ended up with the following list of "bad" movements:
-Deadlifts, biking, resting in a deep squat, jumping, running, walks longer than 30 minutes. A working set of Deadlifts and all other items in the list get me inflamed to 3 or 4 of the scale every time.
Once the inflamation hits 3 or 4 it takes about a week to go back to 0 or 1.
Box Squats seem to be somewhat tolerated - the most I have observed to increase inflamation so far is about 1 point up from a previous record. However, I am approaching the point where they are getting real heavy and I am not sure if they will continue to be non-inflaming exercise to my knees.

Currently, I am progressing Box Squats, Presses, Benches and Pullups/ChinUps. I do not have a clue how to introduce the deadlift without inflaming my knees - empty bar does them bad even though I boxsquat 135. I do not know how to proceed with programming and exercise selection. I want to get the knees healthy, nothing else at this point. Quality of life is shit when they are bad. Please advise!

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is patellar tendonitis. Need to see video of the offending movements.

[BorisKaravasilev]

Deadlift 90kg first NLP attempt Deadlift - YouTube
Deadlift 60kg third NLP attempt 1 February 2024 - YouTube
I have a second recording device on hand now, I can film a set from multiple angles if needed. Other items in the "bad" list I haven't recorded. When I bike i try to push with the hips, by resting deep squats I mean the ass to grass position held for more than a minute or two results in inflamation. The longer the duration, the higher the inflamation following it. Same as walks, it seems like its volume dependent.

[Mark Rippetoe]

There is nothing wrong with your deadlift. But you are underweight probably 40 pounds, and riding a bicycle how much and often? And you are squatting down way below parallel, holding the position for 2 minutes, and then wondering why your knees hurt? You are not doing the program, not even close.

[BorisKaravasilev]

Cycling rarely, but there is a pattern - it makes it worse. Also, Mr. Rippetoe, are you suggesting training to increase body mass and strength regardless of the inflammation? I am not sure what pointed. Is this the path to recovery - training regardless of symptoms and hoping that one day it will be gone? As far as I have scouted this forum, I've read the contrary - the patellar tendon shouldn't be pissed off once inflamed compared to the approach taken for golfers or tennis elbow.

[Maybach]

I am assuming he just means actually being in that position. He is not (I hope to God) loading that position.

But even without load, yeah, that'll fuck your knees up. The old joke comes to mind: "Doctor, it hurts when I go like this"...

Stop doing all of those except deadlifts and walking. Embedded tendonitis is a bitch, but the conditions which aggravate it are not necessarily the conditions that produced it, and inflaming it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Gain those forty pounds. Run a 1000mg of ibuprofen a day for two weeks. Do not endlessly reset your training.

When you box squat, use them to stay out of your knees as much as possible. Heavier load shouldn't change the amount of knee in the movement.

[Yngvi]

Deadlifts are unlikely to aggravate this condition if you do have patellar tendonitis.