#797: Dr. Keith Baar, UC Davis — Simple Exercises That Can Repair Tendons (Tennis Elbow, etc.), Collagen Fact vs. Fiction, Isometrics vs. Eccentrics, JAK Inhibitors, Growth Hormone vs. IGF-1, The Anti-RICE Protocol, and How to Use Load as an Anti-Inflammatory

What It Covers

Dr. Keith Barr explains how ten-minute isometric exercises can repair tendons like tennis elbow, why eccentric training misconceptions persist, optimal collagen supplementation protocols, loading strategies post-surgery, and how estrogen affects connective tissue stiffness in female athletes.

Key Questions Answered

• •Isometric Loading Protocol: Ten seconds of tension with fifty seconds rest for ten minutes provides maximal tendon adaptation signal. Wait eight hours before repeating. This minimal effective dose works because tendon cells stop responding after ten minutes, making longer training sessions pure wear and tear without additional benefit.
• •Eccentric Training Myth: Eccentric exercises work not because of the eccentric motion itself but because slow velocity reduces jerk (rate of acceleration change). Isometric holds at zero velocity provide superior results by distributing load evenly across damaged and healthy tissue, preventing stress shielding that causes scarring and incomplete healing.
• •Collagen Supplementation Timing: Take fifteen grams hydrolyzed collagen from bovine hide (not bone broth due to heavy metals) plus two hundred milligrams vitamin C thirty to sixty minutes before exercise. This timing ensures amino acids peak during tendon loading, delivering nutrients to poorly vascularized connective tissue through mechanical compression and relaxation.
• •Post-Surgery Loading: Begin isometric loading the day after surgery using overcoming isometrics (pushing against immovable object) to minimize jerk. Develop force over three seconds, hold thirty seconds, release slowly. This accelerates return to activity by twenty-five percent compared to waiting nine days, preventing scar formation from stress shielding.
• •Female Injury Risk: Women experience four to eight times higher ACL rupture rates because estrogen inhibits lysyl oxidase, the enzyme that cross-links collagen. Monthly estrogen fluctuations decrease tendon stiffness without changing collagen content, reducing power transmission capacity and increasing ligament laxity during high-estrogen phases of the menstrual cycle.