Tendinitis

The tendon is how a muscle connects to bone. A tendon can become painful due to overuse, trauma,  and excessive pulling. 

When you see -itis at the end of a word, it translates to inflammation. Tendinitis means inflammation of the tendon.

For more information on the research into Tendinitis and pathologies that involve the tendon (tendinopathy) check out the article here.

Common Sites for Tendinitis

The most common tendinitis sites are:

• Elbows. Lateral and medial epicondylitis are tendinitis on the inside and outside of the elbow. Also known as Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow respectively.
• Achilles. Happens a lot in runners. And recently, in football players.
• Patellar. This site happens a lot in runners and those that compete in jumping activities for their sport.

But like muscle strains can be anywhere in the body. I have seen it in the wrist and shoulder many times as well. 

Symptoms of Tendinitis

• Pain at site with activity
• Tenderness to touch 
• Weakness
• Swelling and heat at the site 

It is not recommended to push through tendinitis  because it can only make things worse. If severe enough it can lead to avulsion fractures at the site of the attachment. Where a piece of the bone that the tendon is attached to can break off. However, this is rare.

I do not see many avulsion fractures because tendinitis can be too painful that the person gets treatment before that happens.

Treatment for Tendinitis

Rehabilitation will start slowly with stretching and low load strengthening exercises. The Physical Therapist usually performing some kind of soft tissue work like soft tissue mobilization (check out my post on manual techniques here) and manual stretching.

Progressively increasing exercises as pain subsides. With return to sport or functional exercises being the last to perform. 

Just like how all tendinitis sites and causes are different, the treatment will be different. Also, the amount of time it takes to rehabilitate from the injury will be different.

The best way to prevent tendinitis is

• A proper warm up before training
• Gradual build up of activities
• Proper amount of rest
• Being sure to cross train (switching up activities throughout the week to not do too much)

Just because a tendon can become painful, does not mean you have to live with it. See a PT on how to rehabilitate or prevent it from happening to you.