Hello and welcome to Augusts fourth blog – Tendonitis, or Tendinosis? The Beginners Guide to Common Injuries. I hope that you are all having a great summer full of fun and activity.
What if you’ve got a bit of an injury going on though? Is it a simple injury or something else? Read on…
Firstly, When to Get Help
Sometimes you know when you have done something like twisting your ankle and think you just need to rest it to get better, but you’ve been resting it and it isn’t getting better. It’s getting worse. That is the point you visit the doctor for a further opinion, because if any injury or pain gets worse, something more could be going on, like a fracture.
There are two other muscle injuries that can cause a lot of pain and discomfort, and I talk about them next.
Tendonitis, or Tendinosis?
Tendonitis is an acutely inflamed swollen tendon that doesn’t have microscopic tendon damage. The underlying culprit in tendinitis is inflammation.
Tendinosis, on the other hand, is a chronically damaged tendon with disorganised fibres, as well as a hard and thickened appearance, usually with a scarred and rubbery appearance. The culprit in tendinosis is degeneration.
Most tendon injuries occur near a joint, and you’ve probably heard of a few of them; golfers elbow, tennis elbow, swimmers shoulder, jumpers knee.
Even though a tendon injury appears suddenly, most likely it has already weakened over time, through repetitive use from a job or a sport, or through lack of activity and/or strengthening of your body overall.
How Do I Know if I Have Tendonitis or Tendinosis?
Pain, stiffness, inflammation, heat, less range of movement, weakness, redness, and radiating pain from a joint are all classic symptoms of a tendon issue.
Treatment Options
Sports Massage is an excellent way to treat either tendinopathy, using different techniques depending on the type you’re experiencing, and the ease of access to the joint. If you’re not ready to visit me or another therapist for help, what can you do at home to help yourself?
Use the principles of PRICE to self treat in the acute stage of your pain, that’s the first 24-48 hours after the first occurrence, or if it is still swollen.
Protect – protect your joint from being knocked or used unnecessarily
Rest – stop using the joint as much as possible
Ice – wrap ice in a towel and place over the area for a maximum of 15 minutes twice a day
Compression – when swelling has gone, a compression bandage may help
Elevate – raise your joint up if possible, while resting
Then What?
Hopefully you will have healed, but many tendinopathy issues can be a prolonged issue. But why? Because most people just ignore the above advice, and sometimes it is impractical to take all the stages to recovery – you have children, or a job, or a sports team you don’t want to let down, or all three, and you do not have an option to slow down, or so you think. The problem with not slowing down to recover though, is that you are potentially allowing a bigger injury to occur, with worse pain, that forces you to stop rather than slow down. Choose wisely.
And if you are ever not sure what to so, book yourself in for some professional advice.
Alongside Sports Massage, I still offer Personal Training for you, tailored to your injury recovery and movement needs. Contact me on [email protected] to find out more.
See you soon!
Chloe