ABOUT THIS CONDITION
Tendinitis is a very common condition that takes place when a tendon or the tissue surrounding it becomes irritated and inflamed. A tendon is the tissue that connects muscle to bone and allows you to move.
Tendonitis often times happens from overuse. It could be from an overuse syndrome or repetitive motion from work, an injury, or an accident. The most common is from overdoing some type of exercise. Once you have tendonitis you may experience any or all of the following:
- Pain, which will most likely increase upon movement or use
- Swelling of the affected and surrounding area
- Redness of the affected and surrounding area
- Tenderness over the affected and surrounding area
- Limited range of motion of the affected area
People who have elevated risk factors for tendonitis are professional or amateur athletes, those that do some type of manual labor, and people who spend a lot of time at a computer keyboard. (There are certain instances where these conditions will be misdiagnosed as a disease processes such as rheumatoid arthritis and gout.) We also see a weakening and breakdown of the tendons affecting the elasticity due to nutritional deficiency and or advanced aging making this segment of the population more susceptible to tendonitis.
Typical Tendonitis Conditions:
Lateral Epicondylitis: Commonly referred to as “Tennis Elbow”. Seen when the tendon on the outside of the elbow becomes inflamed and painful. If you extend your wrist backward and experience pain at the outside of your elbow you may just have Lateral Epicondylitis. It is referred to as tennis elbow, due to the mechanism
Medial Epicondylitis: Commonly referred to a “Golfers Elbow”. You may also see this referred to as “Climbers Elbow” or “Little League Elbow”, due to the requirement of the gripping and flexing the forearm for the motions. Seen when the tendon(s) on the inside of the forearm become inflamed and painful. Stress from this tendonitis is placed on the flexor tendons such as, pronator teres, flexor carpi radialis, flexor carpi ulnaris, flexor digitorum superficialis, and palmaris longus whose job it is to bend and flex the palm forward.
Rotator Cuff Tendonitis: Commonly seen shoulder condition, which can result from having a prior strain that for whatever reason has not healed properly resulting in stress on the tendons. Since it is usually a result of another condition, once managed it is important to address the original condition that led to the rotator cuff tendonitis
Why Chiropractic Care For Tendonitis:
Chiropractic and the therapies they provide (Ultrasound, Electrical Muscle Stimulation, Cold Laser Therapy) may be helpful for treating tendinitis. Whether there is a restricted range of motion, preventing proper movement of the spine or affected joints, or a pinched nerve, prevented the nervous system from functioning properly, making these corrections so the body has the ability to heal and function properly is the
Help Preventing Tendonitis:
Warm-Up/Cool-Down: It may sound like something you have heard over and over again, but warming up “Properly” before any type of physical activity is very important, as well as “Properly” cooling down once your activity is complete.
Start slowly: When starting a new activity, take your time. Build the strength and flexibility that the activity requires over time. Little by little you “Will” get stronger and improve, but not if you cause damage because you pushed too hard too soon.
Form Form Form: Learning the proper form required for an exercise or activity is so important, I can’t stress it strongly enough.
Make it a Regular Thing: Doing an activity on a regular basis instead of just once in a while, will keep your body strong and trained for that activity.
When you think you are suffering from tendonitis, Stop suffering call
(239) 315-4805 today.
Dr. Matthew Davis, of Chiropractic of Naples, has been helping to manage tendonitis conditions for over 16 years and he will help to get you out of pain and back to your normal routine as quickly as possible.