Tendinitis (tendonitis) and Tendinopathy (tendinosis)
The tough, elastic fibres throughout the body that attach muscles to bones are tendons. In sport or everyday life, these tendons can suffer from impact and excessive movement, which can cause inflammation.
What are tendinitis/tendonitis and tendinopathy/tendinosis?
Tendinitis is a moderate inflammation of the tendons that responds relatively quickly and well to medical treatment and rest. Tendinitis can cause deep, excruciating pain that limits normal movement. The most common cause of tendinitis in athletes is acute trauma that forces the tendon to stretch beyond its normal range of movement and causes pain, swelling and inflammation.
Tendinopathy is a degree of inflammation of the tendon that does not change long-term after medication and reduction of load or due to trauma. The most important difference is that in this condition there are degenerative (degrading) changes in the tendon. In this case, in addition, longer-term treatment will be needed, which includes physiotherapy (specific exercises) and physical therapy (device therapy such as magnetotherapy, ultrasound, shock wave therapy), as well as taping and wearing orthoses. Surgical intervention is sometimes necessary.
Common causes?
In both conditions, incorrect sports technique or biomechanics (the interaction of hard and soft body structures under load) are often to blame.
The best preventive measures are to vary the workload and to ensure adequate rest and rest after the workload. It is important to plan sports and physical activity to avoid overtraining.
Excessive trauma is caused by repetitive use of body structures (muscles, tendons, bones and joints), resulting in stress on these areas, which also causes damage. These are sometimes called cumulative (cumulative) injuries or repetitive stress injuries.
Treatment
If you have sudden pain or tendonitis and suspect tendonitis, the first thing to do is to stop the activity and rest. The tendonitis will respond to the R.I.C.N. method (rest, ice, compression and elevation). This method helps to reduce inflammation and swelling and causes temporary pain relief. This type of conservative treatment is usually all that is needed to recover from tendonitis. Tendonitis usually goes away within a few days or weeks.
Unfortunately, it can take two to six months to recover from prolonged tendinopathy. Many tendon injuries progress to a chronic form, which gradually worsens if the individual continues activity despite uncontrollable pain.
If your tendon pain lasts more than a few days despite rest and conservative treatment, you should see a physiotherapist or physiotherapist to restore the normal state of the tendon.
The physiotherapist will assess the current condition by interviewing the patient, palpating (touching) and testing. The therapist may decide on the need for one of the physical therapy procedures or soft tissue techniques (massage, stretching, mobilisation, etc.). The most frequently used in our clinic are Shock wave therapy and Radiofrequency therapy (Tecar). In acute conditions, the therapy helps to calm the tissue and reduce inflammation, while in chronic cases it provokes tissue irritation so that regeneration processes are more active.
Therapy is unimaginable without strengthening and improving the functionality of the affected areas through therapeutic exercise. Exercise performance can be passive, active or dynamic. It is important not to rush through any of the exercise phases.
Prevention
The best and safest way to avoid such conditions is to pay attention early and think about how the body feels during and after exercise, and what the ergonomics are in everyday life and working conditions. Whether the movements are technically correct and whether there is a general assessment of posture when taking up the sport.
Common terms for specific areas of tendonitis:
- Tennis Elbow- Lateral Epicondylitis
- Golfer's Elbow- Medial Epicondylitis
- Achilles tendinitis
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Jumper's Knee
- Rotator Cuff Tendonitis