We help our patients work to get their inflamed tendons back to normal, but that doesn’t mean they’re not causing lots of pain in the meantime. And this can be doing something as simple as lifting your cup of morning coffee.
Just so you understand what’s going on with those tendons, here’s some information on tendinitis.
What is tendinitis?
Tendinitis is inflammation or irritation of a tendon. In case you weren’t paying attention in your high biology class, tendons are the thick fibrous cords that attach your muscles to your bones. When the tendon becomes inflamed, the pain and tenderness occurs just outside a joint.
Tendinitis can occur in any of your tendons, but it’s the most common in the tendons involved in your shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and heels.
These are some terms for specific tendinitis you’ve probably heard:
- Tennis elbow
- Golfer’s elbow
- Pitcher’s shoulder
- Swimmer’s shoulder
- Jumper’s knee
Why does this happen?
Tendinitis is usually the result of repetition of a particular movement over time. If you perform the same movement for work, that can lead to tendonitis. Or if you go gung ho with a movement, say pruning every bush in your large yard over a three-day weekend, that could do it, especially if you’re not performing that movement regularly, so sudden overuse is involved. Vibration also plays a role, as does working over your head.
Tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow obviously get their names from those sports. But tennis elbow, which affects the tendons attaching your forearm muscles to a bony bump on the outside of your elbow can occur from lots of different movements. It simply affects those tendons in that area to be known as tennis elbow. Overuse can create tiny tears in the tendon, resulting in pain.
Dr. Trujillo can give you a regimen to calm the inflammation and get past your tendinitis. It’ll likely start with rest, ice, and anti-inflammatory medications. Stretches are also important to help blood move to the area and begin to heal the tendon. Beyond that, Dr. Trujillo may use corticosteroid injections, PRP injections, or a splint on the forearm or wrist, if applicable.
If you have ongoing pain surrounding one of your joints that seemingly developed relatively quickly, you probably have tendinitis. Call us at Summit Healthcare Pain Clinic Associates, (855) 768-4968, and have Dr. Trujillo check it out.
