Tendonitis: Avoid it and treat it

Due to a small and recurring injury I had some time ago in a shoulder, I thought it would be important to share information about a common trauma that can frequently affect ALL athletes. I’m talking about tendinopathy, or commonly known as tendinitis.

A tendinopathy is basically pain in the tendon, which is often associated with inflammation and functional disability. This condition can occur in any tendon of the body because of muscle fatigue, weakness, muscular dysfunction, a blow or overextension of a joint.

At the sports level, the most frequent tendinitis occurs in the Patella (Rotulian), Achilles tendon, Biceps, Supraspinatus (which I have suffered several times in the shoulder), wrists (DeQuervain) and elbows (Epicondylitis). For you to notice, the common symptoms are pain when performing physical activity, joint pain, pain when you touch the area and loss of strength.

What to do to avoid tendinitis?

Remember that the older we get, the stiffer we get. The stiffness in our tendons increases during the years, so the best way to prevent tendinitis is through stretching routines, and of course before a training session it is essential to perform Mobility and activation exercises to give flexibility to our soft tissues.

In my social networks I have published, on several occasions, examples of exercises that can be done to prepare our bodies before a training session, so I invite you to look for them.

What to do to cure tendinitis?

As I mentioned before, the best and most responsible thing you can do is have a CHECK UP with a professional in Physical Therapy so they can make a correct diagnosis and cure your injury. At a therapeutic level, selective radiofrequency (TRT), shock waves (for chronic cases), and routines of supervised therapeutic exercise are used.

At home we can also treat tendinopathies with Cold Therapies (see post about cold therapy) and eccentric exercises, which in simple words are exercises where the muscles stretch instead of contract. Here you have to be careful because for every area where there is an injury, there are a great variety of exercises that can be performed.

And please gladiators, if you have tendinitis do NOT overload the affected area as it could become chronic and the pain and discomfort would be constant.

#english