PART 1) TENDONITIS SOLUTIONS

This is going to be a 5 PART post . . as i want to specifically target each common area of tendonitis (elbows, knees, shoulders, wrists) & provide specific exercises to strengthen/rehab each area.

Part 1 (this post) i'm explaining what tendonitis is & what causes it.

TENDONITIS.

If you're going to take up weightlifting of any kind, i think it's a NECESSITY to understand the types of things your body is going to go through, specifically in terms of acute injuries, so you don't FREAK OUT when it does happen to you (if you train seriously, it's a matter of when, not if) . .you should know how to manage & perform basic rehab on yourself to recover as quickly & effectively as possible without having to rush to a physio everytime you sense a bit of uncomfortableness.


Tendonitis is one of those things that everyone goes through . . and it's handy to understand how it all works.

SO GRAB A SEAT & LISTEN UP.

What the hell is it?

A tendon is a band of fibrous tissue. Tendons connect your muscles to the bones. When a muscle contracts, it pulls on a bone to cause movement. The tendon is the force that provides the pull/movement of that contraction. Tendons usually glide easily and smoothly as the muscle contracts.

Tendonitis is the result of a tendon becoming inflammed, and the pulling of that muscle becomes irritated & painful.

Why do i get it?

Tendons are EVERYWHERE in the body . . but tendonitis is more commonly found in the elbow, wrist, shoulder, knee. Why? Because these areas of the body don't get pumped with a high blood supply, so when you injury these areas, not enough oxygen can be provided to those areas to provide quick healing of the tendon. 


Tendonitis is an overuse injury. I've recently started Olympic lifting, and i've got a little bit of tendonitis in my knees . . why? because i'm squatting a hell of a lot & my body hasn't adapted to the new activity yet . . maybe i did too much volume too soon, and the tendons haven't had a chance to adapt.

How do i know if i have it??
I'll go into this in more detail specific to the particular area of tendonitis in the next posts but in general, symptoms are:

• sharp pain when moving the joint
• the joint is sensitive to touch
• unable to fully lengthen the joint without pain

So how do i fix it ??

Do i rest until the pain goes away . . do i work through the pain ??

The worst thing you could possibly do is rest for an extended period of time, and then go back to exactly what it was you were doing to cause the pain in the first place.

The tendons need to adapt to the activity that you're doing, so simply resting is not going to do anything but bring the inflammation down.

You need to make sure the tendons are staying mobilized and being supplied with as much blood & oxygen as possible, and that you're strengthening that tendon as quickly as possible to get it back to being stronger than it was pre-tendonitis.



Here's an article by Peter Blanchonette based around curing tendonitis with eccentric movements (eccentric movements are the contraction of a muscle during lengthening - for example, the downward initiation of a bicep curl) - The Eccentric Solution


PART 2 i will talk specifically about KNEE TENDONITIS causes & solutions.