Tendinitis: How to Decrease the Pain and Get Moving Again

Have you been experiencing a dull ache or sharp pain around your joints with movement? It might be tendinitis, a common condition caused by overloading the tissues that connect muscles to bones – your tendons.

While rest and/or bracing is often the first recommendation, the key to long-term relief lies in loading the tendon in a controlled way. This may sound counterintuitive, but chiropractic care can help achieve this by promoting proper mechanics and strengthening the surrounding muscles, ultimately reducing stress on the inflamed tendon. We guide our patients to progressively load tissues in the proper direction with the appropriate amount of force while adding load to tolerance. True cases of tendinitis or tendinopathy may not improve overnight but lasting results should be expected within 3-5 weeks at a minimum.

Understanding Tendinitis:

Tendinitis can occur anywhere in the body, but some areas are more susceptible:

• Elbow: Often referred to as "tennis elbow" or "golfer's elbow," this pain arises from overuse of the forearm muscles. This area is especially susceptible when starting up a new activity such as tennis, golf, or nowadays more commonly playing pickleball

• Wrist: Repetitive motions like typing or using a mouse can inflame the tendons in your wrist. This is especially more common when beginning a new job involving a new activity in high volume that was not previously performed regularly.

• Shoulder: Rotator cuff tendinitis is a common issue, especially among athletes, due to repetitive overhead motions.

• Knee: Patellar tendinitis, or "jumper's knee," affects the tendon below the kneecap, often impacting runners and jumpers. New sports or activities can bring this discomfort on suddenly. More commonly we see this after an inactive off season (no training or cross training in the off season) leading to an aggressive start to in-season activities.

• Foot/Ankle Complex: Achilles tendinitis, felt in the back of the heel, is common among athletes and those who do a lot of walking or running. One under-appreciated source of foot pain often mis-diagnosed as plantar fasciitis in posterior tibial tendinitis. Dry needling and manual therapy often aid in improving this condition in addition to other tendinitis cases while we teach our patients how to property load the tissues in the meantime.

Treating Tendinitis:

Treatment for tendinitis focuses on reducing inflammation and strengthening the surrounding muscles. Here's how chiropractic care can help for each area:

• Elbow/Wrist: Chiropractic adjustments can improve joint mobility and stability, while prescribed exercises can strengthen the forearm muscles and tissues to support the tendons.

• Shoulder: Adjustments can address imbalances in the shoulder joint, and specific exercises can target the rotator cuff muscles to improve stability. Untreated cases of shoulder dysfunction can occasionally lead to frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis. Our Wausau area chiropractic office in Marathon treats cases of frozen shoulder regularly.

• Knee: Chiropractic care can address any underlying joint dysfunction that might be contributing to the stress on the patellar tendon. Strengthening exercises for the quadriceps and hamstrings are also crucial. One consideration is glute strength and stability contributing to knee pain and stabilization and is something we find regularly with our knee pain patients, especially as we age or decondition.
  

• Foot/Ankle Complex: Adjustments can improve ankle mobility (especially into ankle dorsiflexion with is a common finding we uncover during foot evaluations) and flexibility, while specific exercises can strengthen the calf muscles to support the Achilles tendon. Loss of ankle dorsiflexion and great ray (big toe) extension are the biggest findings we discover in the foot/ankle complex in non-traumatic foot and ankle pain.

Taking Charge of Your Recovery:

Beyond chiropractic care, here's how you can become an active participant in your recovery:

• Listen to your body: Pain is a signal – take breaks, modify activities, and avoid movements that aggravate the pain. Pain does not mean there is tissue damage. It is simply your brains interpretation of dysfunction (which may include tissue damage but not necessarily).
  

• Stretch and strengthen: Regular stretching and exercises prescribed by your chiropractor can increase flexibility and support the affected tendon.

• Ice and heat therapy: Apply ice packs for short periods to reduce inflammation, and use heat therapy to loosen tight muscles before dynamic stretching.

Your Partner in Healing:

At Marks Chiropractic in Marathon WI near Wausau, we believe in a comprehensive approach to healing. We'll work with you to develop a personalized treatment plan that combines chiropractic adjustments, therapeutic exercises, myofascial release, laser therapy, dry needling, and most importantly self-care strategies to get you back to doing the things you love, pain-free.

Don't let tendinitis sideline you any longer. Contact our office today to schedule an appointment and take control of your recovery!