Your tendons are strong fibrous tissue that connects muscle to the bone. Tendonitis is inflammation of any of the many tendons throughout your body. This type of injury has many names depending on the area that is affected, for instance Achilles tendonitis is inflammation of the Achilles tendon. Other types of tendonitis include tennis elbow or jumper’s knee.
Tendonitis symptoms are usually due to repetitive strain; over time, repetitive motion can cause tears in tendons, leading to inflammation. The pain tendonitis causes can be anywhere from a mild annoyance to nearly debilitating, depending how long the inflammation has lasted. Continuing to place strain on the tendon will worsen the damage and with it the inflammation and pain. However, the condition can be prevented from becoming worse through the use of wraps or splints to keep the area at rest. Hot and cold compresses and anti-inflammatory medications can reduce the swelling and pain of tendonitis while it the tendons heal.
In order to prevent your tendonitis from leading to long term or even permanent damage, you will have to know tendonitis symptoms so you can begin getting treatment before more serious injury can occur. These are the most common signs of tendonitis:
Pain
Swelling
Affected area may be warm to the touch
Restricted range of motion, especially early in the morning or late in the evening
* Stiffness
* Burning sensation
Area may painful when touched
Preventing Tendonitis Symptoms
Prevention is always the best treatment with any kind of injury. While you don’t actually have to give up sports or other physical activities, you will have to do these things with caution.
One of the most common ways to get tendonitis is by not warming up and cooling down before exercising. When you warm up before strenuous activity, you stretch the muscle and the tendon, which properly prepares them for the ensuing exercise. Afterward it is important to cool down, again with stretching.
Tendonitis symptoms can also occur from the strain of daily activity. People who are overweight are particularly prone to tendonitis, since the heavier you are, the more weight your joints and tendons have to carry. You can help to prevent tendonitis from developing by losing any excess weight you may be carrying.
Improper form in any situation can lead to tendonitis symptoms. Whether you are on the tennis court or in front of your computer at work all day, it is important to position your body correctly during all kinds of work and play. For work situations, you can add ergonomic equipment such as specially designed keyboards and adjustable chairs to help you achieve the most natural placement of your hand, arms, and elbows and so on.
How you position yourself while playing sports or exercising is also important. When you overextend your joints, you can easily tear tendons and put yourself in serious pain as well as cause a case of tendonitis. You should get professional advice about proper form before you start playing any new sport.
Many different methods exist to prevent and treat this condition. You can use splints or wraps to immobilize the affected area so it can heal and reduce inflammation with heat or cold therapy. Whenever you experience pain, swelling or a burning sensation while you’re engaged in exercise or other physical activity you should stop the activity at once and get treatment.
Tom Nicholson spends his time caring for carpal tunnel sufferers. You can follow this link to find out more regarding having asore wrist.
RSS Feed
Twitter
March 4th, 2011
Tom Nicholson
Posted in
Tags:


