Tendinopathy or Tendinitis are terms used for common conditions that people experience on a day to day basis. Effectively it is pain derived from a pathological (irritated) tendon that can occur in numerous regions of the body. Usually this is due to overload or ‘repetitive strain’ causing the tendon to inflame. Typically this can be caused by sporting injuries or classic daily tasks such as gardening or DIY.
We treat very common conditions of Tendinopathy just like the ones you may have heard of below. Click on the link to find out more:
A tendon is a tough band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tension and absorbing incredible amounts of force on a daily basis.
Tendons are the bodies springs! They allow you to walk, run and jump. Did you know the Achilles Tendon can absorb up to 8 times your own body weight in force during running.
There are about 4000 tendons in the adult human body.
Tendinopathy or Tendinitis?
As used in many medical terms,‘itis‘ at the end of the word, is latin for inflammation. For example, Appendicitis or Arthritis. So Tendinitis basically means inflammation of the tendon. Tendons (and in general all soft tissues) are in a constant continuum of healing. When a tendon becomes painful in the first 3-6 weeks, be it a first time episode or a flare up of a persistent problem, we class this as the ‘reactive phase’. Typically when symptoms are more acute and irritable.
In recent years we now refer to ongoing Tendinitis problems as a Tendinopathy. ‘Opathy’ being latin for ‘disorder of’, which describes the chronic nature of the condition more correctly as commonly people will suffer for months if not treated. Over time the inflammation becomes more degenerative in nature due to a build up of scar tissue. This is termed the ‘disrepair phase’.
Ultrasound Scanning is a specialist service we offer that can help to confirm a Tendinopathy diagnosis. Ultimately this allows us to establish what phase of healing the tendon is in to accurately guide your treatment.
Tendinopathy Treatment
Research shows that Physiotherapy is one of the most effective ways to treat a Tendinopathy problem. Typically this will involve a combination of progressive strength exercises, optimising your daily load to encourage healing, and in chronic cases a specialist treatment we use called Shockwave Therapy.
As well as the common conditions mentioned above we also treat pain caused by tendons in other regions you may not know are Tendinopathy problems. Click on the links below to find out more:
Cookies help us keep our site current and responsive. Is it OK if we follow your journey through our webpages?
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
