Gone are the days where tendon pain was labelled tendinitis (itis = inflammation). In fact, an abundance of clinical studies now illustrate that there is in fact no signs of inflammation what so ever in the tendon. So where does the pain come from? What happens to the tendon?
The new term ’tendinopathy’ has replaced the old. Turns out, there are 3 types (or stages) of tendinopathy, which are listed below and are all a simple result of overuse. Maybe you are training to often. Maybe you have muscle imbalances causing the tendon to be overworked. Maybe the tendon is weak and cannot cope with the load.
1 – Reactive tendinopathy; a short term thickening in attempt to reduce stress placed on the tendon
2 – Tendon dysrepair; similar to the above, but the tendon becomes a little scarred and unwanted nerves and blood vessels grow into the area
3 – Degenerative tendinopathy; an abundance of scar tissue, areas of cell death and unwanted nerves and blood vessels growing into the area
Common areas affected:
- Patella tendon
- Achilles tendon
- Hamstring tendon
- Triceps tendon
- Rotator cuff tendons.
Depending on which stage of tendinopathy you present with, we at Jonathan Clark Physiotherapy can appropriately advised on which specific exercises you need to do and what treatments may be effective. We aim to not only address the tendinopathy itself, but the underlying cause of the problem.
