Tendons are a type of tissue in your body that connect your muscles to your bones. These fibrous and flexible bands work in unison with both the muscles and bones to create movement. However, like any soft tissue in the body, tendons are prone to injury, especially in sports with repetitive movements. This makes sports a common cause for tendonitis, or inflammation of the tendons, which translates into a variety of names within sports medicine, such as tennis elbow, swimmer's shoulder or jumper's knee.
Repetition
Repetitious movements is the most common cause of tendonitis in athletes. Most sports involve certain motions that are repeated constantly throughout both practice and competition, for example, a golfer or tennis player's swing, or a quarterback's or pitcher's throw. These motions cause excessive stress on the tendons, resulting in small tear injuries that trigger inflammation in the form of tendonitis.
Impact Injury
Less commonly, tendonitis is caused by a direct blunt injury to the ligament. This can be caused from impact in a sport, like a tackle during football, or from some sort of fall. Like overuse injuries, impact injuries trigger inflammation in the affected tendon, which develops tendonitis.
Home Treatment
Mild cases of tendonitis can be treated form home using a mixture of the RICE method and over-the-counter pain medications. The RICE treatment method consists of resting the affected limb, icing the affected tendon area, placing a compression bandage on the area if inflammation is noticeable by looking at the affected limb, and keeping the area elevated to a level above the heart to help encourage draining. Common pain medications include acetaminophen, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications such aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen, which also help treat inflammation of the tendon.
Medical Treatment
For more serious cases of tendonitis, medical intervention may be needed. Your doctor can help treat your tendonitis by injections of cortisone to reduce inflammation. A physical therapist can help stretch and strengthen the affected tendon and the attached muscle to help relieve pain and prevent your condition from getting worse. In the most serious cases, surgery may be required to repair the tendon. Talk to your doctor about the best option for your individual situation.
