Published: 05/01/2015 - Updated: 12/29/2017
Tendinitis is an inflammation of the tendons, which are chords that form part of striated muscles, which are white and strong, but not contractile. This tissue is formed of fibers groups together in fasciculi, or muscle faces, and serve to join muscles to the bone and other bodily structures. Tendons are inserted to skeletal muscles in the bone, and transmit muscular contractions to control and execute movement.
These chords join muscles and bones, and help move the body, but they can become inflamed and cause uncomfortable symptoms such as the following:
- Pain and sensitivity close to joints.
- Pain while stretching the muscle close to the tendon.
- Inflammation in the area.
- Discomfort while performing certain movements.
Causes of tendinitis
- Over-use of the muscle or tendons. This occurs primarily in athletes, dancers, or individuals that exert themselves physically.
- This most often occurs in the shoulders, knees, wrists, ankles, etc. as well as in the thighs, behind the legs in the hamstrings, and the three thigh muscles. These areas of the body are most heavily used during physical activity.
- Stress combined with physical over-exertion could be extremely hard on the tendons, causing tendinitis.
- Trauma, like hits, violent jerking motions to the body, etc., could cause tendon damage, like tendinitis.
Natural Treatment for Tendinitis:
- The best way to reduce inflammation is through rest and applying ice or cold water to the area. It is very important that if you are experiencing pain, you do not exert yourself. Suspend all physical activity that uses the injured area, until the pain has disappeared and the tendon is recovered.
- It is also important to use the help of some sort of anti-inflammatory. We recommend something natural to start out with, especially if the injury isn’t severe. Ginger, papaya, etc., are wonderful natural anti-inflammatories that can reduce inflammation.
- Water therapy or gentle exercise is one way to heal the tendon, but you definitely should avoid over-exerting the area, and see a specialist.
- You could have an MRI performed to determine how severe the tendon has been injured. This is recommendable when the pain or inflammation do not subside for a considerable period of time.
How to prevent tendinitis:
- When you exercise or perform intense physical exercise, always give your body the appropriate amount of rest. Do not train too hard, and take at least 2 days of rest to recover the way your body needs to.
- Always perform your activities slowly when just getting back into it. Follow an instructor’s recommendations to avoid this type of injury.
- Do not resume activity if your tendon still hurts.
- Chronic tendon injuries occur when the tendon has not been able to recover sufficiently. This means that when you start using the affected area again before it has completely healed. You need to keep in mind that inflammation is a recovery phase for the body. You need to respect this phase until everything has completely healed, to avoid chronic injuries and before it becomes impossible to completely heal it.
- Eat a healthy diet, try to avoid saturated fats, cow’s milk in any form, and refined sugar or flower, which only fill the body, but do not nourish it.
- Always warm up before performing any sort of activity. Don’t do somersaults, splits, or abrupt maneuvers without having previously warmed up the body for at least 15 minutes.
More about tendons: emotional cause
Tendons are related to the present. Whenever there is tension regarding a present circumstance, or if you feel insecure regarding what to “grab” to be strong in life, your tendons will be influenced by your attitude. You need to work with this aspect, learn to recognize where you feel insecure in yourself. You might be afraid of not succeeding, of being competitive and feeling like someone is going to take your success, your luck, etc. This could be because you don’t believe in yourself and your unique abilities. Releasing these emotions could undoubtedly help you in a speedy and complete tendon recovery.