Tendons are the fibrous cords of tissue that connect your muscles to bones. If they become irritated, inflamed, or torn, this can cause pain and tenderness to develop, which is called tendonitis. While tendonitis can occur anywhere in the body, it’s most common in the wrists, elbows, and shoulders, along with the knees and heels.
Signs of tendonitis include:
Thomas F. Saylor, MD, brings the most effective tendonitis treatments available to his patients at Orthopaedic Care Specialists in North Palm Beach, Florida.
If you’re experiencing tendonitis pain, here’s what could be triggering your symptoms.
In most cases, the leading cause of tendonitis involves overuse and repetitive motions. Over time, these repeated actions can put significant stress on a tendon, leading to inflammation, irritation, and tendon damage.
Examples of activities that can cause repetitive stress on a tendon include:
You can also get tendonitis from working with computers and using devices like smartphones and tablets.
While repetitive stress can gradually lead to tendonitis, traumatic injuries can lead to issues that occur immediately. These events involve a specific incident that injures the tendon, causing the sudden onset of symptoms.
Not only can specific activities involved in a sport cause tendonitis, but factors related to a sport can also lead to the development of tendonitis, such as:
Your chances of developing tendonitis are also higher if you don’t cross-train and take time to warm up and cool down after physical activity.
Having excess weight can put extra strain on your muscles, tendons, and joints. Furthermore, being overweight or obese can increase inflammation in the body, which can lead to pain and tendon degeneration.
Have you checked your posture lately? Whether you’re on your feet or in front of the television, poor posture can overload your tendons, increasing your risk of them breaking down or tearing.
Unfortunately, certain medical conditions can also increase your chances of developing tendonitis. The most common culprits include rheumatoid arthritis, kidney diseases, blood diseases, diabetes, and gout.
Just like medical conditions can put you at risk of developing tendonitis, so can your medications. However, this is far less common than other causes of this condition. Drugs that have been linked to the development of tendonitis include statins for lowering cholesterol and fluoroquinolone antibiotics, such as Cipro®.
Last but not least, tendonitis becomes increasingly common with age, especially once you reach age 40. That’s because tendon tissue grows less elastic with time, making it less tolerant to stress and more susceptible to tears.
Fortunately, Dr. Saylor offers numerous options for treating tendonitis, ranging from rest and physical therapy to low-dose steroid injections to platelet-rich plasma therapy.
For severe tendonitis, Dr. Saylor could recommend surgically repairing the damage with minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery. These approaches enable Dr. Saylor to restore the muscle and bone connection without making large incisions, so you can recover faster and with fewer risks than traditional surgery.
Do you have tendonitis pain? Dr. Saylor can give you a thorough evaluation and discuss your next steps. To learn more, call 561-260-5993 to book an appointment with Orthopaedic Care Specialists today.
