Hamstring Pain
29th March 2020
Achilles Tendonitis
11th June 2020
Tendons attach muscles to bones. They are very tough. But like many things can become painful. Tendon pain is VERY frustrating and can feel like it will never go, but it CAN! The most common places to suffer are the Achilles, patella tendon (knee) and gluteal tendon (outer Hip). Here are some tendon pain facts to get you started!
Tendon pain can be caused by LOTS of different factors.
The most common reason for tendon pain starting is normally a SUDDEN change in activity levels eg. you have done something totally NEW, done something VERY DIFFICULT for you, done something for a MUCH LONGER TIME than your normal, OR not allowed adequate recovery between exercising. This can be anything from simply standing, to walking, running, jumping or other sports.
It’s almost NEVER Inflamed!
All tendon pain used to be called tendinitis. ‘itis’ means inflammation. BUT, long-standing tendon pain is almost always NOT a classic inflammatory response. You might feel like you NEED a scan, and if you do, hearing of ‘wear and tear’ or ‘degeneration’ on ultrasound or MRI scans can be very scary but it DOES NOT mean it is the cause of your pain. Degeneration in tendons is common in people WITHOUT pain and DOES NOT mean you can’t get better.
Total rest WON’T Help
Long-standing tendon pain DOES NOT improve with rest. Your pain may improve or settle a bit, BUT eventually, when you return to your normal activity it usually means your PAIN COMES BACK! This is because rest DOES NOTHING to increase the tolerance of the tendon to load or exercise.
Exercise is THE BEST TREATMENT for your tendon pain.
In almost ALL cases your tendon pain WILL NOT improve WITHOUT you exercising it. Exercising tendons means they stay STRONG and develop a greater ability to tolerate what you ask of them in your daily life. Strength training is the mainstay for tendon problems but run, jump or hop training (at the right time) is also very important for knee or Achilles tendon rehab if you want to return to sports or running. Tendons NEED to be exercised/loaded GRADUALLY and PROGRESSIVELY.
