Tendons are bands of durable collagen fibers; their role is to connect muscles to bones and help facilitate proper anatomical movement and support. The suffix “-itis” is a telltale clue that tendinitis is primarily an issue of inflammation!
When something stresses or overloads the tendons, small microtears in the tendon fibers can occur, leading to tissue damage, inflammation, and pain, and related symptoms.
Tendinitis can affect tendons all over the body, but when it occurs in the hand or elbow, basic daily tasks like writing, grooming, and even opening doors and jars can become challenging.
This painful condition is common among people who perform a lot of repetitive movements with their hands. They may lift, move, or manipulate objects too frequently or too quickly, or may lift objects which are too heavy relative to their general physical capacity.
Symptoms of tendinitis
The symptoms of tendonitis are fairly easy to spot. Common symptoms in an area of the elbow or hand affected by tendonitis include:
- Swelling
- Pain with movement or when the affected area is at rest
Tenderness
- Decreased ability to grip items
- Decreased ability to lift, move, turn, or manipulate objects
- Feeling/sound of popping and clicking (common with tendinitis of the fingers and hands)
Types of tendinitis
In the knee, the tendon that connects your quadriceps muscle to the tibia bone (patella tendon) can become inflamed. This thick tendon runs over the top of your kneecap and attaches to the tibia bone below. This patella tendon can often become inflamed due to abnormal joint movements, poor posture and weakness of the surrounding musculature. This causes strain to the tendon with resulting pain during repetitive movement and especially with squatting or kneeling down. Other areas of tendinitis in the knee can occur such as the back, outside or inside of the knee.
In the shoulder, common areas for tendinitis are in the rotator cuff tendons (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis) and bicep tendons. Pain can be felt deep in the shoulder or in the front of the shoulder. Pain is usually felt as a sharp, catching sensation with certain movements.
How can a therapist help?
Hand and occupational therapy can be extremely beneficial if you’re struggling with tendinitis. Hand therapy addresses symptoms and root causes of inflammation and tendon damage. In this way, relief is more thorough and longer-lasting.
There are several ways a MEDIQ Physical Therapy therapist may choose to relieve your symptoms of tendinitis. Early in your treatment, therapeutic exercises may be used to facilitate tissue healing, reduce inflammation, and (later in the recovery process) improve the strength of the muscles in the elbow, forearm, and hand.
Electrical stimulation is another method by which tendinitis pain can be relieved. This works by stimulating different sensory receptors and blocking noxious signals sent via the nervous system. You may benefit from therapeutic ultrasound, which uses sound waves to accelerate tissue healing, increase local circulation, and reduce scar tissue formation.
Your therapist may suggest certain lifestyle and ergonomic changes, to improve your body mechanics and prevent repetitive tissue damage. Splinting and bracing are also options to temporarily immobilize and/or support injured tendons as they heal.
Contact Us Today!
Physical therapy is the first line in conservative treatment for tendinitis. Most tendinitis is due to underlying abnormal mechanics of movement, walking and weakness. Our trained Holly Springs, NC and Greensboro, NC physical therapists are experts in evaluating your movement to pinpoint the source of the trouble. Modalities may be used to alleviate pain and discomfort, while hands-on therapy improves joint mechanics and movement.
Finally, gentle strengthening exercises and joint coordination exercises help to restore stability to the affected area and prevent re-occurrence of symptoms. To discover how we can help your tendinitis, request an appointment at MEDIQ Physical Therapy today!