When is tendonitis healed

Tendonosis is different and more serious than tendonitis. Tendonitis is acute short-term inflammation in the tendons. It may go away in just a few days with rest and physical therapy. There is no inflammation in tendonosis, but rather the actual tissue in the tendons is degrading. Untreated tendonitis can eventually lead to tendonosis. Tendonosis and tendonitis are treated differently. Tendons require a long time to heal because of their poor blood supply.

Continued and repetitive activity puts stress on the tendon and slows down the healing process. This eventually leads to tendonosis. Tendonosis is more common in people who are middle-aged or older since the tendons are more prone to injury. It can also occur in people:. A doctor will first take a detailed history and perform a physical examination.

Your doctor might also take an X-ray, MRI, or ultrasound to evaluate how much of the tendon is affected, to look for any tears, or to rule out other causes. The main goals for treating tendonosis include preventing injuries, reducing pain, thickening the tendon, and replenishing collagen within the tendon. A nutritionist can help you see if your intake of nutrients needed for collagen production is sufficient.

These may also help sore soft tissue. Talk with your healthcare provider before taking any OTC medicine for this condition, especially if this is the first time. If your healthcare provider gives you the OK, start exercising to strengthen the muscles around the sore joint within a day or two. Start with a long warm-up to reduce shock to the tissues. Then try lifting light weights or working with an elastic exercise band.

Go easy at first. Then build as your strength increases. Stretching is also a vital part of treatment. Hold each stretch for 20 to 30 seconds and repeat 3 to 5 times. A prevention program should replace bad habits with these methods that promote a healthy workout:. This is usually uncomfortable or painful. Pain and stiffness that may be worse during the night or when getting up in the morning. Stiffness in the joint near the affected area.

Movement or mild exercise of the joint usually reduces the stiffness. But a tendon injury typically gets worse if the affected tendon is not allowed to rest and heal. Too much movement may make existing symptoms worse or bring the pain and stiffness back. Exams and Tests To diagnose a tendon injury also known as tendinopathy , your doctor will review your medical history and daily activities and conduct a physical exam to check your overall health, areas of pain and tenderness, and range of motion and strength.

These may include: X-rays , which can show any bone-related problems or calcification in tendons or joint structures. MRI magnetic resonance imaging , which can show small tears and areas of tendon, ligament , cartilage , and muscle injury. Ultrasound , which can show thickening, swelling, or tears in soft tissues such as the bursae and tendons. Treatment Overview Initial treatment for a tendon injury tendinopathy typically includes rest and pain relievers.

The goals of this early treatment are to: Reduce pain and inflammation of the tendon. Restore normal motion and strength. The goals of ongoing treatment are to: Reduce pain. Avoid further degeneration or tearing of the tendon. Encourage regeneration of the damaged tendon. Treatment for tendinopathies Take the following steps to treat tendinopathies: Rest the affected area, and avoid any activity that may cause pain.

Get enough sleep. To keep your overall health and fitness, continue exercising but only in ways that do not stress the affected area. Do not resume an aggravating activity as soon as the pain stops. Tendons require weeks of additional rest to heal.

You may need to make long-term changes in the types of activities you do or how you do them. Apply ice or cold packs as soon as you notice pain and tenderness in your muscles or near a joint. Apply ice 10 to 15 minutes at a time, as often as twice an hour, for 72 hours. Continue applying ice 15 to 20 minutes at a time, 3 times a day as long as it relieves pain.

Although heating pads may feel good, ice will relieve pain and inflammation. Take pain relievers if needed. Use acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs , such as ibuprofen or naproxen, as directed for pain relief.

NSAIDs also reduce any inflammation you might have in or around the tendon tendinitis. NSAIDs come in pills and in a cream that you rub over the sore area.

Do not rely on medicine to relieve pain in order to continue overusing a joint. Do range-of-motion exercises each day.

Gently move your joint through its full range of motion, even during the time that you are resting the joint area. This will prevent stiffness in your joint. As the pain goes away, continue range-of-motion exercises and add other exercises to strengthen the muscles around your joint.

Gradually resume your activity at a lower intensity than you maintained before your symptoms began. Warm up before and stretch after the activity. You can also try making some changes. For example, if exercise has caused your tendinopathy, try alternating with another activity. If using a tool is the problem, try alternating hands or changing your grip. Increase your activity slowly, and stop if it hurts. Avoid tobacco smoke.

Tendon injuries heal more slowly in smokers than in nonsmokers. Petron: There's a lot out there, and like most things when there's a lot of different ways to approach it, not one way is perfect.

So the physician needs to evaluate the patient and see what might be best for their situation. Interviewer: Yeah that really sounds like you do need an expert. I mean you can do a little reading on the internet, but it sounds like an expert really needs to decide what is going to be best for your situation. Petron: Right, in the early phases though relative rest and gradual return to activity in a lot of patients do well. But once you've had this for three months or six months or longer, probably ought to see a physician.

Petron: Right, if you start to feel some breakdown say in an Achilles tendon or a rotator cuff in your shoulder, stop. Because once you get into that tendonosis phase, it can be very difficult to get better. Petron: One of the common things is when one of these treatments is done, is it going to instantly be better? And the answer to that is no. So some of that might be lowering the expectation. Because again, really the body still has to heal itself.

So even with these treatments, it can usually be three months or so until they're healed. Petron: But there are some areas that really have a lousy blood supply, like the Achilles tendon. Once that's really inflamed, that can be even longer than that to return to play. Interviewer: So I get the treatment, I'm back to activity. How do I prevent this from now happening again and being a vicious circle? Petron: Well the most important thing is start out slowly.

All of these problems are not traumatic injuries, they're overuse injuries. So it's doing too much too quickly. So in general, the older the athlete, the slower you ought to ease into your particular sport. Interviewer: And then eventually your body is going to be able to handle anything you throw at it? Petron: The body adapts to the stresses put upon it. So just like a weight lifter gradually lifting more and more weight, muscles get bigger, tendons get stronger.