Tendinitis is no fun. It can affect many joints and causes pain around your joint that’s typically dull rather than sharp. It’s usually accompanied by noticeable swelling and limited mobility.
Your tendons are dense cords that connect your muscles to your bones, so they serve an important purpose in enabling your body to move fluidly, whether you’re engaged in everyday tasks or athletic pursuits.
No matter where tendinitis strikes you, rest assured that Billy Reilly, MS, PT, and Paul LaRosa, MS, PT, have helped our patients manage it successfully many times. We’re ready to help you banish your tendinitis pain.
It’s best to seek care sooner rather than later too, because tendinitis increases your risk for future injury and complications.
Our team at Empire Physical Therapy and Athletic Rehabilitation is dedicated to your healing and building a long-term relationship based on goals that we set together.
Your body contains over 1,300 tendons, so it’s important to understand why tendinitis occurs and the areas it affects. Tendons sustain damage for several reasons:
As we noted before, you can experience tendinitis anywhere, but certain areas of your body, like your knees, elbows, shoulders, hips, and heel, are more vulnerable. It’s good to be familiar with where tendinitis can emerge.
Achilles tendinitis affects your Achilles tendon, the largest tendon in your body. It connects your calf and lower leg muscles to your heel bone. Sometimes this type of tendinitis and the inflammation that accompanies it can sneak up on you, and you don’t feel pain until you’ve developed full-blown tendinitis.
Golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow cause pain and reduced movement for the muscles that are located on the inner portion of your elbow and your elbow’s outer area, respectively.
These problems are linked to the specific movements you make when you grasp anything, not just a golf club or tennis racket.
Tibialis posterior tendinitis occurs when the tendon that joins your calf muscle to the bones on the inside of your foot tears or becomes inflamed.
This form of tendinitis can stop you in your tracks because it causes the arch of your foot to drop and your heel to become displaced. Your calf tightens, which limits your ankle’s range of motion.
Knee tendinitis, also known as patellar tendinitis, results from damage to the connective tendon that joins your kneecap (the patella) to your shinbone. It enables you to run and jump.
Shoulder tendinitis develops when your rotator cuff or biceps tendon becomes inflamed. In addition to pain, you may be unable to hold your shoulder in some positions, making it impossible to reach above your head.
Hip tendinitis is a vicious cycle of symptoms. Your iliopsoas muscle is what allows you to flex your hip and bend your upper body downward, and it facilitates the rotation of your thigh bone.
When this muscle is overused, you feel pain and tightness, and can even hear an audible pop or click when you move.
You have a pair of peroneal tendons in each lower leg that extend down to your ankle bone. They stabilize your ankle and arch when you’re walking or running. In addition to overuse and improper form when exercising, peroneal tendinitis is caused by unsupportive shoes.
It absolutely can, by our stellar Empire team. After your initial exam, we develop a treatment plan that incorporates one or all of these methods:
We also counsel you about proper form while exercising and suggest warmup techniques. Fortunately, our office has a fully equipped onsite gym.
If tendon irritation goes on for too long, it’s likely that tendinosis will develop, which is degenerative to your tendons and fuels unwanted blood vessel growth, so don’t delay seeking treatment.
Get started with tendinitis diagnosis and treatment by contact us today. Our state-of-the-art New York City clinic is located in Manhattan, convenient to the Upper East Side and Midtown East.
