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September Newsletter: Chiropractic Care for Tendinitis
Pain becomes a constant part of your life when you're suffering from tennis elbow, Achilles tendinitis, swimmer's shoulder, or any other form of tendinitis. Chiropractic care offers an effective way to ease pain, tenderness, and swelling during your recovery.
What Is Tendinitis?
Tendons are strong cords of tissue that connect muscles to bones. Your tendons help your muscles move your bones and absorb shock when you move. Tendinitis occurs when the tendons become inflamed. Although tendons are flexible when you're young, they stiffen and weaken as you grow older. Unfortunately, this may mean they become inflamed more easily.
Tendinitis can affect tendons anywhere in your body, causing pain that may last several weeks. Although the injury often affects athletes, anyone can develop tendinitis. Participating in activities that involve repetitive motions, like hitting a ball or running, raises your risk for tendinitis. Other risk factors include poor posture, jobs or sports that require overhead movements, or working with vibrating tools. You might also develop the condition after spending the weekend weeding your overgrown flower beds or swiping your finger across your smartphone.
Tendinitis can also be caused by overuse, which could occur if you exercise too long or too intensely. According to an article in American Family Physician, overuse injuries most often affect the:
- Rotator Cuff in the Shoulder
- Elbow
- Patellar Tendon in the Knee
- Achilles at the Back of the Heel
Symptoms of tendinitis include:
- Pain, Which May Worsen at Night or When You Move the Muscle or Joint
- Warmth, Swelling, and Stiffness
- Crackling Sound When Moving the Affected Part of Your Body
How Chiropractic Care Eases Tendinitis Symptoms
Your visit to the chiropractor starts with a thorough examination to determine why you have tendinitis. Although you may know that playing golf is the reason your elbow hurts, your chiropractor can determine if a muscle imbalance or other underlying issue is a contributing factor.
Visiting your chiropractor could help you:
- Relieve Pain. Your chiropractor offers a variety of treatments aimed at easing your pain, including hot and cold therapies, massage, soft tissue mobilization, ultrasound therapy, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy. Chiropractic treatment prompts your body to release natural painkillers and promotes healing by increasing blood flow.
- Improve Flexibility. Swelling and inflammation causes stiffness, reducing your range of motion and worsening pain. In addition to massage, soft tissue mobilization, and other treatments, your chiropractor may use spinal manipulation to realign the vertebrae in your spine and reduce stiffness. Misaligned vertebrae can press on nerves and cause muscles and tendons to tighten. Once your vertebrae are correctly aligned, you may notice that flexibility improves.
- Get Rid of Scar Tissue. Your body reacts to an injury by creating new tissue around the injured area. Although this reaction is certainly helpful initially, scar tissue buildup restricts your movement and triggers pain. Chiropractic treatments break up scar tissue that can limit your flexibility and range of motion.
- Decrease Inflammation. Inflammation, a major factor in pain and stiffness, can be worsened by misaligned vertebrae. Realigning the vertebrae not only reduces pressure on nerves and tissues but also relieves inflammation. In a research study published in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies, researchers noted that spinal manipulative therapy reduced the production of inflammatory agents in people with low back pain. Although this study focused on low back pain, spinal manipulation could have the same effect on inflammation throughout the body.
During your visit, your chiropractor may also show you a few exercises that will strengthen your muscles, eliminate muscle imbalances, and decrease your risk for developing tendinitis in the future.
Need help managing your tendinitis symptoms? Contact our office to make your appointment for chiropractic treatment.
Sources:
American Family Physician: Common Overuse Tendon Problems: A Review and Recommendations for Treatment, 2005
https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2005/0901/p811.html
Chiropractic & Manual Therapies: Effects of Spinal Manipulative Therapy on Inflammatory Mediators in Patients with Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Non-Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial, 1/8/2021
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7792327/
Mayo Clinic: Tendinitis, 11/11/2022
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tendinitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20378243
Arthritis Foundation: Tendinitis