Preventing and Curing Tendonitis

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Injuries.

I'm certain there is nothing more irritating than getting injured and having to rest. It messes with your routine, your sleep, and even sometimes your mental health.

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I recently had and recovered from tendonitis and learned firsthand that I wasn't doing a good enough job at taking care of my body based on all the hard workouts I was pushing myself through. I scoured all my textbooks, YouTube, and new studies hoping for some magical fix to cure tendonitis so I could get back into lifting.

What is tendonitis?

Tendonitis (or tendinitis...I just think it looks weird when it's written this way) is the inflammation of the tendon. Tendons are a brand of connective tissue that connects muscle bellies to bones. When this becomes irritated, it can hurt all the way down into the muscle, and can even heal improperly, leaving your pain to come back just months later. How can you avoid this? Keep on reading.

With stretching, friction massage, and slight changes to my diet, I was back in the gym within three weeks, and was never happier to be there! Now I just work on the prevention part, which I highly suggest to you to practice.

If however, you are in the injured category, I will share with you exactly what to do so you can get back in the gym as well.

Steps to Recovery

First of all, if you are injured and have tendonitis (in any tendon, mine was biceps), you will need to have about a week of complete rest. You can and should complete light stretching and range of motion (ROM) exercises to keep your muscles warm and fluid. So here are the tips:

1. Get adequate sleep. When you are injured, your body needs sleep more than ever to recover properly. Instead of waking up an hour early to go to the gym, still go to bed early, but sleep that extra little bit.

2. Reduce inflammation. Tendonitis is basically an inflamed (swollen) tendon. The tendon is what attaches muscles to bones. Ice your swollen tendons at least twice a day for 20 minute sessions. Take ibuprofen or other NSAIDs (Non-steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) of your choice. Keeping this thing happy for a few days will be better off in the long run.

3. Diet changes. When you have any kind of inflammation, it is critical that you increase your anti-inflammatory foods. Be sure to eat fatty fish, take your omegas, and include plenty of nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables into your diet. Studies have shown that Vitamin C, Magnesium, Vitamin B6, and Zinc are particularly helpful in reducing inflammation. Reduce pasta and refined carbohydrates during this period as they can promote inflammation. Good anti-inflammatory foods include: whole grains, dark leafy vegetables, tart cherries, nuts, peppers, beets, ginger, turmeric, garlic, and onions, etc. There are many longer lists, but the key is that if your diet looks heart-healthy and includes a rainbow of colors, you are probably eating correctly to reduce inflammation.

4. Cross-Fiber Friction Massage. This technique was something new I stumbled onto while reading studies about tendonitis. It has worked WONDERS for me, and within just days, I was feeling mentally ready to go back to the gym again. To do this, you take your index and middle finger and place them on the tendon that is giving you pain. Rub it or just slightly below it back and forth roughly (it will feel like you are really digging through the skin and muscle to reach that tendon and where it attaches to the bone. If you are doing this correctly, after about one minute, the tendon pain will disappear and your irritated muscle will start to feel almost numb. Studies recommend rubbing the inflamed tendon for up to ten minutes after the numb sensation occurs. I never made it that far as my hand got tired, but went for several minutes.

Why does this work?

Tendonitis is an injury that is hard to come back from because everytime you lift, if it hasn't healed correctly, or healed strongly, you break open the scar tissue and the tendonitis comes back. This kind of massaging technique helps to break up the scar tissue so that the tendon will heal strongly and the pain will be no more!

How to Prevent Tendonitis

If you don't have tendonitis, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SECTION:

1. Make sure to warm up for 10 minutes prior to exercise. Warming up is the single best important way to prevent many different kinds of injuries.

2. Perform a dynamic warm up of the particular muscle group you will be working for 3-5 minutes. If you are working shoulders, complete reaching exercises, shoulder circles, and rotator cuff strengthening, and stretching exercises.

3. Complete submax sets before working sets. This is important because it allows blood to come to the muscle and the muscle to properly warm up before lifting heavy.

4. Complete a cool down and static stretching after your workout.

Have you ever had tendonitis? Did it heal correctly? How long did it take to heal?

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