Uncommon
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♦ 5 ♦
TENDONITIS / BURSITIS
TENDINITIS
Tendonitis -- inflammation of a tendon -- is a very common condition. Any word ending in “itis” means inflammation. Example: arthritis means inflammation of a joint (arthro = joint, and itis = inflammation), myositis = inflammation of muscle, and bursitis = inflammation of a bursa.
There are many locations that develop tendonitis and are diagnosed correctly. Other locations, however, are diagnosed incorrectly. Tendonitis of the elbow (tennis elbow), shoulder, and wrist are often correctly cited. Tendonitis of the knee and lower extremities is also often correctly diagnosed.
However, some locations of tendonitis are overlooked. For example, many people are incorrectly told that they have carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) when they really have wrist tendonitis. With wrist tendonitis there is inflammation of the tendons that are next to the median nerve (the nerve affected with CTS – see chapter 9). There are additional locations where the tendonitis diagnosis is also missed. Also, while many doctors may diagnose tendonitis correctly, they still don’t have an effective treatment program.
Additionally, there is one huge problem with the diagnosis of tendonitis. It’s only half of the diagnosis! What do I mean? Look at the muscle in this photo ®. The red tissue is muscle. The white tissues on the muscle’s two ends are tendons. Muscles turn into tendons. In other words, muscles have a tendon on each end and this tendon then attaches to the bone. Any muscle with its associated tendons is a whole or complete unit. This is important because the second half of the diagnosis is muscle spasm. Muscles go into spasm as a defense mechanism. When we get hurt, our bodies automatically send the muscles in the area into spasm -- a sustained muscle contraction. Thus, the muscle stays in the shortened (or contracted) position. When the muscle constantly contracts in spasm, it pulls on its two tendons which leads to inflammation of the tendon. It works the other ways as well. If we overuse our tendons they inflame, and the muscle responds by going into spasm. The spasm then keeps the inflamed tendon tight, and the tendon can’t heal.
So most cases of tendonitis are really a combination of muscle spasms and tendonitis. This concept is missed by many medical offices. If you try to heal the tendonitis without addressing the muscle spasm you may heal, but it will take a lot longer. Additionally, these muscle spasms and tendonitis injuries develop as a result of overuse. The treatments offered in this chapter are aimed at reversing the overuse components of these injuries. To heal, you need a comprehensive home treatment program that you will use multiple times each day to help your body overcome the daily overuse of the affected area. This treatment is a shotgun approach. Just as shotgun pellets spread out over a target, so, too, will your variety of treatment spread out over your condition.
BURSITIS
Bursitis means inflammation of a bursa, which is a fluid filled sac near a joint that helps the joint with its mobility. Common bursas that inflame are the shoulder bursa, hip bursa and knee bursa. Treatment for bursitis is similar to tendinitis and covered in the same chapter.
So what do you do if you have tendonitis or bursitis? The chapter on Tendonitis / Bursitis covers the whole “muscle spasm / tendinitis complex”. It includes what types of tendonitis treatment you should expect from medical office. It also includes an exhaustive list of home treatments as well.
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