What can sports medicine Chandler do for tendon soreness?

Why does the soreness keep coming back?

Tendon soreness often builds over days or weeks. It'll sometimes ease after you move for a while. Then it can return later that day or next morning. Tenderness and less strength are also common.

Doctors call a sore, poorly working tendon tendinopathy. The word doesn't say how serious the problem is. It also doesn't rule out trouble in a bone or joint.

During an exam, the clinician presses around the sore area and checks swelling. You move the joint, then test its strength. An X-ray can check for a broken bone or changes in a joint. Another scan may help if the exam suggests a tear. The clinician decides whether a scan could answer one of those questions.

Scans show body parts, but they can't show exactly which movements hurt.

What can I do at home today?

First, cut back the activity that clearly stirs the soreness. That might mean fewer games, a shorter walk, or less weight. You don't have to stop every safe movement. Complete rest can leave the tendon weaker when you begin again.

Then write down your work, exercise, and yard work. Note how the sore area feels next morning. You'll see whether one busy day made it worse.

Slow strength work can help a tendon handle more force. Start with a movement you can control without sharp pain. Add a little weight or one more round at a time. Don't copy an online stranger's number of lifts or choice of weight.

If walking gets harder each day, home care isn't enough.

When is it worth getting looked at?

Get prompt help after a snap, fast swelling, or sudden weakness. Do the same if you can't put weight on the limb. A hot, red joint with fever also needs quick care. New numbness or a cold hand or foot can't wait.

For soreness that lingers, an office visit can sort out the cause. Say how the problem began and which tasks stir it. Bring old scan reports if you have them. The clinician will check the painful area and discuss what to do next.

You don't need to wait until every task hurts. An exam can tell you which movement is safe now.

At QC Kinetix, clinicians examine you before offering regenerative treatments, which are non-surgical care provided in its Chandler office.

Sources

1. Tendinopathy is described in the Nature Reviews Disease Primers review as a complex, multifaceted tendon pathology - disorganised collagen fibres, increased microvasculature and sensory nerve ingrowth, dysregulated matrix homeostasis, increased immune cells and inflammatory mediators, and enhanced cell apoptosis - most commonly affecting the rotator cuff, the medial and lateral elbow epicondyles, the patellar tendon, the gluteal tendons and the Achilles. The authors state plainly that management consists of exercise and loading programmes, therapeutic modalities and surgery, and that their effectiveness 'remains ambiguous'.

   Millar NL, et al. — Tendinopathy.. Nat Rev Dis Primers, 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41572-020-00234-1.

2. Fifty-eight patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy were randomised to 12 weeks of eccentric training or heavy slow resistance training. Both improved significantly on VISA-A and pain, and the improvements held at 52 weeks, with reduced tendon thickness and neovascularisation. Neither programme beat the other. Session compliance was higher with heavy slow resistance (92% vs 78%, p<0.005), and satisfaction at 12 weeks tended to favour it (100% vs 80%, p=0.052).

   Beyer R, et al. — Heavy Slow Resistance Versus Eccentric Training as Treatment for Achilles Tendinopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.. Am J Sports Med, 2015. DOI: 10.1177/0363546515584760.

3. Thirty-eight patients with Achilles tendinopathy were randomised either to continue running and jumping during rehabilitation using a pain-monitoring model, or to stop those activities for the first six weeks. Both groups did the same loading programme. There was no difference in the rate of improvement and no negative effect from continuing to train - VISA-A rose from 57 to 85 in the continued-activity group and 57 to 91 in the active-rest group at 12 months.

   Silbernagel KG, et al. — Continued sports activity, using a pain-monitoring model, during rehabilitation in patients with Achilles tendinopathy: a randomized controlled study.. Am J Sports Med, 2007. DOI: 10.1177/0363546506298279.

4. In 25 randomised trials covering 26,610 participants and 3,464 injuries, STRENGTH TRAINING reduced sports injuries to less than a third (RR 0.315, 95% CI 0.207-0.480) and proprioception training roughly halved them (RR 0.550, 0.347-0.869), while STRETCHING showed no protective effect at all (RR 0.963, 0.846-1.095). Overuse injuries specifically were nearly halved by exercise programmes (RR 0.527, 0.373-0.746).

   Lauersen JB, et al. — The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.. Br J Sports Med, 2014. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2013-092538.