Tendinitis

Tendonitis
Classification and external resources
ICD-10	M77.9
ICD-9	726.90
DiseasesDB	31624
eMedicine	emerg/570
MeSH	D052256

Tendonitis (informally also tendinitis), meaning inflammation of a tendon (the suffix "itis" denotes diseases characterized by inflammation), is a type of tendinopathy often confused with the more common tendinosis, which has similar symptoms but requires different treatment. The term tendinitis should be reserved for tendon injuries that involve larger-scale acute injuries accompanied by inflammation. Generally tendinitis is referred to by the body part involved, such as Achilles tendinitis (affecting the Achilles tendon), or patellar tendinitis (jumper's knee, affecting the patellar tendon).

Diagnosis

Symptoms can vary from aches or pains and local stiffness, to a burning that surrounds the whole joint around the inflamed tendon. Swelling may happen along with heat and redness, but not in all cases, there may be visible knots surrounding joint. With this condition, the pain is usually worse during and after activity, and the tendon and joint area can become stiffer the following day as muscles tighten from the movement of the tendon. Many patients report stressful situations in their life in correlation with the beginnings of pain which may contribute to the symptoms. If the symptoms of tendinitis last for several months or longer it is probably tendinosis.

Treatment

Treatment of tendon injuries is largely conservative. Use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs combined with Physical Therapy, rest, orthotics or braces, and gradual return to exercise is a common therapy. An acronym used to list the corrective procedures in fixing tendinitis is "RICE": Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate. Resting assists in the prevention of further damage to the tendon. Ice is effective at alleviating pain, limiting excessive swelling, and stimulating blood flow after the fact. Compression and elevation both function similarly to ice in their ability to limit excessive, unncessary inflammation. Initial recovery is typically within 2 to 3 days and full recovery is within 4 to 6 weeks. As tendinosis is more common than tendinitis, and has similar symptoms, tendinitis is often initially treated the same as tendinosis. This helps reduce some of the chronic long-term risks of tendinosis, which takes longer to heal.

Steroid injects have not been shown to have long term benefits and are equivalent to NSAIDs in the short term. In chronic tendinitis laser therapy has been found to be better than conservative treatment at reducing pain, however no other outcomes were accessed.

Research

Autologous blood injection is a technique where the area of tendinitis is injected with the patient's own blood in order to stimulate tendon healing. The procedure does result in a pain flare for several days as the blood irritates the tendon; however, platelet-derived growth factor, which is contained in platelets, is thought to commence the healing process. The treatment has been tested in two small trials for tennis elbow.

See also

• Repetitive strain injury
• Tendinosis
• Achilles Tendinitis
• Calcific tendinitis
• Orthopedic surgery
• Prolotherapy
• Stenosing tenosynovitis
• Tennis elbow
• Tenosynovitis
• Tension myositis syndrome

External links

• HealthTouch.com, Tendinitis/Bursitis provided by the American College of Rheumatology.

ca:Tendinitis pt:Tendinite