Acupuncture for Tendonitis

Acupuncture is one of the best-kept secrets in the history of sports medicine.

This is an elbow - yes I tried drawing it! haha, other body parts seemed too difficult.

Tendons are important structures in our bodies. They connect muscles to bones and are essential for all movements. Tendonitis is a condition in which tendons become painful, swollen, and inflamed thereby impairing function. When tendons become inflamed, they can cause extreme discomfort and irritation with associated movements. It is usually caused by repetitive strain/overuse and or overload and is generally worse with movement.

Common forms of tendonitis include tennis elbow, golfers elbow, Achilles tendonitis, jumpers knee, wrist tendonitis, shoulder tendonitis, etc.

Due to their physiology, tendons are extremely hard to treat. Tendons are considered white tissue because the blood supply to those structures is not as adequate as compared to the blood supply to other tissues in the body such as muscles (red tissues).

Think of when you’re preparing a raw chicken leg (if you eat meat that is). The joint areas with cartilage, ligaments, and tendons are a thicker, harder, stiffer, white shiny colored structure. Whereas the muscles (tasty portions) are pink, red, juicy, bouncy, and supple. Muscles need that elasticity and blood flow to contract and release to create movement, thus it is designed with maximum blood flow in order to move. The white tissue, on the other hand, was designed for preventing wear and tear, to withstand heavy impact/load, and to hold things together - it is designed to hold things in place and take on heavy impact thereby the tissue has less permeability, less flexibility, and is made of denser connective tissue with less blood flow. Therefore, to treat tendonitis, getting circulation into those areas with less blood flow is required for recovery.

Recovery time for tendonitis ranges from 3 – 6 months but often lasts longer due to restricted blood flow within the tendon structures. Comparatively, muscle strains only take 3-6 weeks and heal much faster with ample rest and proper recovery protocols. There is no golden standard for its treatment and most people experience it at least once in a lifetime. It causes extended setbacks for athletes and can tremendously affect people’s daily and work lives.

Acupuncture is one of the best-kept secrets in the history of sports medicine. The Chinese have been using it in their treatment of pain for more than two thousand years. It is extremely effective for the treatment of tendonitis and can help speed up the recovery time. Acupuncture utilizes sterile single-use fine needles to facilitate blood flow and fibroblastic activity within the tendon structure (where blood flow is generally limited). With the thin needles, acupuncture can get deeper than any form of manual therapy, thereby increasing blood flow and circulation within the tendon tissues. The body can then naturally repair and rebuild the damaged areas much more effectively and efficiently. The sooner you get acupuncture and good blood flow to the injured area, the sooner you will be able to return to normal activities.

My approach to treating tendonitis:

• Understanding how the injury happened. Whether it is from repetitive strain or an acute injury. Different causes require different solutions and treatment strategies.

• What other structures are also affected - usually there is tightness in the muscles that become the tendon, and joint restrictions causing poor movement patterns/posture that are causing the tendonitis.

• The thickness of the tendon - is there scar tissue formation? Is there swelling? Is there pain with movement? Is there pain with palpation? Is there pain without movement?

• Once the pain has decreased with acupuncture and the tendon heals, I usually recommend physical therapy to help strengthen surrounding structures and to rewire faulty movement patterns.

• Acupuncture’s true brilliance is in helping restore tissue structure, decreasing pain, and speeding up circulation and healing of affected tissues. Once we get it feeling better and the patient is able to move more confidently without pain. I always recommend physical therapy for strengthening and preventing future incidents as that is their bread and butter.

Suffering from tendonitis/tendinosis? Acupuncture can help you get back to doing what you love whether it's swinging a tennis racquet, being able to carry your child, kicking a soccer ball, jogging, texting, etc.