Tendinitis (informally also tendonitis), which means inflammation of the tendon (the suffix "itis" denotes conditions characterized by inflammation), is a type of tendinopathy typically confused with the more common tendinosis, that has identical symptoms however demands different remedy. The term tendinitis should be reserved for tendon injuries that involve larger-scale serious injuries associated with swelling. Typically tendinitis is known as by the body part involved, such as Achilles tendinitis (affecting the Achilles tendon), or patellar tendinitis (jumper's knee, affecting the patellar tendon).
Common tendinitis injury
Tendinitis injuries are common in the lower and upper limbs (such as the rotator cuff attachments), and are less common in the hips and torso. Individual variance in consistency and severity of tendinitis will change with regards to the kind, frequency and severity of physical exercise or use; for example, rock climbers tend to develop tendinitis in their fingers or elbows, swimmers in their shoulders. Achilles tendinitis is a very common injury, specifically in sports which involve lunging and jumping while Patellar tendinitis is a very common among basketball and volleyball players owing to the amount of jumping and landing. A veterinary equivalent to Achilles tendinitis is bowed tendon, tendinitis of the superficial digital flexor tendon of the horse.
Diagnosis
Symptoms may differ from aches or pains and local stiffness, to a burning that surrounds the entire joint throughout the inflamed tendon. Swelling can happen together with heat and redness, but not in every cases, there may be visible knots surrounding joint. With this condition, the pain is normally worse throughout and after exercise, and the tendon and joint area may become stiffer the next day as muscles tighten up from the motion of the tendon. Numerous patients report stress filled situations in their life in connection with the beginnings of pain which may contribute to the symptoms. If the symptoms of tendinitis last for a few months or longer it is probably tendinosis.
Treatment
Cure of tendon injuries is essentially practical. Using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications coupled with Physical Therapy, rest, orthotics or braces, and moderate return to workout is a common therapy. An acronym used to list the remedial treatments in fixing tendinitis is "RICE": Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate. Resting assists in the prevention of further injury to the tendon. Ice is effective at soothing pain, restricting too much swelling, and stimulating blood circulation after the fact. Compression and elevation both perform similarly to ice in their ability to restrict excessive, unnecessary inflammation. Initial recovery is commonly within 2 to 3 days and full recuperation is within 4 to 6 weeks.As tendinosis is much more common than tendinitis, and has identical symptoms, tendinitis is usually initially medicated much like tendinosis. This can help reduce a number of the chronic long-term problems of tendinosis, that takes longer to heal. Steroid injects have not been proven to have lasting advantages and are equal to NSAIDs in the short term. In chronic tendinitis laser therapy has been discovered to be a lot better than conventional remedy at lowering pain, however no other effects were accessed.
Research
Autologous blood injection is a method where the area of tendinitis is injected with the patient's own blood in order to promote tendon healing. The process does cause a pain flare for a few days as the blood irritates the tendon; then again, platelet-derived growth factor, which is found in platelets, is considered to start the recovery process. The procedure has been tried in two minor tests pertaining to tennis elbow.