Pain-Free and Fit with Dr. Ric Alexander

The symptoms of tendinitis can be treated in various ways. Some relieve the pressure on a tendon temporarily while others help reduce the inflammation caused by the joint imbalance. In my experience, none of these treatments remove the primary cause as PMBT treatments do, but they are helpful to varying degrees.

Exercise to strengthen certain muscles can sometimes create a counter pull against the tight, damaged muscle. This can help realign the joint in some cases, thereby relieving some of the stress on the inflamed tendon.  However, if not done properly it could cause increased pressure on the tendon instead.  Unfortunately, since most joint imbalances vary, a generic exercise program can’t be designed for most tendinitis conditions. Specific exercises would be designed for someone who received some PMBT treatments but could not stay long enough to get their joint totally realigned. Those who get their joints realigned totally would be taught exercises to keep their muscles strong and more resistant to over-stress. This helps preveStretching can also be helpful. It is most effective when the tight damaged muscles causing the misalignments are stretched. However, stretching all muscles will help relieve the pressure temporarily. If done once or more every day this could help quite a bit. Again, specific stretches would be designed for a patient who could not receive enough treatments to get their damaged muscles restored to normal length. A balanced stretching program would be taught to those who were able to get enough treatments to restore their joints back into total alignment. Stretching also helps prevent more muscle damage from accumulating.

A lot of tendinitis therapies use heat in some form. Applying heat to short, damaged muscles causes them to lengthen temporarily, thereby relieving some of the pressure on the tendon. This provides some relief, however heat also increases inflammation and makes the problem worse. Using heat to treat tendinitis is a two-edged sword. It helps a little in one way but hurts in another. Whatever you do, never apply dry heat to your muscles. Since muscles are around 70 percent water, the dry heat dehydrates them causing them to become shorter. This creates a greater imbalance in the joint making your problem worse. I believe that massaging and stretching your tight muscles will relieve the pressure and pain as much as moist heat without the negative effect of increasing the inflammation.

Nutrition doesn’t remove the cause of tendinitis, but can be very helpful with treating the inflammation and pain. It is one important part of treating any inflammatory condition.  Remember – what you put in your body is eventually exposed to your entire body!

A great deal has been written about treating inflammatory conditions with nutrition so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here. The best foundation is to increase your intake of fruits and vegetables and decrease your intake of fats, grain products and meats. Since most fruits and vegetables leave an alkaline ash after being digested they have an anti-inflammatory effect. They also help reduce excess body fat so you should also become leaner and therefore place less stress on any weight-bearing joint affected with tendinitis. There are also many other health benefits from eating more fruits and vegetables, so explore and enjoy the many varieties available.

A number of nutritional supplements have an anti-inflammatory effect. Bromelain, an enzyme from pineapples, and curcumin herb are both good natural anti-inflammatories but must be taken between meals instead of with meals as usually stated on the label. These should be safe for anyone to use 2-3 times a day. Consult a good herb book or nutritionist for other good natural products that decrease inflammation. Even though herbs are natural products and can be used quite a bit without any side effects, I feel it is best to cycle their use. In other words, get three or four products and use one on Monday, another on Tuesday, the next on Wednesday, and the last one on Thursday. Then begin again with the first one on Friday. This should prevent any negative effects that may occur using herbs to excess. Some herbs are quite powerful and should only be used long enough to re-establish balance when an imbalanced situation is present. Always consult a physician knowledgeable in nutrition before starting any supplementation program. This is especially important if you are taking any medication.

Feel free to comment, and I wish you luck with your relief of tendinitis.

You now know the cause of tendinitis, but there are five primary factors that determine the severity of the condition.

The first is simply the degree of misalignment in the joint. Obviously, the worse the misalignment the greater the stress on the tendon and the more inflammation and pain normally created.

The second factor is time. Usually, the longer a misalignment is present the more stress and increased scar tissue the muscle and tendon accumulates. This is why tendinitis will often get progressively worse. As people live, work and play they accumulate muscle damage leading to joint misalignments. As time passes, more damage accumulates. Since many of these imbalances are minor the person may not notice a problem until they are 40 or 50 years old. At that time, they begin to have inflammation and pain in whatever joints have been misaligned. Most just assume that it’s a natural part of aging and are unaware that a successful treatment exists, so they just live with the pain or use drugs or other treatments that just cover up their symptoms. Unfortunately, as the condition progressively worsens, stronger drugs and more radical treatments are required to deal with the pain.

A third factor influencing the severity of tendinitis is the amount of use the affected joint receives. If someone is physically active in their job, sports, exercising or other activities, more inflammation and pain in the tendon will be created than if they are physically inactive.

The fourth factor is weight. It should be easy to see that weight-bearing joints such as feet, ankles, knees, hips and spine are going to receive more stress in a 250 pound person than in a 125 pound person. Reducing and maintaining a more normal body weight will usually reduce the pain of many tendinitis conditions.

The fifth factor comes from the bodies power of adaptation. When a joint is imbalanced the body actually creates other joint imbalances to compensate and reduce stress to the original imbalanced joint. This can often result in pain relief in the original injured area and explains why a lot of therapies appear to have resolved a problem when they really haven’t. Unfortunately, the compensating area will usually develop a problem of its own after a period of time because of the excessive stress it then receives.