The Five Factors Affecting the Severity 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.