Tendonitis

Tendonitis Treatment, Natural Cure Doctor, Costa Mesa, Orange County, California, Dr. Robert Janda, Chiropractor, Natural Healing, Traditional Naturopath, Naturopathic Healing.

Tendons are the connective tissue links between muscles and bones. Sometimes they become quite inflame making motion very painful. Any tendon can become inflame, but the commonest ones are in the shoulder, arms and the   Achilles Tendon behind and above the heel.

The main question, of course, is why this inflammation occurs. There are a number of possible causes including trauma, infection, nutrition, overuse and misuse. However, these are not the most common causes. Almost always when you find a tendonitis you will also find a related problem interfering with the functioning of the muscle of the tendon. Most or all muscles function in chains of coordination with other muscles. When the functioning of any muscle of the chain is disrupted it will also disrupt the functioning of all the muscles in the chain. Empirically, whenever a muscle is weakened for an extended period you are likely to find an irritation of the associated tendons, particularly at their origin and insertion. The reason for this is undoubtedly related to the coordinated function of the Golgi Tendon proprioceptors with those of the Muscle Spindle Proprioceptors. These receptors are involved in sensing stretching of the muscles and tendons. Muscles that are stretched without proper nervous system preparation are likely to be injured by the stretch, especially if it is done suddenly or repeatedly. There are 3 main factors that confuse the nervous system with information from muscles and tendons. These are subluxations, nerve entrapments and competitive reflexes that are active.

Subluxations are joints that are misaligned (see the section on Subluxations). Whenever a joint is not in a neutral position it is conveying information to the brain about movement. In a sense, movement of a joint commits the muscular system to a particular motion and inhibits the opposing motion. Any muscle that is inhibited by this process and is needed for motion will lack coordination. This lack of coordination is a predisposing factor for tendonitis.

Nerve Entrapments are places along a nerve where it is under pressure from muscle spasm or from adhesions, usually between the muscle sheath and the nerve. Normally a nerve should slide easily through a muscle as you move. With nerve entrapments this process is interfered with and there will be interference to the muscle that is innervated by the nerve. Again the muscle does not function properly and the tendon can become irritated.

Competitive reflexes are ones that tell a muscle to relax or to spasm when the opposite is needed. One of the commonest causes of these are reflexes from inflamed organs. Generally speaking if an organ is inflamed the body will not allow muscle contractions that put pressure on the inflamed organ. Many muscles in the extremeties are linked to the trunk muscles by muscle chains and can be weakened by problems in the trunk. With the Achilles Tendon, the muscles that are attached to it are linked to the muscles of the mid back, over the kidneys. If there is a kidney infection the posterior leg muscles will not work properly, predisposing a problem with the Achilles Tendon. This is actually quite common.

Treatment for Tendonitis varies with its cause and severity. In general, the reason for the muscle dysfunction should be corrected and the inflammation reduced. To do this Applied Kenisiology is of great value in determine the cause. Muscle treatment is done with Active Release Technique and physical therapy. Many times when the cause of the muscle dysfunction is cleared up the individual will go from a limp to a pain free walk in a few minutes. I have seen this many times.