Managing Your Tendinitis

Osteopaths regularly see patients complaining of tendinopathy resulting in tendinitis (Tendonitis).

 

Treatment: Days 1-4 following the tendon injury/irritation will be the most painful and vulnerable therefore take great care to follow the steps below. 
 
 Why visit an Osteopath?

• To identify the underlying bio-mechanical cause of your tendinitis/injury (e.g. why do I keep getting calf pain when I run?) 
• To promote optimal healing to the tissues: preventing scar tissue forming, promoting optimal tissue length and health. 
• Recommended and demonstrate the most optimal exercise to help rehab the injury and prevent future injury.

 First aid following tendonitis

Rest - Obviously this prevents further damage or irritation to the tendon, inflammation is at it's greatest within the first 1-4 days following injury - So be careful!

Ice - Apply a bag of frozen peas or a cold pack to the area of inflammation. Tendons attach to bones therefore to locate the painful tendon, you should be able to feel a boney point where the tendon attaches, it should be the most tender spot.

Tip for Icing : For tendons that are close to the skin such as as the patella (knee cap or quadriceps) tendon, just applying the ice pack for a few minutes at a time, rest and reapply 10-15 minutes later.

Add Compression - Use a  a regular bandage, compression bandage or ice pack to compress the injured area.

Benifits of Icing

1. Decreases the amount of bleeding by vasoconstriction into the injury site and so lessens swelling 
2. Reduces pain  
3. Reduces muscle spasm
4. Reduces the risk of cell death by decreasing the rate of metabolism

Elevation
Enables inflammatory and excess fluid (lymph) to drain back to the lymph nodes quicker as due to the effects of gravity.

Conclusion
Tendinitis can be a very difficult condition to get rid of if it becomes chronic. Whatever therapy style you decide to pick just ensure the practitioner incorporates: 

1. A structured biomechnical assessment
2. An explanation of the root causes of biomechnical/physiological dysfunction
3. An effective treatment and exercise prescription program that is fully explained and justified.

Thanks for reading!

Alex Mackenzie
Wellbeing Osteopathy

Identifying and Dealing with Stress

Most of my work has been extracted from Tara Brach (Clinical Doctor of Psychology and Master in Vipassana Meditation)

Identifying Stress
In today's society even when we try to relax we can't as we're stuck in stress mode (fight or flight). Whatever the cause of your stress here are some tips to identify it:

On a shallow level ....

Pay attention to:

• Your breath and heart rate - notice their acceleration.
• An increase in body temperature.
• An increase in perspiration (sweating) 
• A build up of internal tension in your muscles, gradually leading to discomfort and fatigue.

On a deeper level ...

Pay attention to:

• The nervous sensation lingering around your chest and stomach: that's your adrenal gland secreting noradrenaline and cortisol. These two neurotransmitting hormones gear your body up for Stress!
• Your breathing mechanics i.e. the over use of your shoulder and chest muscles (trapezius, levator scapulae, pectoralis minor etc..) for breathing! This type of shall breathing reduces your lung capacity, which can lead to reduced oxygen in your blood stream and therefore an increase feeling of fatigue: See diagram below

Dealing with Stress:
The key to dealing with stress is radical acceptance - consider these steps adapted from Vipassana mediation technques:

• Step 1 :- Focus on the area above the upper lip and below the nostrils - let your natural breath rate (whether fast or slow) carry through your nostrils - perform this for a few minutes.
• Step 2 :- Identify the sensations associated with stress (i.e. around the chest, shoulders and stomach) and simply stay present. Allow the sensations to flow like waves in the ocean, more and more begin to let go of the thought or reaction that caused the stress and JUST monitor the sensation - Inevitably it will cease, it has to and this what we call ''radical acceptance''.
• Step3 :- Begin to smile through your eyes - scientists have identified that by simply inducing happy thoughts/feelings outwards significantly reduces cortisol, heart rate and therefore stress levels (Steptoe, Wardle, & Marmot, 2005).

Like training in the gym this mind exercise, or mediation, takes practice, but believe me when I say it does work. As  a previous suffer of chronic stress it certainly was helped me to relax. Like anything there are many many techniques available for coping with stress, the important thing is to simply trial, re-test, trial, re-test.

Good luck and happy chilling.

Alex Mackenzie
Osteopath
Wellbeing Osteopathy - London.