Runners, listen up!!!! In this blog we are going to review everything you need to know about tendon injuries.
It’s running season and we are seeing an influx of tendon injuries at Fit Club; not uncommon for this time of year, where everyone puts on their favorite pair of running kicks and hits the road. We love to see New Yorkers striding up the avenues. But then, just when you think everything is fine and dandy, there are the dreaded injuries…
I know what you may be thinking…what is a tendon? Tendons connect muscle to bone. They are responsible for transferring the work of a muscle to a bone, which allows our body to move. Tendons are similar to muscles in that they adapt to loading to become stronger, but also like muscles, tendons can become injured with excessively high or repetitive loads.
Runners! Wooooosah! I know you are on a very serious marathon training protocol, but that tendon injury is going to take a while to heal. (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!) You can’t think of tendon healing time frame the same way you think of muscle healing time. In fact, tendons have a 7.5x lower oxygen consumption rate than muscles. Just like we need oxygen to live, so do our tendons. This decrease in blood flow prolongs the tendon healing process when compared to a muscle injury healing process.
I know this probably sounds like there is no beating a tendon injury, but we promise, there is! Tendons, just like muscles, are responsive to loading. Loading a tendon actually causes an increase in strength, elastic stiffness, and the size of the tendon. But isn’t loading the reason why my tendon hurts? Yes, but remember it’s excessive loads that cause issues.
Most tendon issues we see at Fit Club involve the patella tendon at the knee, Achilles tendon at the heel, and the tibialis posterior tendon at the inside of the ankle. Usually a lack of strength and improper programming are the culprits of tendon issues. These injuries are preventable!!
Are you having tendon pain? Let our doctors at Fit Club get you back on the road without pain. Contact us for an appointment here.
