tendonitis ankle

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Aum
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:50 am
Location: Vancouver

tendonitis ankle

Post by Aum »

Hello Bernie,
Any tips on restoring fascia within the ankles? I have a long term tendonitis injury that is not going away. Dr. says I just have to live with it, and it won't approve. I would like to find some poses that would help.
thanks
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

How to deal with tendiopathy

Post by Bernie »

You have not provided much in the way of details: where is your pain? Which tendon(s) is bothering you? Do you know the cause? How long have you had it? How active are you? What did you try to do to cure it? How old are you? What's your weight? Do you have other medical conditions that can affect healing: diabetes, metabolic syndrome, etc.

As you can see there are many factors to consider … and your doctor knows you, I don’t. You make it sound like your doctor has given up on you, but you haven’t given up yet, which is great. You have to be your doctor now … and given your motivation to find some way to wholeness and health, you will need to do some research. I can’t really give you any specific advice because I don’t know you and you haven’t told me anything about yourself, but maybe I can offer some generalization and pointers as to where to look.

In general, tendonitis is a chronic inflammation of the tendon (but not always - sometimes it is a tear). Tendonitis is a bane of yoga teachers who tweak/sprain their ligaments or tendons but won’t give their body a chance to heal because they have to teach, and in teaching they re-injure the area that is trying to heal. I have had this happen to me to with a hamstring tendon: it didn’t respond to any treatments for over a year - the only way it got better was for me to adopt a policy of zero tolerance: I didn’t do anything that would stress the hamstrings for 6 months, and finally they healed. Will this work for you? I don’t know.

So, one prescription is to let the area heal, don’t stress it - any signs of pain there means you are re-injuring the tendon. Some therapist go so far as to recommend casts and air braces to prevent stress in the tendon or ligament. Has your doctor suggested that option?

On the other hand (and there is always an other hand) a more modern prescription for inflamed tissues is M.C.E.: Mobilization, Compression, Elevation. (Not the earlier theory of RICE.) Moving injured areas gently helps to bring energy flow to the region. The inflammation can retard healing if it is chronic, so other things you can try are anti-inflammatories (but I suspect your doctor has already had you try those) and earthing. I prefer earthing personally and found it effective. You can read more about it in his newsletter article.

Another approach: try to strengthen your tendons by strengthening your muscles. It is difficult to target your tendons directly, because they are attached to your muscles, so when you try to only stress the tendons, your muscles, being more elastic than the tendons, will tend to take more of the load. However, there are some indications that short movements with heavier loads can stimulate the tendons more than longer movements with lighter loads. This study says “Conservative treatment must include exercise, with a bias to eccentric contractions.” That means engaging the muscles while they lengthen.

Other people recommend a combination of stress, herbs and acupunture. Finally, this UK article shows just how complicated this whole area is. They look at injections of hyaluronic acid, casts, RICE, surgery and other modalities.

Will any of this work for you? I can’t say - but as you do your own research you may find the answer.
Good luck
Bernie
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