Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Patellar tendinitis

I need to remember the following tips when it comes to treating patellar tendinitis. I've discovered that physicians aren't always up-to-date on practical methods for treating this condition, or even pharmacological considerations.

This text has been excerpted from the message board of a vendor's website. I was actually kinda impressed, since a lot of vendors fail to write in a logically coherent fashion. There were a few errors, such as the capitalization of the adjective "patellar," but apart from that, this text was pretty well written.

The best course of treatment for your condition will vary depending on the severity of your Patellar tendonitis, and also the degree of inflammation and scar tissue development.

If you have an acute injury (relatively new), and it is swollen, tender, red, severely inflamed, or hot to the touch you should apply Cold Compression Therapy (also known as the R.I.C.E. method) by resting, icing, compressing and elevating your knee. At this point the inflammation is inhibiting adequate blood flow, which is a necessary process required for your body’s natural healing process. Apply ice to your injury will effectively reduce the swelling and inflammation enough to allow for blood flow to reach your injured Patellar tendon.

If you have already reduced swelling, but the area is still relatively inflamed you should continue to apply ice to get rid of the rest of that inflammation. You can also begin to introduce Portable Ultrasound Therapy which allows for deep tissue warming and massaging on a cellular level. This warming and massaging effect will ultimately break down any scar tissue that has started to form around the tendon, and also get rid of any cellular waste. Applying these two therapies at this point will ensure that your injury doesn’t get much worse than it currently is.

If all of your inflammation has been reduced, but you are still experiencing a dull ache, pain after activities, or notice you have lost a considerable range of motion in your knee and leg you most likely have a significant build up of scar tissue in and around that injured tendon. When normal healthy tissue is injury, scar tissue will form as a “band-aid” solution for your tissue. This scar tissue is meant to aid your tendon in rehabilitation, but unfortunately that tissue is also much denser and less fibrous than normal healthy tissue. It is almost like your body has replaced a rubber band (healthy tendon) with a piece of string (injured tendon with scar tissue). Obviously your flexibility and movement just aren’t the same. Our bodies will then force this scar tissue to operate as normal tissue, which creates more micro-tearing and results in the formation of additional scar tissue. The portable ultrasound will get rid of this scar tissue once and for all – allowing you to regain mobility and reduce pain in your knee. You can also incorporate the use of a Blood Flow Stimulant such as our Inferno Wrap to increase the flow of nutrient and oxygen rich blood to the site of your injury which will speed this healing process and work well with the Portable Ultrasound.

If you are convinced that your injury is healed, and you have taken care of most of that scar tissue but you still experiencing periodic pain you should apply both Cold Compression and Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy. Use of the Inferno Wrap and Freezie Wrap will maintain good health of your injured tendon, because previously injured tissue is always much more susceptible to re-injury. In that case you can use the Inferno Wrap each morning and evening, then incorporate the Freezie Wrap after you exercise or after any sort of activity that may have resulted in more intense pain and could cause swelling or inflammation in the tendon.
[/The best course of treatment for your condition will vary depending on the severity of your Patellar tendonitis, and also the degree of inflammation and scar tissue development.

If you have an acute injury (relatively new), and it is swollen, tender, red, severely inflamed, or hot to the touch you should apply Cold Compression Therapy (also known as the R.I.C.E. method) by resting, icing, compressing and elevating your knee. At this point the inflammation is inhibiting adequate blood flow, which is a necessary process required for your body’s natural healing process. Apply ice to your injury will effectively reduce the swelling and inflammation enough to allow for blood flow to reach your injured Patellar tendon.

If you have already reduced swelling, but the area is still relatively inflamed you should continue to apply ice to get rid of the rest of that inflammation. You can also begin to introduce Portable Ultrasound Therapy which allows for deep tissue warming and massaging on a cellular level. This warming and massaging effect will ultimately break down any scar tissue that has started to form around the tendon, and also get rid of any cellular waste. Applying these two therapies at this point will ensure that your injury doesn’t get much worse than it currently is.

If all of your inflammation has been reduced, but you are still experiencing a dull ache, pain after activities, or notice you have lost a considerable range of motion in your knee and leg you most likely have a significant build up of scar tissue in and around that injured tendon. When normal healthy tissue is injury, scar tissue will form as a “band-aid” solution for your tissue. This scar tissue is meant to aid your tendon in rehabilitation, but unfortunately that tissue is also much denser and less fibrous than normal healthy tissue. It is almost like your body has replaced a rubber band (healthy tendon) with a piece of string (injured tendon with scar tissue). Obviously your flexibility and movement just aren’t the same. Our bodies will then force this scar tissue to operate as normal tissue, which creates more micro-tearing and results in the formation of additional scar tissue. The portable ultrasound will get rid of this scar tissue once and for all – allowing you to regain mobility and reduce pain in your knee. You can also incorporate the use of a Blood Flow Stimulant such as our Inferno Wrap to increase the flow of nutrient and oxygen rich blood to the site of your injury which will speed this healing process and work well with the Portable Ultrasound.

If you are convinced that your injury is healed, and you have taken care of most of that scar tissue but you still experiencing periodic pain you should apply both Cold Compression and Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy. Use of the Inferno Wrap and Freezie Wrap will maintain good health of your injured tendon, because previously injured tissue is always much more susceptible to re-injury. In that case you can use the Inferno Wrap each morning and evening, then incorporate the Freezie Wrap after you exercise or after any sort of activity that may have resulted in more intense pain and could cause swelling or inflammation in the tendon.