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Old 09-06-2003, 01:55 PM   #6
Kevin Wilbanks
Location: Seattle/Southern Wisconsin
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 788
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Various therapies and treatments are nice, but the most important thing is to find the cause. Tendon problems like the one you describe are usually the result of repetitive actions that are either done with excessive loads or frequency, or flawed technique. I've had tendon problems in several places in my body, and each time the cause was some repetitious activity like distance running, clerical office work, high-volume bodybuilding routines, etc... It sounds a bit doubtful to me that an activity as varied as Aikido as I've seen it would be the root cause. Once you find the cause, the solution may involve stregthening, stabilizing, gaining flexibility, re-learn the way you do the offending activity, or some combination of these.

In my view, monkeying around with ice, heat, drugs, needles, massage, etc... is mostly peripheral stuff that deals with symptoms. Find the cause and address it properly, and the symptoms will subside on their own. In fact, ameliorating symptoms can actually work against you. Your body's pain responses can be a valuable feedback mechanism to guide cause-oriented efforts. Dampening the pain blunts the mechanism.

Last edited by Kevin Wilbanks : 09-06-2003 at 01:58 PM.
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