Weekend Warrior? Here’s How You Can Avoid Tendonitis

If your demanding work week leaves you making up for lost time with your workouts on the weekends, you risk injury. Jumping into intense activities after a week of sitting puts stress on your body. Your joints and their supporting tissues can be shocked by the sudden stress, leading to micro-tears, inflammation, and painful overuse injuries like tendonitis. 

At Spine & Pain Center of San Antonio in San Antonio and Live Oak, Texas, Sergio Alvarado, MD, and our team help weekend warriors stay active without sidelining themselves with injuries like tendonitis. Here’s how you can keep your workouts strong — and your tendons even stronger. 

Understanding tendonitis

Your tendons are tough yet flexible cords that connect your muscles to your bones. When you do too much too fast, those tendons can tear, leading to inflammation. Tendonitis — or tendon injury and inflammation — is your body’s way of saying slow down, so it can heal and recover.  

This is the heart of common conditions like tennis or golfer’s elbow, rotator cuff injuries, Achilles tendonitis, and knee injuries like jumper’s knee. You may experience soreness, stiffness, or swelling around the over-stressed joint. 

Why are weekend warriors at risk of injury? 

If you skip workday workouts but go all-out on Saturday and Sundays, your tendons are much more likely to feel that shock. Without more regular movement, tendons lose flexibility and strength, and that loss accelerates with age. 

Adding lifestyle factors like smoking, poor nutrition, or certain medications can increase risks. Some common antibiotics, corticosteroids, and cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) can all weaken tendons or delay healing. 

If you’ve had earlier tendon injuries, it’s even more important to take steps to avoid re-injury. Preventing further injury is easier than repairing already damaged tendons — especially those which are affected by recurrent strain, injury and inflammation.   

Early warning signs of tendonitis 

One of the best ways you can protect yourself from tendonitis is to recognize its early signs and back off from an activity, rather than pushing through. Symptoms include: 

• Achiness, stiffness, or soreness near joints
• Joint pain that increases with movement
• Creaking, snapping, or grating sensations
• Mild swelling or warmth in the joint area
• Morning stiffness that eases with movement 

These symptoms indicate your body needs more rest or that you need to adjust your pace.  Smart moves can make a difference; we recommend that you: 

• Always warm-up prior to any workout or activity
• Increase your training load gradually (5-10% per week)
• Cross-train with gentler activities, like swimming
• Schedule rest days so your tendons can recover 
• Focus on proper form and wear supportive shoes 

These strategies can go a long way in helping you avoid overuse injuries of all kinds, including tendonitis. 

When you experience tendon pain

When you have tendon-related discomfort, don’t try to “push through the pain.” While you don’t have to stay in bed all day, you don’t want to continue doing exercises and activities that seem to aggravate your tendons, either. 

Instead, use the RICE method — rest, icing, compression, and elevation — to reduce swelling and initiate healing. Then, try low-impact activities such as swimming, walking, or cycling that keep you moving without overstressing the injured tendon. 

Expert tendonitis care in San Antonio, Texas

If you have a suspected tendonitis injury, our pain management experts can evaluate your symptoms, identify the source of your pain, and help you heal properly. We begin with a physical exam and diagnostic testing, such as X-rays or CT scans. Treatment may include:

• Physical therapy (PT) exercises
• Bracing or splinting; custom orthotics 
• Anti-inflammatory pain medication 
• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections

Think you may have tendonitis? Schedule a visit at Spine & Pain Center of San Antonio in San Antonio or Live Oak, Texas, today.