Sunday, April 4, 2010

Caring for Your Tendons

You can injure tendons with repetitive motion and excessive exercise. Any repetitive action, from swinging a golf club to practicing a piano sonata, has the potential to cause problems, including inflammation, soreness, and pain with movement, which can range from mildly bothersome to chronically agonizing.

Here are some tips to avoid the worst problems and treat your tendons with the respect they deserve:

• Go slow. People often injure their tendons when they suddenly put new demands on them—for example, trying to master a new sport in a weekend or write a five-year business plan overnight. But if you build up to a new activity slowly, your tendons will grow stronger and your body can adjust gracefully.

• Take breaks. Almost all types of repetitive stress injury occur when you work a muscle the same way for hours at a time. If you’re an office worker, take frequent pauses to stand and stretch and an hourly break to walk around the block. If you’re an athlete or fitness buff, vary your workouts, try a different sport, or go for a swim.

• If you’re injured, stop. This one is important, because if you carry on in the face of tendon pain you’ll not only prolong the suffering, you’ll increase the risk of permanent nerve damage. This is a particularly serious danger for hard-driving musicians (violinists, piano players, and so on).

• If you’re in doubt, see a doctor. If the pain persists or you have other symptoms (for example, an inability to move a part of your body properly or tingling and numbness), have it checked at your doctor’s office. Your doctor can rule out other problems and prescribe an anti-inflammatory medication that may help.

Source of Information : Oreilly - Your Body Missing Manual

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