Your tendons play a critical role in your body’s structure and function, as they are thick bands of tissue that connect muscle to bone. In every joint in your body, they are there, ensuring movement can occur and that it is without pain.
Like any part of the joint, tendons can be injured. When a tendon gets torn or ripped, the medical condition is known as “tendinopathy.” This occurs when there is inflammation in the tendon (a.k.a. tendonitis) and there are also “microtears” present. These two things combine for a painful injury, caused by virtually any activity that results in twisting or rapid movements in a joint.
Many jobs or physical activities can cause this to happen. So can simply aging, as tendons become more and more vulnerable over time. The most common areas for pain include the infamous Achilles tendon, joints in the shoulder, and the “patellar” tendon in each knee.
A new study has found that one class of drugs, called NSAIDs, is not effective in dealing with pain, tenderness, or decreasing the strength of the injury. That’s largely because they do not help heal the problem. These are anti- inflammatory drugs that are often used to treat sore joints and muscles, because an inflammatory reaction in the body causes much of the pain.
The best-known NSAID is ibuprofen. U.K. researchers have found that these drugs are not effective because inflammation does not continue when you have tendinopathy: thus there is nothing for those drugs to treat after the first couple of days.
They say there is “no rational basis” to use these very popular medications. As a matter of fact, they might even hinder the body’s ability to heal the injury because they can increase the amount of natural chemicals in the body, which can cause further damage. The catch is that it’s hard to tell if a sore tendon is a case of tendonitis or if there is a microtear present as well. Thus, the best thing to do is avoid NSAIDs in favor of acetaminophen-based painkillers.
If you have a tendon injury, it’s best to see a doctor who will try to assess what the best course of action is for you. Therapy can include strengthening exercises that build the joint back, as well as patches you can use on the area (known as “glyceryl trinitrate”). The best bet is a program of exercise as well as rest, ice, and non-inflammatory painkillers. The amount of rest the joint will need depends on how severe the injury is.
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