Hey everybody I'm Dr. Jason Barker with the Natural Athlete's Clinic and today I want
to talk to you about why your tendonitis is not healing up.
So anytime we talk about an "itis" or a tendonitis type of condition, that implies that it is
inflammatory.
Well if you've had something like achilles tendonitis for months and months and months,
the problem is that it is probably not an inflammatory condition but more a degenerative
condition.
As we learn more about these conditions the researchers do biopsies and look under a microscope
at what's going on in that tendon and what they see is really interesting.
They don't see any inflammatory cells, they see a lot of disorganized and degenerated
collagen fibers in there.
And collagen is that main protein that the tendons and ligaments are made up of.
So we're learning that this is not tendonitis, but more tendonosis or degenerative condition.
Ok why do you care and why does that matter?
Well here's why: It's because if you've had this condition going on for a long time - like
I said several weeks or even months and you are treating it with an anti-inflammatory
protocol - ice, non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or maybe even cortisone and it's not
getting better.
It's not going to get better because it's degenerative, it's not an inflammatory condition.
Ok so how do you heal up a degenerative condition?
Well there's four main things that you need to do.
First one of course is that four letter dirty word and that's rest.
You cannot keep putting strain and stress on a degenerated tendon.
If you do, you run a really high risk of rupturing that tendon.
Ok that of course mean surgery and a boot and you're out 6-8 months maybe even a year.
It takes a lot to heal up from those things.
So you've got to rest and find something else to do.
Second thing you need to think about is strengthening that tissue.
So eccentric movements or eccentric strengthening is a specific way to strengthen that muscle
around that damaged or degenerated tendon or ligament.
And then the third thing is to bring blood flow to that area.
So there is a couple ways I like to do this with my patients and that's just using caspase
and cream which is derived from cayenne pepper and it's actually used as a pain reliever.
But what it will do is bring a lot of blood flow locally to that area so it's good to
get the skin and that tendon sheath around that inflamed tendon and will help bring a
little bit of blood flow there.
But what really works is something that is derived from traditional Chinese medicine
and that's the technique called Guasha.
Which is when we take a blunt instrument like a spoon or a piece of stainless steel and
you can scrape up and down that tendon sheath.
And yes it is as fun as it sounds.
It's actually very painful.
But it's great at bringing some localized blood flow to that area and helping that tissue
regain its footing as far as healing up and getting away from the degenerative process.
Then the fourth thing of course is we want to get a lot of the important raw materials
into that tendon that it needs to heal up.
And we really love our Ligament Restore by Pure Encapsulations.
Even though it's called ligament restore, it works just as well for tendons.
Those two tissues are pretty much the same in the body, they just have different functions.
So ligament restore has collagen in it of course which is the main protein that you
find in tendons and then it's got some glucosamine in it.
And I know you think glucosamine is only for joints but it is actually an important constituent
of that connective tissue in ligaments and tendons as well.
And then there are two really important amino acids that help heal up and help your body
create collagen and that's proline and lysine.
And then they added Vitamin C as a catalyst to get that proline and lysine to actually
work and become collagen in the body.
And then there's a little bit of silica which is a trace mineral that you need also for
creating better connective tissue.
And then lastly there's a couple anti-inflammatory and anti-pain herbs in there.
And I know I just got done telling you it's not an inflammatory condition but we use a
little bit of those herbs in there just to help bring down the pain a little bit so that
you can rest a little bit and not be in as much pain.
And those herbs are Devils Claw and then there's some Curcumin in there which you know is a
really great anti-inflammatory.
So check out the ligament restore
if you've got tendonosis or tendinopath. Again it's a long term tendon injury that's
not getting better. Please try this approach instead of the anti-inflammatory approach.
And if you do that, I bet you are going to have a lot quicker healing.
A lot quicker turn around time and you'll get back in the game soon.
So thanks for watching guys and I'll see you again soon!