​Tendinopathy

Tendons are the soft but tough fibres which link your muscles to bone. When your muscles contract, the tendons pull your bones and enable your joints to move. 

Tendinopathy or tendon injuries refer to painful injuries that take place in or around your tendon, usually near a joint such as your shoulder. Other common sites of tendon injury are your elbows, ankles, knees and fingers. A tendon injury may occur to have happened suddenly. However, most injuries usually occur over time and are the result of many small tears in your tendon. In some instances you may experience pain due to inflammation which can occur around calcium crystal deposits which form in or around the tendon (calcific tendinitis).

Anyone can suffer a tendon injury. However, you are more prone to tendon damage if you make the same repetitive motions often, for example due to the nature of your job, contact sports or a daily activity.

Your doctor may describe your injury using different terms, such as:

• Tendinitis – this refers to inflammation of the tendon.

• Tendinosis – this describes tiny tears that develop in the tissues that are in or that surround a tendon as a result of overuse or aging.  

The most preferred term used by experts is tendinopathy, which encompasses both inflammation and micro-tears.