frank theriault wrote: >Some of you may recall that back in December I broke a bone in my left >hand. Well, that's healed quite nicely, thanks to weekly visits for >physio and flexibility exercises that were diligently performed >several times per day at home. Although it's stiff in the morning, it >soon feels pretty much normal, except that I notice a slight lack of >strength at times (it's about 90%, quite normal for this duration >after the injury, according to the therapist). > >So, a three weeks ago I get the green light to get back on the bike, >and the next day I notice a somewhat acute (but bearable) pain where I >know the Achilles tendon to be. I continue to ride, hoping I can >"work through it" and it might go away. > >Alas, after three days of "working through it", I realize that >although it's not getting worse, it's also not getting better, so off >to the hospital I go. Sure enough, it's Achilles tendinosis (the new >word for Achilles tendinitis). Not bad, just inflamed (and swollen as >hell)
Actually, it's not inflamed. That's why they now call it "tendinosis" rather than "tendinitis" (and why they haven't recommended any antiinflammatory meds for you). It turns out that tendons don't get inflammation. The sad thing is that (as of 2002, anyway) 8 out of 10 *medical textbooks* still indicate that tendon overuse injuries involve inflammation, even though it has been shown not to be the case. I'm currently working my way through patellar tendonosis and all the literature dispensed by my physical therapist still tells me that it's inflammation... :( Here's an editorial from the British Medical Journal on the subject for anyone interested in that sort of thing: http://www.robertstech.com/stuff/tendonosis.pdf -- Mark Roberts - Photography & Multimedia www.robertstech.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
