Ideas for Tendonitis

Tendonitis is truly a drag. Since I play lots of piano, I have suffered from it in the past. Sorry to hear about your pain. Some things that may work: Acupuncture-- relieves the symptoms better than drugs A chiropractor--finally straightened me out so I no longer have carpel tunnel and tendonitis. Learn how to have good posture when you use your hands. I had to modify how I sit at the piano and computer. It's amazing how helpful sitting at the right height can be. Also, if you use your hands with stressful intentions, your much more likely to feel tendonitis. I used to be so uptight when I would perform (especially classical concerts), I caused my body to react in pain. Good diet can help. Rest and Ice are good ideas. Things that didn't help me: Immobilization--didn't help at all, and made me feel like a loser. Learn how to move your body more smoothly with less stress. Pain Killers, etc. I had one well-meaning doctor suggest that I take 1800mg of ibuprofen a day. You can actually get a wicked buzz off that much! It didn't help, and thankfully I found better remedies before continuing that misguided idea. Good luck!

Make sure to also buy some voodoo dolls and maybe make a brew of frog hearts in a big iron cauldron. (To the OP: Rest, ice, and anti-inflammatories.)

Such a dick thing to say, and yet, so funny.

The Mayo Clinic states on their website:

"...preliminary studies indicate that acupuncture may offer symptomatic relief for a variety of diseases and conditions, including low back pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, migraines and osteoarthritis."

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/acupuncture/SA00086

I'd look at how you're holding your blackberry and see if there isn't a more ergonomic way to hold it. While it won't help your pain now, it might prevent future pain.

I would agree with this advice. I'd like to add that it may even help the OP's current pain.

Finding someone who does well informed, deep tissue massage is what really helped me, the kind where you wake up a little sore and bruised the next day. S'cuse the long ramble lol, but back in the day i worked as a piano player in an open air cafe. Shifts were anywhere from 4 to 12 hrs, 4-6 days/wk. The gig was in downtown Boston, right on the waterfront and the temp gets a bit chilly at night, regardless of the time of year. Combine long hrs in cold conditions, with a little booze and a lotta crowd noise - that's a good recipe for shit to happen. Every player I knew down there had some form of bursitis/tendinitis and whatnot. In time, I started developing trouble in my own elbows and this is when I came to know Heiki's work. Along with his formal accreditations, he was trained early on by his father, who was in turn, trained by his father before him - back 5 generations. Where he differs from your average joe/jane sports massage is in his fundamental approach and understanding of how the alignment of bone, muscle tissue, ligaments, and tendons should be - their relationship to each other and the way all these groups connect throughout the body. A lot of times the issue in my elbow actually was actually a symptom of something funky originating in the shoulder or trap. So, instead of just working on the elbow, he starts at the source - spine, neck, shoulders - and works down and out thru the arm, elbow, wrist, hand, fingers until he gets the flow of alignment where it outa be. Really, it's as though he can do a CT scan with his bare hands and almond oil, lol. The guy digs deep and I'm sore for 2 or 3 days, but that 4th day my body is like an open channel - playing turns effortless, with no fight or tension at all. In addition to the fact that his work lasts, this resolved my issues and prevented them from becoming major problems, FWIW, I've done my share of chiropractics and unless your body is totally relaxed and free of knotted muscle and twisted ligaments before your adjustment (see above), this is a complete waste of time and money. Your body will just snap back to it's original position very quickly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I partake in all of the same activities above minus the rowing and have tendonitous in my elbow. After using Advil and ice etc...it will go away short term and then as soon as I lift weights again it comes back. Any other recommendations for the elbow, specifically how long should I lay off the weights? Thanks in advance.

Yeah right. Just use a fleshlight from now on.

Two thumb type it. I find when I use one thumb my wrist ends up in this retarded position that begins to hurt like hell.

Two thumbs seems to cradle the phone more, and also cause some minor movement of the wrists instead of just making the tendon that triggers the thumb jerk back and forth over a bone.