Tendonitis (also known as tendinopathy) is a common and painful complaint that affects the tendons [1]. It’s a broad-scope condition that presents symptoms such as inflammation, redness, heat and stiffness. It’s a complaint that commonly affects the shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, hips and ankles.

Tendonitis is usually a slow-onset condition that is diagnosed by assessment from a medical professional.

The more general tendon complaint known as tendinopathy can include a palpable symptoms such as a thickening of the tendon, alongside the other symptoms mentioned earlier.

Whilst there are a number of reasons why tendonitis can occur, the main ones tend to stem from a repetitive strain injury.

What do Tendons do?

To truly understand tendonitis you have to be aware of the tendons role in the body.

Tendons are a tough, fibrous but elastic tissue that attaches muscle to bone. When the muscle contracts it pulls on the tendons, hence why tendonitis is usually associated with repetitive movements such as typing, running, jumping and the like. When these movements are repeated often enough, the tendons can become inflamed and very painful, reducing their ability to move well.

Tendons have a very poor blood supply, so the healing process tends to be much slower than tissues such as muscle or skin which have a better blood supply. This means that effective healing needs additional help including manual therapy, specific exercises and the use of medicinal patches.

The most common way for tendonitis to be treated is with eccentric loading of the tendon – this is where the affected joint will be put into a certain position and slow, deliberate exercises that lengthen the muscle are performed [2]. This is the go-to approach of clinical practice when it comes to rehab, with the eccentric loading method being supported with significant bodies of evidence. [3]

Medically, there are a number of options with differing success rates. The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDS) are common, but typically not very effective – probably because in a lot of cases, tendinitis doesn’t actually cause a great deal of inflammation, so NSAIDS are treating a symptom that may not be present [4].

Nitric Oxide (NO) is also very important to tendon healing. In a study of various tendinopathies at different injury sites, NO was seen to be present at every single one. To quote the authors of the study… [5]

‘NO enhances extracellular matrix synthesis and results in injured tendons having better material and mechanical properties—that is, the healing tendons are stronger on a per unit area basis than those not exposed to additional NO.’

This suggests that nitric oxide could be one of the most important aspects of the repair of damaged tendons, helping to reduce pain, inflammation, restore movement and leave the tendon stronger than before.

The properties within KYMIRA’s^® remarkable fabrics are almost tailor made for managing tendonitis.

As we’ve just discussed, one of the most effective methods of treating tendinitis is with additional nitric oxide. The infrared fabrics used in KYMIRA^® actually stimulate the production of nitric oxide in the body, so by simply wearing our clothing there’s no need for patches or any other external nitric oxide agents. The fabric will help to provide the conditions that will heal a tendinopathy quickly and effectively.

The improved blood flow will also help to stimulate the repair of a tissue type that doesn’t have a very good blood supply of its own. The nitric oxide is a vasodilator, stimulating blood flow to an area. In addition the thermoregulation capabilities of the fabrics ensures the area will be warmed, increasing blood flow. This in turn helps to ease discomfort and help to improve movement of the area.

The most appealing element of using KYMIRA^® to manage and treat tendonitis is that it’s so passive – all you need to do is wear the fabrics over the impacted area, so for example if you had patella tendonitis (tendonitis in the knee), then by simply wearing the leggings you’d be helping the injured site without doing anything else.

It’d be wrong of us to suggest that by simply wearing KYMIRA^® fabrics you wouldn’t need to do anything else to heal your tendonitis, but it certainly helps to improve the speed with which your injury disappears.

By following the advice of a qualified medical professional and wearing KYMIRA^® throughout your rehab and recovery though, your problem would almost certainly clear up more quickly and effectively.

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