Update on Tendonitis treatment, but question for Joshua..
by Don
(Brisbane Australia)
I have now been on Joshua's program the last two months, and after a fair bit of effort, achieved very good results. Thank you for that!.
Every couple of weeks I still see my physiotherapist, who has me doing an eccentric weight training program.
From here stems my question.
After reading this site top to bottom, and going through my program material, nowhere, does Joshua refer to "re-strengthening/retraining/exercising" to try and regain back lost strength and ability?
My physio has hinted I will never return to anything close to normal, if I do not partake in painful exercises, the end result is ALWAYS a lot of pain afterwards, and leaving me dreading my next visit.
She expects me to do the exercises every second day, and too only not do them if the pain becomes extreme... naturally, I feel I'm doing more harm than good, even though I have read positive articles on the Internet about eccentric training.
And because Joshua has been the only person to show me a real way of dealing with pain, is rather important to me to hear your views on this? To me, the theory seems sound, but what in effect is actually happening, I am really re-injuring areas I am trying to heal!
What do you think? thank you
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Joshua Answers:
Hey Don.
Long belated answer, but here goes.
1. You said "My physio has hinted I will never return to anything close to normal, if I do not partake in painful exercises".
Yuck. What a horrible thing to say.
Why is the exercise painful?? How is exercise going to fix whatever is causing the pain?
"Just work through it!" is most often a VERY poor strategy.
2. I don't talk about stretching/strengthening/re-training for a couple reasons.
Primarily, because I'm a 'fix the problem' and then go exercise/stretch/strengthen.
Also, because I don't think that actually fixes anything. Having said that, a small percentage of pain is from weak muscles where strengthening will actually help. But mostly, by the time people find me/get to me, they're way past that point.
But also, because the way I go about it/think about Tendonitis, if there is an injury/scar tissue issue, traditional stretching and strengthening just puts more strain and tension on the structurally impaired structure(s).
If a bridge has a cracked pillar, do they put more cars on the bridge? No, they fix the pillar.
So, in general, if you are doing an exercise and feel pain, 1 or both of 2 things are happening.
* Movement triggers a pain sensation for a variety of reasons including Pain Enhancing Chemical.
* Contraction of muscle pulls on connective tissue, which if there is actual wear and tear injury and scar tissue, pulls on said scar tissue and causes more micro wear and tear (technically an injury).
Point being, you can have pain without any actual injury. But if you do have actual injury, then depending on the exercise and what's happening in there, yes you can be causing continual injury.
3. I don't talk about stretching/strengthening/re-training because I focus first on fixing the structure and having things work right.
I'm pretty sure you bought one of my products, but don't remember which one. If you have the one that includes 'Specific Massage', that, technically is stretching, but it's highly targeted and focused, and goes after those little areas of brittle scar tissue build up.
More questions, more answers. And less wait time this time.
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Please reply using the comment link below. Do not submit a new submission to answer/reply, it's too hard for me to find where it's supposed to go.
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Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com
