7 Facts About Tendons
A guide to keeping you moving
The Raptors made famous the term Load Management when they effectively utilized the strategy to manage an ongoing patellar tendon injury for fun guy, Kawhi Leonard, during the 2018-2019 championship season. As a result, load management has gained attention as a style of rehab to maximize performance and output on the floor across the world of sports. The evidence behind load management stems from extensive sports medicine research that links excessive sports- and activity-related workload with fatigue decreased performance and increased risk of injury.
Today, we’ll talk about the fundamentals of load management and the rehabilitation guidelines related to tendon injuries. Tendon injuries affect individuals of all ages and of all activity levels. It doesn’t just occur in runners, weightlifters and those who play sports, but can also affect desk workers, welders, chefs and even parents of a newborn.
Let’s talk tendons:
Tendons are strong, thick and flexible bands of tissue that connect muscle to bone. Their role is to absorb and release energy with movement or to be stiff with loading. Think of a spring.
Tendinopathy is an umbrella term used to describe a syndrome of tendon pain, dysfunction and thickening. It often occurs in tendons that are near joints and is the consequence of various factors compounding together over time, including increased levels of activity, excessive or inappropriate loading strategies, decreased neuromuscular control and inadequate muscular strength, especially at the hips and glutes complex for lower-body injuries.
