Tendon pain can be one of the fastest ways to lose much of the progress you have been making with your workouts.
Unfortunately, many of the remedies out there focus on one of two things:
1. Taking time off
2. Bracing the affected area
While both of these options can be useful to help lessen the stress the tendons are taking on, neither is helpful for making the tendons more resilient or keeping the stress on them lower once you begin activity again.
Because of this, there needs to be an alternative approach that not only helps to relieve stress from the tendons, but also allows you to maintain your strength and fitness levels while building the resiliency of your body.
Here are three things that can do just that:
1. Muscle Activation Techniques®
Muscle Activation Techniques®, also known as MAT, helps identify where you have muscles that are not communicating well with your brain. As a result, other muscles have to overwork and compensate for them, putting more stress on their tendons and creating pain and tightness.
With Muscle Activation Techniques®, the underactive muscles in your body can get working properly again, teaching your brain how to use each individual muscle so it doesn’t have to compensate for them and put excessive stress on your other muscles and their tendons.
It is not uncommon for tendon pain to completely resolve within three sessions of Muscle Activation Techniques®.
2. Loaded Isometrics
There are two things that tendons themselves respond well to – time and force. Loaded isometrics provide both.
Loaded isometrics, whether you are pushing into an immovable object or you are holding a heavy object still, can be extremely useful for putting high amounts of specific force through your tendons, allowing them to increase their strength and thickness.
As a result, your tendons can become more durable and resilient to increased amounts of stress, allowing you to stay active and push your body with less chance of flaring them up.
3. Slow Resistance Training
Similar to the loaded isometrics, slow resistance training uses both force and time to load your tendons and help them build their strength and resiliency.
The two biggest things are to make sure you are moving slowly – slow means slow – and to make sure you are using enough weight to feel a challenge without feeling strained.
When you find the right tempo and the right amount of weight to use for your body, slow resistance training can quickly become one of the most potent ways to help your tendons feel better and get you back to doing all the things you love to do.
Tendon pain does not mean you need to lose all of the strength and fitness gains you have made with your workouts.
By incorporating Muscle Activation Techniques®, loaded isometrics, and slow resistance training into your workouts, you can remedy your tendon pain and make your tendons stronger and more resilient to flare ups in the process.
If you would like to experience Muscle Activation Techniques® for yourself, we would love to see you at our studio, Muscle Activation Schaumburg, in Chicago’s northwest suburbs.
At Muscle Activation Schaumburg, we have been trained in the highest levels of Muscle Activation Techniques®–including MATRx, MATRx2, MATRx Stim, MAT Athlete, and MAT Athlete2–and are the most highly-trained practitioners in the Chicagoland area.
To try out Muscle Activation Techniques® for yourself, click here to schedule your initial consultation and assessment.
We can’t wait to see you on our MAT table soon!
In strength and health,
Julie & Charlie
