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Treatments and drugs

By Mayo Clinic staff

The goals of tendinitis treatment are to relieve your pain and reduce inflammation. Often, home treatment — which includes rest, ice and over-the-counter pain relievers — may be all that you need. Other treatments for tendinitis include:

Medications
Sometimes your doctor may inject a corticosteroid medication around a tendon to relieve tendinitis. Injections of cortisone reduce inflammation and can help ease pain. However, repeated injections may weaken a tendon, increasing your risk of rupturing the tendon.

Therapy
You might benefit from a program of specific exercise designed to stretch and strengthen the affected muscle-tendon unit.

Surgery
Depending on the severity of your tendon injury, surgical repair may be needed.

References
  1. Questions and answers about bursitis and tendinitis. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Bursitis/default.asp. Accessed Aug. 21, 2009.
  2. Koutouzis T, et al. Tendinopathy and bursitis. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/155931764-3/878758260/1365/357.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-02845-4..50120-7--cesec2_5842. Accessed Aug. 21, 2009.
  3. Laskowski ER (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Sept. 11, 2009.

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Nov. 4, 2009

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