Tendon Clinic

Tendons are thick fibrous soft tissues that are continuous with muscle fibers, attaching muscles to bones at your joints. When muscles contract, tendons pull on the bone to which they are attached, causing movement. Because tendons are exposed to high force loads, especially during sports or exercise, they are vulnerable to injuries ranging from mild to severe.

Categories of tendon injuries include:

Tendinitis: Inflammation of the tendon, often caused by overuse. Although painful, tendinitis often resolves itself after a few days, once the activity that caused it is discontinued.

Tendinosis: Pain caused by micro tears of the tendon tissue. Tendinosis is often caused by physical activities that challenge the muscles, such as during sports or exercise. If not allowed to heal, tendinosis may progress to more serious tendon ruptures.

Tendon Rupture: Damage to a tendon that may either occur suddenly or progress gradually. A rupture is often very painful at its onset, and can lead to disability if left untreated.

Tendinopathy: A catch-all term for tendon pain or injury.

Tendinopathy Diagnosis

At NYDNRehab, we are dedicated to rehabilitating your injury, not just treating your symptoms. To accurately diagnose and treat your tendinopathy, your therapist will conduct a comprehensive exam consisting of:

• • thorough health history
• • review of physical activity at onset of pain
• • manual physical exam
• • strength and range of motion assessment
• • high resolution ultrasonography and elatography to pinpoint the root of inflammation, injury and pain

For sport-specific injuries, we use the latest technological innovations to analyze movement mechanics and identify motor deficiencies. By eliminating training errors, athletes are able to improve their performance while reducing their risk of injury.

Running Diagnostics

Our state-of-the-art running gait analysis lab is devoted to identifying biomechanical and neuromuscular deficiencies, enabling our technicians to distinguish between compensation strategies and injuries that are invisible to the naked eye.

Gait analysis enables us to:

• • Measure and quantify functional limitations, impaired movement and disability
• • Identify movement deviations that are invisible during clinical examinations.
• • Discern compensation from the root cause, so that treatment interventions target the injury and not the symptoms

Data from gait analysis equips the therapist to design effective treatment strategies that address the source of tendinopathy, retraining the athlete to run more efficiently, prolonging their running career and preventing future injury.

Jumping Diagnostics

Sports that require jumping like basketball, tennis, volleyball and dance place huge demands on the athlete’s body. From preparation to landing, jumps impose enormous forces on an athlete’s muscles, joints and connective tissue. Poor mechanics not only reduce the level of performance, but mechanical deficiencies can lead to debilitating and career-ending injuries.

At NYDNR we use the most advanced real-time force plate technology and 3D video analysis to evaluate the athlete in motion. Excessive and damaging forces often stem from poor muscle coordination, improper motor control and muscle imbalances.

Jumping diagnostics evaluates:

• • ground reaction forces
• • joint angles
• • compensation patterns
• • coordination of movement

Real-time force plate analysis enables the athlete to see where their mechanical deficiencies lie, so they can focus on correcting them. The therapist will apply the data to implement a rehab training protocol to strengthen weak muscles, improve motor coordination and refine the athlete’s jumping technique.