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By Mayo Clinic staffThe 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Laskowski ER (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Sept. 11, 2009.