Weeks 1–2
Pain
Settle it, do not switch it off.
Hands-on work and a light, tolerable dose of load take the edge off without putting the tendon on bed rest.
What We Treat
Tendinitis treatment in Reseda.
You have rested it for weeks and it still lights up on the first rep. Tendons do not heal on rest alone, which is why this starts with a cause-first evaluation.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- The first few reps hurt, it loosens up, then it punishes you at 6am
- Working the elbow loose on the drive in so you can hold the wheel
- Switching the grocery bags to your other hand without deciding to
- A dull, hot ache that finds you at 2am, hours after you stopped moving
- Somebody at work asked why you keep opening doors with your other arm
- Six weeks of resting it, one hard day back, and you are at the start again
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
Tendinitis is not a rest problem. It is a load problem.
Tendons are slow tissue. They do adapt, but on their own schedule, and they get angry when the work outruns it. Usually it is some mix of four things. Volume that climbed faster than the tendon could keep up with: a new job, a new sport, a big weekend. A stiff or weak neighbor, a shoulder, a hip, a calf, leaving the tendon to carry work it was never meant to carry alone. Too little recovery between the hard days. And one position you keep going back to that squeezes the same spot every time.
You kept working through it, because the work did not pause while your tendon hurt. That is exactly why nobody has looked at it properly yet. Here is what most people are never told: tendons respond to correctly dosed load, not to rest. Rest quiets the pain and weakens the tendon at the same time, so the first hard day back feels like week one. A cause-first evaluation finds which of those four is driving it and what your tendon can actually take. No printed stretching sheet guesses that right, and for tendons that have stayed stubborn for months there are further options here, including shockwave therapy and StemWave therapy.
The Honest Truth
Waiting does not make a tendon stronger.
If you keep waiting
- The tendon keeps weakening while you protect it, so less and less sets it off
- The other arm or leg takes over the lifting, and starts aching too
- You quit the things that flare it, until the list of things you avoid runs your week
If you start this week
- You find out exactly how much load this tendon can take right now
- Hands-on work starts taking the heat out of it on day one
- The dose climbs on a plan with an endpoint, not by accident on a busy day
Nobody regrets starting too early. Tendons only answer slower the longer they are left.
How We Fix It
Four phases. Dosed for a tendon.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what Pain, Prime, Perform and Prevent look like for tendinitis.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Give the tendon room to work.
The stiff joint and tight muscle above and below get their motion back, so the tendon stops absorbing everything.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Load it until it is strong.
Heavier, slower strength work rebuilds the tendon itself. This is the phase that actually changes it.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Keep it from coming back.
The dose gets matched to your real week, your job and your training, so a busy Monday stops setting it off. That is the endpoint.
I am very pleased with the results of the professional physical therapy I have received with Irma. Thank you Irma, you are the best.
Shared by Shakila A. · Google review
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for tendinitis.
Usually not. In California you can be evaluated by a licensed physical therapist without a physician referral, so you can start this week. Imaging rarely changes what a tendon needs, because the plan is built on what that tendon tolerates under load, and that is something we test by hand. If anything looks like it needs a physician or a scan, we will tell you and help you get there.
Use it, at a dose that fits it. This is the part almost nobody hears: tendons respond to correctly dosed load, not to rest. Rest quiets the pain, because you stopped provoking it, but the tendon keeps getting weaker while you wait. That is why the first hard day back feels like starting over. Sore for an hour or two afterwards can be fine. Sore for two days means the dose was too high, and a licensed physical therapist adjusts it.
Tendons are slower than muscle, and honest planning respects that. Instead of a promised date, you get a plan with an endpoint: the four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform and Prevent, with the loading in Perform doing most of the real work. You will know which phase you are in and what is left. For tendons that have stayed stubborn for months, there are further options here, including shockwave therapy and StemWave therapy, and we will talk through whether they fit your case.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back during business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
- Hours Mon to Fri 8:00am to 5:00pm, Sat 8:00am to 12:00pm, Sun closed
- (818) 341-3791 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Saturday appointments, 8:00am to 12:00pm
20+ 5-star reviews on Google
A real person calls you back, not a robot
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time, and we’ll answer your insurance questions on that same call.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Suite 200, on Sherman Way between Reseda and Northridge. Street and lot parking are both there, though the lot is a little tight for a large vehicle.
Jewel Physical Therapy
- 17750 Sherman Way, Suite 200, Reseda, CA 91335 (opens in a new tab)
- (818) 341-3791
- Fax: (818) 341-3794
- admin@jewelptinc.com
- Mon to Fri 8:00am to 5:00pm, Sat 8:00am to 12:00pm, Sun closed