Re: new bskball column

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

Steroids, rest. Cortisone shots are destructive.

DanF
----- Original Message -----
From: "James C. McMaster (Jim)" <mcmasjc@tatanka.stortek.com>
To: "Celtics Email List" <Celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 7:11 PM
Subject: Re: new bskball column


> In message <002501c19f76$6e54e7e0$86761d18@nyc.rr.com>, "Josh Ozersky"
said:
> > Kestas,
> >
> > A question about tendinitis.  What does it take for it to get better?
> > Eric had it bad earlier in the season, but now he's better.  Does
> > Antoine need to take a week off?  What can we expect?
> >
> > Josh
> >
> Not Kestas (or a doctor), but I have had tendonitis.  It is a swelling
(itis)
> of tissue that connects a muscle to the bone.  It can range from slight
> discomfort to debilitating pain.  Treatment consists of rest and
> anti-inflammatory drugs, which range from aspirin and ibuprofen (Advil or
> Motrin) up through naprosyn (Alleve) all the way up to cortisone, either
oral
> or injected at the site of the swelling.
>
> According to an orthopedist who treated me several years ago, tendons have
a
> channel through which they normally run without excessive friction.  Once
a
> tendon swells, it starts to rub against the sides of the channel.  This
can
> further irritate the tendon and cause more swelling.  Thus you can get
into a
> vicious cycle where the injury just keeps getting worse and more painful.
>
> A cortisone shot is the big hammer.  This just forces the inflammation to
go
> down for a day or two.  Once the swelling goes down, the tendon stops
rubbing
> against the sides of the channel and gets better.  On the other hand,
> cortisone shots are painful and can lead to serious side-effects.  I once
got
> a cortisone shot which basically fixed the problem in a couple of hours.
> Other times tendonitis has bothered me for weeks or even months.
>
> If Walker has tendonitis, it is possible he can play through it, depending
on
> his pain threshold.  If he gets into the vicious cycle, though, it might
take
> a week or two of rest for it to go away.
> --
> Jim McMaster
> mailto:mcmasjc@tatanka.stortek.com
> Go Celtics!