Ligamentitis

When you are already 35+, but like at 20, you still train as intensely, and even more. The older the body, the less elastic the joints become. After intense training or physical activity, they swell - pain and aches increase; for athletes, this condition is usually called “ligamentitis”. During rehabilitation, the main problem is to maintain the quality of life at a high level and hold out until the moment when the athlete can return to professional sports or continue to engage in amateur sports at an advanced amateur level. Roman Cherednik, a sports doctor, head of the online center “MFitness Lab,” talks about what kinds of ligamentitis there are, what exercises will help minimize them and return the athlete to action.

What is ligamentitis? Often it is the aching and swelling of the joints after a serious workout that brings an athlete to the doctor and surgeons. Wearing tight underwear or loose bandages recommended by doctors is not always able to alleviate the condition, and much more often patients end up in the hands of a sports doctor or traumatologist after an injury.

The fact is that for most patients, the source of health problems is damage to the ligaments of the wrist or ankle joint, bursitis or epicondylitis. Ligament means ligament, but it is another part of joint anatomy - the medial and lateral ligaments, on whose fibers the “fixation” of the joint depends. This fixation is determined by the load placed on the ligaments - if the weights are light and predominantly the muscles bear the load, then the ligaments are not overloaded and problems are unlikely to arise. If the load is heavy or excessive for the muscles, the ligaments cannot cope. There comes a time when the ligaments or joint capsules become inflamed, the ligaments are stretched, and swelling occurs. The result can be ligament rupture, which occurs in patients with repeated ligament injuries. Treatment of this condition begins with reducing the load or avoiding physical activity; acupuncture or a course of physical therapy can help in this matter. Some patients choose a combination of both methods, for example, shock wave therapy and other types of physical therapy (ultrasound, magnetic therapy, infrared and light therapy) can alleviate the symptoms of ligamentitis.