Cause of tendinitis

general causes

Tendonitis can have various causes. This can occur through high mechanical stress, bacterial infections or inflammatory rheumatic inflammation.

Most often, the causes of tendonitis are mechanical. In athletes, for example, a rapid increase in exercise intensity or duration of exercise leads to this clinical picture. Frequent work of the same kind in connection with poor posture also results in tendinitis, for example when typing in the context of computer work.

Tendonitis occurs less often as part of an infection with bacteria or rheumatic diseases. The causative pathogens are mostly staphylococci or streptococci, which penetrate the tendon sheaths when injured and can trigger an infection there.

Causes on the wrist

The tendinitis on the wrist is one of the most common places of manifestation of acute or chronic inflammation of the tendon sliding fan.

It always arises when there is permanent overload or even improper strain on the forearm muscles and the wrist:

  1. in everyday life (monotonous movements during gardening, household chores, etc.),
  2. at work (Ergonomics of errors in the workplace, computer work, craftsmen, musicians) or
  3. in sports (Incorrect sports techniques, increasing stress too quickly, unusual sporting stress) is coming.

This permanent increased or incorrect load then leads to an inflammatory process due to the constant friction of the tendons on the inside of the tendon sheaths that surround them.
More rarely, but still possible, tendinitis on the wrist is caused by bacterial infections. Tendonitis can also develop in the context of rheumatoid arthritis - a chronic inflammatory disease of the joint skin.

Read more on the topic: Tendonitis on the wrist

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Causes on the thumb

The tendinitis of the thumb - also called tendovaginitis de Quervain - is characterized by a painful inflammation of the extensor tendon compartment at the base of the thumb. This inflamed tendon compartment guides the tendons of the forearm muscles that are responsible for spreading and stretching the thumb in the metacarpophalangeal joint.

The cause of the tendon sheaths on the thumb, which are constricted by the inflammation, are usually incorrect and overstressing of the tendons running therein, such as this one e.g. B.This can be the case with gardening, renovation work, working with a computer mouse, long cycling or motorcycling, making a lot of music or using a cell phone a lot ("SMS thumb").

In addition, bacterial infections can also trigger tendinitis of the thumb, albeit much less frequently. The infection occurs either from the outside through injuries to the thumb or through spreading as part of a systemic infection. It is also possible that tendonitis develops in rheumatoid arthritis as an underlying disease.

General information can be found at: Tendinitis in the thumb

Causes on the finger

In the case of tendinitis of the fingers, the tendon compartments of the finger flexor tendons are inflamed.
The cause for this is usually an overload or improper strain on the finger flexor muscles. This can include manual activities such as sawing or knitting, racket sports such as tennis, badminton or table tennis, making music on the piano, typing on keyboards and exercising strength training in the form of weight lifting or dumbbell exercises.

But also bacterial infections or the development of inflammation in the context of rheumatic underlying diseases (e.g. Rheumatoid arthritis) can in rare cases trigger tendinitis of the fingers. Bacterial infections can arise both from external injuries to the fingers and from the spread of bacteria as part of systemic infections.

Often several fingers are affected at the same time, although not all of them have to be equally severely affected.

For more information read: Flicking finger

Causes of the ankle

Tendonitis in the area of ​​the ankle occurs in most cases as a result of incorrect and / or excessive physical exertion of the foot, for example through unusual physical strain or too rapid an increase in the intensity or duration of the strain. Running, athletics and skiing (cross-country skiing) are among the most common sports in which tendinitis of the ankle joint can increase.
However, injuries to the tendons in the form of small tears, such as those caused by twisting the ankle, can lead to friction in the tendon sheaths due to the scarred healing process, so that this chronic irritation leads to inflammation.

As with all tendinitis of the most varied of localization, bacterial infections or underlying rheumatic diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis) can also be the cause in rarer cases.

Inflammation of the tendon compartments occurs at the ankle, usually in the back of the outer ankle, where the tendons of the peroneal muscles of the lower leg run.

Read more on the topic: Inflammation in the ankle

Inflammatory rheumatic diseases as the cause

Inflammatory rheumatic diseases as the cause of tendinitis arise from autoimmunological processes in the body. By this one understands to a certain extent an attack of the own defense system (immune system) on the body's own structures, in this case on the tendon sheaths. These autoimmune reactions are triggered, for example, by pathogens such as chlamydia, gonococci or mycoplasma, which have components (antigens) that are similar to the structures and which are later attacked by the immune system.
A separate special form of tendinitis is called the Tendovaginitis stenosans. This is a narrowing of the tendon sheath (Stenosis) with thickening of the tendon running through it on the fingers of the hand. The changes described make it more difficult for the tendon to pass through the tendon sheath and it makes a clicking sound.
The tendon sheaths of the finger flexors or the short thumb extensor are affected (Extensor pollicis brevis muscle) and long thumb separator (Abductor pollicis longus muscle). In the latter case, the clinical picture is called de Quervain's tendovaginitis stenosans.

Read more on the subject at: Tendonitis in rheumatism