What is peroneal tendonitis and how is it treated?
Tendon injury from too much use is a common issue in sports activity. It occurs in the event the cumulative strain on the tendon is greater than what the tendon can take. There is two parts to this: the first is the cumulative load which means the amount of activity is done and just how frequently it is done. It is necessary that the tendon has time to get accustomed to those loads or the cumulative load may exceed that. Which is the second part, just how adapted the tendon would be to those loads. Understanding these principles is crucial in understanding and treating tendonitis.
By way of example, peroneal tendonitis that is an excessive use injury that occurs on the outside of the ankle joint. The collective load in this tendon is greater when physical activity amounts are too high or increased too quickly and not enough time is provided for the tendon to adjust to those high loads. The cumulative load is also increased by the biomechanics of the foot. For instance, if the supination resistance of the foot is low then the peroneal muscles on the outside of the lower limb will be required to work harder. That can place an increased force on the peroneal tendons after which put together with training errors that load could very well go beyond what the tendon can take and it develops tendonitis.
Based on these concepts, peroneal tendonitis is treated by reduction of that collective load. That could mean training volumes and frequency needs to be decreased somewhat to permit the tendon to adapt to the loads. The load in this condition can also be decreased with foot orthotics that evert the foot, which means the peroneal muscles does not need to work so hard. Then the tendon should be given a chance to adapt to the loads. This means that training quantity and frequency needs to be slowing increased, with lots of rest between training loads to get the tendon to adjust to those loads.