Saturday, 15 June 2013

Weight Lifting Exercises to Strengthen Tendons

Most people associate weight lifting exercises with muscle mass building. It's true that muscles can get bigger and stronger in reaction to weight lifting, but lifting weights also helps build bone mass and strengthen connective tissues, including tendons. By strengthening your tendons with lifting weights, you may reduce the likelihood of sustaining tendon injuries. Specific lifting weights exercises can also help you get over tendon injuries.

About Tendons
Tendons are specialized ligament structures that attach muscles to bones. Though tendons don't actively contract like muscles, and don't have the same growth capacity as muscles, they're dynamic tissues that are attentive to training. Weak or abused tendons are inclined to injury, so maintaining good tendon strength is essential.

Tendon Problems
Two common tendon troubles are tears and inflammation. Tears of tendons are often caused by some sort of trauma. They are able to vary in severity from mild strains to accomplish tendon failure, or rupture. Inflammation of the tendon, or tendinitis, usually is a result of repetitive stress, overuse or misuse from the part. Weightlifting exercises can enjoy a role in prevention or rehabilitation of either of those problems.

General Principles
Research published in 2007 within the journal "Medical Science in Sports and Exercise" clearly indicated that tendons quickly adapt to muscular strength gains achieved through resistance exercises. Which means that you can focus on the muscle building facets of your weight training exercises without having to worry that the muscles will grow too strong for the tendons. The same exercises that strengthen parts of your muscles will cause changes in your tendons to ensure they are proportionally stronger as well.

Eccentric Exercises
Rehabilitation specialists recommend eccentric exercises for chronic tendon conditions for example tennis elbow or Achilles tendinitis. Within an eccentric exercise, a weight or any other form of resistance is applied to some fully contracted muscle. Muscle is then allowed to slowly lengthen as the resistance is maintained. For that Achilles tendon, this can be achieved by sitting on your toes with your heels directed from the edge of a step. Begin the exercise by shifting all your weight onto one foot. Slowly lower the heel via a complete range of motion. Repeat this Ten times per side. You can use the body weight or increase the load with dumbbells. A comprehensive review, published int the "Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practices" figured eccentric exercises are a safe and efficient treatment for certain chronic tendon conditions.

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