With tendon pain, you are often told to take it easy. It makes sense, the tendon hurts. But full rest is usually not what a tendon needs, and it is often the reason the problem lingers.
What rest does to a tendon
Rest calms the pain in the short term. But a tendon you unload also gets weaker and can handle less. The moment you load it again, the pain returns, sometimes worse than before. That is how you end up in a cycle of resting, building back up, and relapsing.
What a tendon actually needs
Tendons get stronger from loading, not from staying still. It is about the right amount: enough to stimulate the tendon, not so much that it gets overloaded. That limit is personal and shifts as you recover. Good exercise therapy builds on exactly that, step by step.
Does that mean training through the pain?
No. A little pain during loading is usually fine, as long as it settles quickly and is not worse the next day. A physiotherapist helps you watch that limit, so you build up without overloading the tendon again and again.
This is one piece of the picture. If you want the whole thing, which tendon it is, what actually helps, and where to start, read our guide to tendon pain.
.jpg)
.jpg)
