Tendinitis is one of the side effects of growing old. A variation of Tendinitis is calcifying Tendinitis, where the body secretes calcium deposits near tendons, triggering inflammation. The usual place where this condition is triggered is rotator cuff tendons, but they can happen in long tendons as well. The most common location for this condition is the shoulder joint.
The actual cause of calcific Tendinitis is still unknown. Several things have been ruled out as causes. Excess calcium in the diet has been ruled out; people who develop it do not have elevated calcium levels in their blood. If you are diagnosed with this condition, do not limit your calcium; that can put you at a risk for osteoporosis as your body cannibalizes the bones to make up the lack.
There are some links between certain metabolic conditions, such as kidney disease, and calcific tendinitis, though whether the joint pain causes the kidney condition or vice versa is still being analyzed. While overuse of the shoulder joint can generate tendinitis, there is a difference between shoulder joint and rotator cuff wear and calcific tendinitis.
May be related to age
One statistical correlation is that calcific tendinitis rarely occurs in those under the age of 30; there are hopes that the metabolic trigger that causes the body to excrete calcium nodules can be identified; it may be possible to use these techniques to treat bone spurs as well.
Symptoms
The usual set of symptoms for calcific Tendinitis is a sharp, burning pain when a stiff shoulder is moved; it's often described as feeling like gravel is under the shoulder blade, usually when you raise your arm of the shoulder. Sometimes it's a little subtler than that if the calcium crystallization happens deeper in the tissue, where it can't be felt through the skin.
In addition, calcium crystals may shed off of the deposits and cause the tendons to become acutely inflamed. Oftentimes, people aren't even aware they have calcific tendinitis until they experience this kind of attack. Surprisingly, though, this is also when the calcium deposits can be reabsorbed by the body.
Sudden onset
Usually, those who experience calcific tendinitis have pain symptoms that happen suddenly, not over a long period of time. Usually, the pain symptoms themselves resolved within a week or two without incident.
Sometimes, your doctor will put you in for an X-ray to find out what's wrong, and the calcium deposit will show up just fine. Most of the recommended treatments are to take over the counter pain medications and doing range of motion therapy exercises to keep your joint limber, followed by icing it down to reduce swelling and inflammation.
If pain is particularly severe, your doctor can give you a steroid or cortisone injection into your shoulder to relieve inflammation. In some cases, the deposits can be broken apart with a hyper during meal and sucked out with a syringe. In very, very rare cases, surgery may need to be performed to remove the deposits, especially if the deposits interfere with shoulder movement. Usually, arthroscopic surgery can take care of this with minimal invasiveness.
Author Resource:
Tom Nicholson has spent years caring for carpal tunnel sufferers. You can follow this link to find out more regardingcalcific tendinitis .
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