You feel a something happen in your finger/forearm.
Pain right over the dreaded pulley region.
Pain on the inside or outside of your elbow.
You consult your mates. You consult google. You consult that one friend, that has a friend who is a GP. They all say the same thing.

The reason why tendons need load is due to the way they repair. Tendons are made of a dense collagen matrix. This matrix is designed to allow load to travel through the tendon as efficiently as possible so that force can be distributed throughout all of the musculoskeletal structures the body can apply. The problem with rest is that the brain/body relies on this loading to direct exactly where collagen should be laid down. Imagine the brain is a really overzealous concrete truck. When the tendon is being loaded, the brain perceives this as neatly laid rio structures, with fluorescent spray paint saying exactly where it should pour said concrete. Easy. When there isn’t load coming through the tendon, the brain just shuts it’s eyes and sprays concrete everywhere like the first time you went paint balling. This overzealous concrete spray is referred to as dense irregular connective tissue.

Severe tendon or ligament strength training require a very specialized approach

Isometric contractions are a sustained contraction without movement. There are an almost infinite number of options when it comes to selecting the isometric that you need, but ultimately you should feel contraction within the muscle that is attached to the affected tendon, and generally you want load to be travelling through the tendon in a position that is as close to what your sport demands as possible.

Common Tendon (Ergonomic Injuries)

Tendonitis

Tendonitis is an overuse injury causing inflammation in the tendon. The symptoms of tendonitis typically present at or around the injury site and typically include:

• A dull aching pain that can worsen with movement of the impacted tendon or joint.
• Tenderness or swelling around the impacted tendon.
• A rubbing or grating sensation when the tendon moves.

Tendinopathy

Like tendonitis, tendinopathy is a relatively common overuse injury. But, tendinopathy refers to the chronic breakdown of collagen in the tendon. Tendinopathy has many of the same symptoms of tendonitis, but inflammation is less common in tendinopathy.