Tendinopathy part 1 - Understanding tendinopathy & the current evidence with Paul Kirwan

When your athletic patients have Achilles’ tendon pain at the start of the football season, or after ramping up their marathon training, Achilles tendinopathy is most likely near the top of your list of differential diagnosis. What treatments will help you to keep them on the field, or on track for their marathon?

What about your sedentary patients? They develop tendon pain, without walking or running anything close to a marathon, taking away any motivation they might have to go for a walk or get involved in physical activity. How can we treat these patients so they can feel better and stay active?

Lower limb tendinopathy comes in a bunch of flavours - gluteal, hamstring, patellar, quadriceps, plantar heel pain, Tib Post, or Achilles. Developing your tendinopathy treatment skills will get you great treatment results with a lot of your patients.

In this 3 part online course, Paul Kirwan will help you master tendinopathy and incorporate the latest research in your treatment. You’ll feel confident discussing tendinopathy and treatment options with your patients, and deciding on the best approach for each patient to meet their needs and goals.

Part 1 will help you explore:

• Why patients develop tendinopathy
• What causes tendon pain?
• How to explain tendinopathy to your patients
• Risk factors for tendinopathy
• Why athletes and sedentary patients both develop tendinopathy
• Common challenges we face when treating tendinopathy
• Why patients respond differently to the same treatment
• How can you individualise treatment for each patient?
• How long will patients take to get better?
• If you only have 4 or 6 treatment sessions to get patients better, how should you structure your sessions?

Part 2 will help you explore assessment & differential diagnosis for common tendinopathies, how to screen for red flags, and compare treatment approaches.

Part 3 will take you through tendinopathy treatment, the role of eccentrics, isometrics, isotonics and plyometrics, how to structure your exercise program, and decide on the best approach and treatments to avoid for your patients.