Tendons

Something a lot of people do not seem to know: you can treat tendonitis by doing some simple exercises with small hand weights. Push-ups and similar exercises also help. If you can't do a full push-up, there are several modified versions -- for example, from the knees or against the wall.

When my tendons start bothering me from spending too much time on my computer, I do a few minutes -- maybe 5 minutes -- with hand weights, as little as a pound or a pound and a half. When I am stronger, I might use 5 or 8 pound dumbbells, but when I am really sick and weak, even very small hand weights do wonders. I have an old injury to my right arm and used to have terrible tendon problems from time to time with it. It still bothers me but rarely interferes with me doing anything now that I occasionally do some arm and wrist exercises using small weights.

You can also "feed" your tendons so that they can properly heal and grow strong. If you have the money and do not have a lot of food issues, you can buy the expensive stuff meant for strengthening your nails or tendons. A cheaper solution that is less likely to cause a bad reaction is to buy plain gelatin, put one packet in the bottom of a coffee cup and add boiling water to about the half-way point. Then stir vigorously to help it all melt and add apple juice (or some other flavoring), to cool it to drinking temperature and make it more palatable. It must be drunk fairly quickly or you end up with goo in the bottom of the cup. I consumed gelatin daily like that for about 2 years to strengthen my injured tendons and help them heal. My tendons have never again been so bad since then.