What is peroneal tendonitis and how is it managed?

Tendon injury from overuse is a very common problem in sports activity. It happens if the cumulative strain on the tendon exceeds what the tendon can take. There is two parts to this: the first one will be the cumulative load and that means just how much activity is undertaken and how often it is done. It is necessary that the tendon has time to adapt to those loads or the cumulative load might exceed that. That's the second aspect, just how adapted the tendon would be to those loads. Understanding these concepts is very important in being familiar with and treating tendonitis.

By way of example, peroneal tendonitis that is an overuse injury occurring on the outside of the ankle joint. The cumulative load in this tendon is increased when exercise amounts are too high or increased too quickly and not enough time is given for the tendon to adjust to those high loads. The cumulative load can also be increased by the biomechanics of the feet. For example, if the supination resistance of the foot is lower then the peroneal muscles on the outside of the leg will have to work harder. That could place an increased load on the peroneal tendons after which in addition to training errors that load may well exceed what the tendon can take and it develops tendonitis.

Based upon these concepts, peroneal tendonitis is managed by lessening that collective load. That could mean exercising volumes and frequency have to be decreased somewhat to permit the tendon to adjust to the loads. The load in this condition can also be reduced with foot orthoses that evert the foot, which means the peroneal muscles will not need to work as hard. Next the tendon should be given a chance to get used to the loads. This implies that exercising volume and frequency needs to be slowing increased, with plenty of rest between training loads to give the tendon to adapt to those stresses.