Q. Is prednisone used for tendinitis? If so, how long would it ordinarily take to see some results? An MRI was done on me to confirm the diagnosis. I am not getting much relief after 8 days of 5 mg. per day dosage. Do you have any information on the treatment of tendinitis?

A. Tendinitis, meaning inflammation of the tendon which connects muscles to bones, can be a pesky problem, interfering with daily or recreational activity. It most commonly occurs due to repetitive activity rather than a single traumatic episode.

Prevention involves general conditioning measures as well as specific muscle strengthening and flexibility. Once the diagnosis is made of tendinitis, treatment is aimed at reducing the inflammation (rest, ice, medication, physical therapy) and modifying any factors that might be contributing such as overuse, poor technique for job or recreational activity, and improper equipment such as poor ergonomics at the work site.

Even then, problems can occur, meaning the load on the anatomy is just more than your body will accept. Prednisone is a potent anti-inflammatory, but medication alone will not fix the problem unless all aspects are evaluated as described.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tendinitis.html

http://www.rheumatology.org/patients/factsheet/tendin.html

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