Weeks 1–2
Pain
Calm the tendon down.
Hands-on techniques calm the irritated tendon and take the edge off inflammation, starting your very first visit.
Request an Appointment
No referral needed. A real person calls you back, usually within two business hours.
What We Treat
Tendinitis treatment in Louisville.
The ache that flares every time you go back to the thing you love. Calm the irritated tendon first, then build it up so it holds.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- An ache that flares up every time you get back to your sport or hobby
- Pain that’s worse first thing in the morning, then loosens up once you get moving
- A nagging pain that’s been “manageable” for months
- Pain that shows up with one specific repetitive motion at work or in training
- Swelling or tenderness right over a tendon
- You tried resting it, but it comes right back the moment you’re active again
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
Tendinitis is a symptom. Something is overloading that tendon.
A tendon doesn’t get irritated for no reason. It gets loaded faster than it can recover, over and over, until it can’t keep up. That repetitive overload is often traced back to a training error, a technique issue, or a strength imbalance in a joint nearby quietly asking the tendon to do more than its share.
“Overuse” is the easy label, but it doesn’t tell you what to actually change. That takes a real, cause-first evaluation to find what’s truly overloading the tendon, not just resting it until the next flare-up. Find the real cause, and the fix gets obvious.
The Honest Truth
Waiting on a tendon doesn’t make it wait on you.
If you keep waiting
- The tendon gets more irritated with every flare-up you push through
- You start compensating, which risks a second issue somewhere nearby
- The activity you love keeps getting smaller and smaller
If you start this week
- You know the real overload cause by the end of visit one
- Hands-on relief starts that same visit
- You get a return-to-activity plan with an endpoint: a real one, not an open tab of visits
Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built for your tendon.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for tendinitis.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Get your motion back.
Targeted mobility work restores motion and addresses the imbalance nearby that’s been quietly overloading the tendon.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Make it strong enough to trust.
Progressive loading rebuilds the tendon’s capacity and strength so it can handle real activity again.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Return better than before.
Technique and load management get tested under real activity before you’re cleared to go all-in: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.
Turns out that painting your house can result in tennis elbow. Once the doctor ordered physical therapy I knew exactly who I wanted to treat me. Dr. Conder is a family friend and I knew he was opening his own practice because he wanted to provide patient-focused one on one treatment without the time constraints placed on them by large practice management philosophy. After just two sessions he recommended dry-needling as a treatment option.
Shared by missy d. · Tennis elbow (tendinitis)
Visit 1: tennis elbow from an overuse task around the house, and it wasn’t easing up on its own
Visit 2: dry needling added to the plan
Tennis elbow (tendinitis)
2 sessions
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for tendinitis.
Rest alone often isn’t enough to fix tendinitis. Tendons don’t get stronger with time off, they get stronger with the right load applied in the right amount. Total rest can even leave the tendon weaker than before, which is part of why the pain comes right back once you’re active again. We use a cause-first evaluation to find the right amount of load for your tendon, then build it up in stages so it actually adapts. That’s what gets you back to full activity, not just a break from it.
It can be, for the right tendon and the right patient, but it’s always optional. Dry needling uses a thin filament needle to release tight, irritated tissue around the tendon and calm pain quickly. Many patients feel it’s a helpful jumpstart, especially for stubborn cases that have been hanging around for months. If it’s ever recommended for you, we’ll explain exactly what it involves and why, and the decision is always yours.
Most patients feel meaningful change within 4–6 visits. A full plan for tendinitis runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, typically over 8–10 weeks, depending on how long you’ve been dealing with it and how much load the tendon needs to rebuild. Either way, you get a plan with an endpoint: you’ll always know which phase you’re in and what’s left, not an open-ended string of appointments.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
- Hours Monday–Friday, 8:00am–6:00pm
- (502) 509-3136 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Same-week appointments available
5.0 · 213 Google reviews
Typical response: under 2 business hours
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time. Most people are on the schedule same week.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Focus Physical Therapy
- 3010 Eastpoint Pkwy, Louisville, KY 40223 (opens in a new tab)
- (502) 509-3136
- info@physicaltherapylouisville.com
- Monday–Friday, 8:00am–6:00pm