A while back, I developed some tendonitis in my adductor (one of the groin muscles). What is tendonitis? It’s one of the most common tendon injuries. It happens when a tendon gets inflamed, and starts to hurt. I guess it can come with being a competitive powerlifter (ie I lift heavy things for no good reason. Here’s a video of me squatting 372 pounds at a bodyweight of 145). Every sport has its signature injuries, and in powerlifting, it happens to be tendonitis. But enough about me. In this article, I’ll show you what are the best supplements for tendonitis, that heal your tendons relatively quickly, without stopping what caused the tendonitis in the first place. This is regardless of the location of your tendonitis – whether it’s Achilles tendonitis, patellar tendonitis, tennis elbow (which is lateral epicondylitis), golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis), rotator cuff inflammation or anywhere else.

Supplements for tendonitis

Original source: here.

            But first, wouldn’t it be logical to stop what caused the tendonitis (repetitive movements) in the first place, in order to reduce pain? Yes, it would. But try telling an athlete that they can’t do their sport for a period of time (usually 2-3 months). Good luck with that. Tell a runner to stop running, and you might get some tears. Tell a powerlifter to stop squatting, and he’s not happy either. So sure enough, I didn’t want to stop squatting, but I also didn’t want to have tendonitis anymore.

If you want to watch the video associated with this article here it is:

            Also, just a note before we dive in: this article just covers supplements for tendon health. But there are lots of other ways to get pain relief, from the worlds of physical therapy and alternative medicine. Things like near infrared laser, acupuncture, and other modalities can help with the chronic inflammation of tendonitis.

Most Common Causes of Tendonitis

To understand which supplements work, we first have to identify the most common causes of tendonitis.

If you just look at the ending of the word: “-itis”, you’ll see that it’s inflammation. And really, what is the inflammatory response? It’s an immune function aimed to promote healing.

Why is there inflammation in the first place? Usually due to overuse. You’re asking a tendon to do more than it’s capable of doing. Whenever you exercise, you cause some inflammation. But the body is able to recover from that, and the inflammation subsides. Eventually, you ask the body to do more than it’s able to recover from, so the inflammation doesn’t subside.

That’s why a big chunk of the treatment options for tendonitis are basically about reducing inflammation.

It’s actually a big deal for a tendon to be inflamed, because in general, tendon tissue is one of the strongest connective tissues. It’s a mix of collagen and elastin, but heavily in favor of collagen, which is much stronger.

And unlike muscles, and injured tendon takes way longer to heal. There is less blood flow to tendons, compared to muscles, due to fewer blood vessels there.

So overuse is the most common cause of tendonitis. A much less common cause is an acute overload on a muscle, and its associated tendon.

Best Supplements for Tendonitis Repair 

A while back, I took taking a course at the Institute of Holistic Nutrition, called “Supplementation in Clinical Practice.” The instructor is Baljinder Chhoker, ND and he’s a teacher of teachers. He teaches at the naturopathic college. I figured he’d be a pretty good person to ask what are the best tendonitis supplements.

  1. Proteolytic enzymes. What??? Proteolytic enzymes have names like “trypsin, chymotrypsin, bromelain”, and others. They are naturally found in the body, but when the body is injured, our requirements for these increase beyond what we naturally make. What proteolytic enzymes do is they remove inflammation and scar tissue that has formed. The specific product I used was Wobenzyme.
  2. Silica. This is used to bring strength and elasticity to collagen structures. Typically, when you do a workout while you have tendonitis, you weaken the tendon even more. Silica allows continued workouts without weakening of the tendon. The specific product I used was Biosil
  3. Dr. Reckeweg R55. This is a blend that helps reduce inflammation, and reduce stiffness at the site of the tendonitis.
  4. Dr. Reckeweg R30. This is a topical anti-inflammatory (you rub it on your skin). After workouts involving that tendon, I would rub it on the inflamed tendon, which helped reduce stiffness.
  5. . This was the magic bullet that finished the job. It’s a potent herb, called “curcumin” (comes from turmeric) that helps relieve inflammation. Fast. In my mind, this is one of the best supplements for tendonitis pain.
Supplements for Tendonitis

And by the way, I have no financial interest in any of these products. So when I mention a product name, it’s because it works. Not because I’m getting paid to say that name.

Oh, and a little side note: we often think of inflammation as “bad”, but by and large, acute inflammation is a critical component of the immune system, and is part of the healing process. That’s beneficial. It’s when inflammation becomes chronic that problems arise. In my article on inflammation, I explain what are the 2 causes of joint inflammation, and the 4 things you can do about it.

Turmeric for Tendonitis

A lot of people are particularly interested in turmeric for tendonitis, but let me make one small correction, my friend: turmeric is a food. The anti-inflammatory compound within turmeric is called “curcumin.” So in supplements, you really see curcumin for tendonitis, and not turmeric.

Unfortunately, there are 2 problems with turmeric:

  1. The amount of curcumin in turmeric is very small. One study found that only about 3% of turmeric is curcumin. Most of the time, curcumin is supplemented at 400-1000 mg/day. To get that much from turmeric, you would need to get about 15-30 grams of turmeric.
  2. The curcumin that you do get from turmeric is not well absorbed. You need to figure out another way to “deliver” it, to have the body actually use it.

So if you’re wondering “is turmeric good for tendonitis“? The answer is that it’s fairly neutral. It won’t harm your tendonitis, but with the amount of curcumin that turmeric has in it, it won’t make it better either. How much turmeric would you have to consume for tendonitis? More than humanly possible.

But if we change the question to “is curcumin good for tendonitis?“, then the answer is more likely to be a yes. One of the greatest anti inflammatory properties of turmeric is due to curcumin.

However, I should give you one word of warning: if you’re on a blood thinning medication, talk to a pharmacist first before taking curcumin. Curcumin may also cause blood thinning, and the interaction between the two could be damaging.

If you want some curcumin for your aching joints, you can pick it up .

Bromelain for Tendonitis

Bromelain is a natural enzyme (chemical). One of the natural sources where it’s found is pineapples. What it does is it stimulates the cells that make up tendons (human tenocytes). Additionally, it’s has natural anti-inflammatory effects.

So how much should you take? Rarely will you find just bromelain by itself in a supplement. Most of the time, it’s combined with trypsin, chymotrypsin, and/or other compounds.

But the dosage of bromelain for tendonitis would vary from 100-500 mg/day (in divided doses). In my article on how to figure out the right supplement dose, I give 4 criteria to help you figure out how much of any supplement to use.

The Results 

After taking the first 4 of these supplements for 2 weeks, the pain of tendonitis was reduced by about 75%. But then, it was stuck at that level for another 3 weeks. Enter AOR’s Inflammation Relief. I only took 1 capsule, 3 times per day, for 3 days. Then I did a workout that involved squats. And I didn’t realize until after the workout that I didn’t feel my tendon at all. Awesome.

To put things in perspective, with complete rest, tendonitis should go away in about 2-3 months. Of course, as an athlete “complete rest” to me is a foreign concept. So if you continue exercising, you naturally continue aggravating the issue, and it can take years to heal, if it heals at all.

What was most impressive to me about this “recipe” was that despite continuing to exercise, my tendonitis went away after 1 month of use. That’s after completely no improvement between August and January.

The “What About” Supplements

After I list the previous supplements, some people also want to know what I call the “what about” supplements. Things like:

  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin E
  • Glucosamine chondroitin sulfate
  • Essential fatty acids (namely, fish oil)
  • Hydrolyzed collagen
  • Boswellia serrata extract
  • Citrus fruits

Those are all dietary supplements (except for citrus fruits… they’re just a food) that have great research behind them in many different areas. Unfortunately, tendonitis is not one of those areas.

Many of them have mechanisms by which they could reduce persistent pain. However, there’s a giant difference between “could” reduce joint pain, and “does” reduce joint pain. “Could” means that it’s theoretically possible, but hasn’t been studied… either at all or extensively. In other words, there are no randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, clinical studies, or a single meta analysis to indicate their effectiveness for tendonitis in humans. That doesn’t mean they’re not effective for other inflammatory conditions. And it doesn’t mean that they haven’t been studied in rats, mice or rabbits. But the evidence of their effectiveness for tendonitis in humans is somewhere between weak and nonexistent.

That doesn’t mean they don’t work. It just means that at the present time, we don’t know whether or not they work. 

For instance, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, so there’s a mechanism by which it could work… but we just don’t know.

The Heavy Artillery

Take this to the bank: nothing works for 100% of people, 100% of the time. Not supplements, not exercise, not medications, not surgery. So although I know you wanted to specifically explore supplements, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention other treatments for tendonitis that don’t involve supplements, like:

  • Corticosteroid injections. These are anti-inflammatory injections. So they reduce inflammation, but don’t necessarily contribute to tendon strength (which is a necessary component of tendon healing/tendon repair).
  • Other medications, like medical-grade anti inflammatories.
  • Physical therapy

Yes, these are considered to be fairly “heavy artillery” that are typically used in more serious chronic conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis, but occasionally they’re used for tendonitis as well.

[sc_fs_faq html=”false” headline=”h2″ img=”” question=”What supplements speed up the recovery from tendonitis?” img_alt=”” css_class=””] 1. Proteolytic enzymes. What??? Proteolytic enzymes have names like “trypsin, chymotrypsin, bromelain”, and others. They are naturally found in the body, but when the body is injured, our requirements for these increase beyond what we naturally make. What proteolytic enzymes do is they remove inflammation and scar tissue that has formed. The specific product I used was Wobenzyme. 2. Silica. This is used to bring strength and elasticity to collagen structures. Typically, when you do a workout while you have tendonitis, you weaken the tendon even more. Silica allows continued workouts without weakening of the tendon. The specific product I used was Biosil 3. Dr. Reckeweg R55. This is a blend that helps reduce inflammation, and reduce stiffness at the site of the tendonitis. 4. Dr. Reckeweg R30. This is a topical anti-inflammatory (you rub it on your skin). After workouts involving that tendon, I would rub it on the inflamed tendon, which helped reduce stiffness. 5. AOR’s Inflammation Relief. This was the magic bullet that finished the job. It’s a potent herb, called “curcumin” (comes from turmeric) that helps relieve inflammation. Fast. In my mind, this is one of the best supplements for tendonitis pain. [/sc_fs_faq]