Tendons

Tendons are the connecting pieces of your body. They translate the force of your muscles into movement, they couple soft tissue to solid bone, they hold together what would otherwise not touch. Without tendons you could not take a step, lift an object, or make a gesture. They are the quiet translators between impulse and action.

When a tendon pulls, burns, becomes inflamed, or even tears, something peculiar happens. The pain does not sit in the muscle, not in the bone, but in between — in the connecting link. The place where force turns into movement begins to protest. Medically this is called tendinitis, tendon attachment irritation, overuse syndrome. Treatment consists of rest, stretching, anti-inflammatory agents, sometimes surgery. All of that is warranted. But it does not explain why the tendon refuses its service precisely now, precisely in you, precisely at this location.