New procedure helping patients with constant tendon pain, swelling

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Doctors have been looking at ways to help with constant tendon pain for years. Ochsner has found a way to bring relief to people who are struggling with this through a minimally invasive procedure.

There’s a new procedure called the TenJet. It’s aimed toward weekend warriors, athletes or people who use their arms and legs a lot in their daily activities.

“It can be very debilitating,” said Dr. Sean Bradley, Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician with Ochsner. “It can be painful constantly or just with activity but over time becomes very frustrating because you’re not able to do things you do whether it’s a sport or an activity, or whether it’s your daily job.”

You may have heard of tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow or jumpers’ knee. Bradley said they are often caused by tendinopathy, or chronic tendon pain and swelling. It can also affect the shoulder, hip or ankle.

“What happens is overtime with either microtrauma or maybe a bigger injury in the past that didn’t fully heal, that tendon may not heal appropriately and the body lays down some more degenerative tissue, and over time you’re not able to load that way you would normally want to with daily activities,” said Bradley.

Bradley uses the TenJet system. He puts a small needle into the affected area, uses a stream of saline and flushes out degenerative tissue while preserving healthy tissue.

“If you’re someone that’s been struggling with tennis elbow maybe or some chronic hip pain on the outside of your hip for a long time, and have tried different things like some physical therapy maybe some over the counter inflammatories and rest and modification in the activities that you do on a daily basis and still are having issues, I think that’s the time where I would say come in and see myself or another provider in the area,” said Bradley.

The outpatient procedure takes about 30 minutes. No stitches are needed, and recovery is a few weeks.

Bradley added it could be a great alternative for tendinopathy patients who’ve tried other forms of treatment and don’t want surgery.

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