MinnMan

Dudelsack:

tendinopathy or tendinosis isn't too common for cyclists. IT's more common for runners. Also, it's more commonly the achilles tendon, the patellar tendon (knee), or elbow (tennis elbow). It tends to be a repetitive use injury. As far as I can tell, it's not an inflammation (that's tendonitis), but rather an aggravation of the tendons that makes them weaker, perhaps owing to microtearing. It's degenerative b/c the worse the symptoms, the more prone you are to further injury.

In my case, the pain has never been acute, but it just hasn't gone away and, at least at first, even modst amounts of riding caused further aggravation. Later, even walking more than 15 minutes was aggravating.

It's chronic and degenerative and does not get better with rest. Guaranteed treatments don't exist, really - the most successful treatment is physical therapy (eccentric loading). There are some controversial experimental treatments (experimental means that your insurance won't cover it) involving injections and shock wave therapy.

I seem to be responding to PT. The doc says complete recovery is likely, but there's no guarantee and the danger of reinjury will remain.