• Pain at or around a joint
• Gradual or sudden, severe pain at the affected part
• Stiffness or loss of motion in the affected joint
• Tenderness
• Mild swelling or thickening

Repetitive trauma or stress on the same joint is what results in tendonitis. This trauma or stress may be due to:

• Poor sporting technique and inappropriate sporting equipment
• Calcium deposits along the tendon
• Bone spurs on the heels
• Extreme and regular physical effort such as intensive sport training schedule
• Occupations such as gardening, house cleaning, etc
• Age, as tendons become weak and less flexible in older people
• Sports such as tennis, basketball, swimming, etc
• Abnormally placed joints
• Stress from arthritis such as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
• Rarely exercising
• Infections
• Obesity

• Warm-up before you begin your exercises
• Do not exercise if there is pain
• Maintain a healthy height-to-weight ratio
• Cross-train, that is, mix up an intensive exercise with a low impact exercise
• If your technique in an exercise or activity is flawed, take professional help and improve your technique
• Use proper workplace ergonomics and maintain the right posture

• Tendon tear or rupture
• Tendinosis or degenerative changes in the tendon, including abnormal growth of new blood vessels