Tendon strengthening

[Songtsan]

So I have tendencies to develop tendinitis this lifetime....in most, if not all joints. Some possible fibromyalgia, etc. stuff. I would like to break through and be able to strengthen the joints. Have some good nutrition knowledge already, but wondering what advice people have for tendon strengthening exercises? Mantak Chia stuff any good?

[lifeforce]

Xingyi, xinyiliuhequan and Xing Yi Nei Gong are three ways that I know of personally which give excellent results in strengthening tendons. It's basically the meat and bones (forgive the pun !) of these systems.

[gendao]

How exactly do you target & strengthen the tendons, and not muscle bellies?

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

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"How exactly do you target & strengthen the tendons, and not muscle bellies?"

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With mallets, pestles, and other equipment.

 

There are techniques of striking and massaging.

 

Also, most common chinese martial art style have tendon/marrow practice exercises.

 

One common one is Tid Sin Kuen, which is part of Hung style iron shirt training.

 

These are not techniques for sick bones/tendons, per se.

 

Dit Da doctors know a lot about healing bad tendons, and how to reduce tendon injuries, etc.

 

American-style fibromylagia issues may be best prevented by careful diet, minimizing nightshade vegetables, etc.

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[Karl]

So I have tendencies to develop tendinitis this lifetime....in most, if not all joints. Some possible fibromyalgia, etc. stuff. I would like to break through and be able to strengthen the joints. Have some good nutrition knowledge already, but wondering what advice people have for tendon strengthening exercises? Mantak Chia stuff any good?

 

Have you tried a powerball. They work pretty well. Helped me with drumming.

[Fate]

As a massage therapist I've learned that tendons can be changed/strengthened/repaired over time. As a structure they take a lot longer to heal than muscular issues (which more and more I'm beginning to find is rooted simply in unconscious holding patterns held in the mind) or scar tissue adhesion.

 

So you can affect your tendons through practice. Also through my own dietary change to a plant-based diet I've noticed that my joints are a LOT more flexible and loose. Though I'd say my results are a combination of commitment to lifestyle change in diet, qi gong, etc.

 

That said, if you are experiencing tendinitis there is probably a root cause in muscular issues, for example in the knee join we tend to over our quadricep group (leading to hypertonicity), and have chronic tight hamstrings. This leads to the joint being pulled on by both sides, which leads to inflammation and deterioration of the joint.

Do you have/what is your exercise routine? Your Mind-body practice to relax?

Edited August 6, 2015 by Fate

[Aetherous]

A scientifically proven approach to treating local tendinosis is to do "eccentric loading" (saying it's scientifically proven doesn't mean it will work 100% of the time though). Basically, lets say you're working on your achilles tendon...with no weight, go up on your toes on one leg, then put your weight on it and slowly lower your heel to the ground. In other words, you start with the (gastrocnemius) muscle shortened, have the muscle contract by putting a load on it, and then lengthen it while under contraction.

 

Sounds like you have a whole body thing going on, though...I'm not sure there is any kind of qigong exercise which will actually help that kind of issue.

 

In Chinese medicine the tendons are related to the Liver and Gallbladder...for instance, if there is Liver Blood deficiency then it can affect the tendons. Could be something else, but...hope you find something that works for it.

[idquest]

For some reason I can't insert a quote of the gendao's post but here is the answer to it.

 

Well your picture gives you the answer. To stretch tendon, you should lengthen a part of the body with the minimum muscles engagement. This is one of the reason why neigong/taiji are slow movements. When you succeed in engaging tendons, you'll feel hydraulic/spring-like extension and contraction around the joints.

 

To OP: tendinitis, if over all the body and not isolated in one-two joints, is likely to be a diet issue. It could be due to leaky gut or candida as well.

Edited August 6, 2015 by idquest

[soaring crane]

I think it's far more important to strive for healthy fascia, the membrane that encases the tendons (and muscles, and bones, and organs, and everything).

[thelerner]

I think it's far more important to strive for healthy fascia, the membrane that encases the tendons (and muscles, and bones, and organs, and everything).

any youtubes showing good exercises to accomplish this?  Actually that's open to everyone.

 

I was thinking baoding balls (aka qigong balls) are good ways of keeping the hands supple and toned, especially for heavy mice users.  Speaking of youtubes:

[soaring crane]

any youtubes showing good exercises to accomplish this? Actually that's open to everyone.

 

[Aetherous]

healthy fascia...

 

any youtubes showing good exercises to accomplish this?  Actually that's open to everyone.

 

This book contains stretches based on the ELDOA work of Guy Voyer DO...the spinal stretches especially work to improve the whole body fascia. If you envision the fascia as a crumpled up piece of tissue paper, the stretches basically move and bind all four corners outward from each other, to straighten and lengthen the fabric at the center...so rather than fascial chains having adhesions or places where it binds for some reason, they are freed up and lengthened, with practice. Apparently the vertebrae have actually been shown to separate by a few millimeters naturally as a result of these stretches, so good for degenerative disc patients. There are also stretches for pretty much the whole body in that book, in the case of a problematic area.

 

Another thing...fascia has a tendency to become malleable or melt after a few minutes of tension. The fascia accommodates to what the body requires of it...so basically it's good to hold fascial stretches for a decent amount of time to allow the adaption to take place. These stretches can also be done with various tools...for instance putting a soft rubber ball on the IT band and putting your weight into it, then laying there for 10 minutes each side, can help release the fascia of the IT band. Any normal stretch can also become a fascial stretch by doing it for a longer time.

[vonkrankenhaus]

Here is one guy doing his rendition of Tid Sin Kuen, which is a muscle/tendon/marrow/organs exercise set somewhat based on the principles in DaMo's classic & 8 pieces of brocade, etc.

 

Notice the use of sounds, and of dynamic tension, as this is an exercise that uses locally-generated qi as well as grand circulation qi - there are different levels of doing this one, and not all appear in youtube videos yet.

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[thelerner]

Here is one guy doing his rendition of Tid Sin Kuen, which is a muscle/tendon/marrow/organs exercise set somewhat based on the principles in DaMo's classic & 8 pieces of brocade, etc.

 

Notice the use of sounds, and of dynamic tension,..

video? 

 

addon> I see a few on youtube, pretty complex stuff.  Looks like you'd need a teacher to do it right.

), Edited August 8, 2015 by thelerner

[Forwood]

Have you ever practiced the I Chin Ching?  --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yijin_Jing 

 

Strictly avoiding an inflamed condition would help.  This can be accomplished most easily through daily food intake.  

 

You mention you have some good nutritional knowledge, can you be more specific on what you've discovered regarding this?

[vonkrankenhaus]

Ooops - the video link didn't happen in my post.

 

Here is the link to one person's rendition of Tid Sin Kuen:

 

 

And here is another different way of doing it, which I find very entertaining and good:

 

 

There are several others of varying quality.

 

Perhaps the best versions would be Lam Cho or his sons doing this, but I am not aware of a link to anything like that right now.

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[Unseen_Abilities]

Have you tried a powerball. They work pretty well. Helped me with drumming.

The ENGL Powerball 100 Watt Head is a fine Amplifier for Guitarists all around the World! Thanks,for tendon strength what about Iron Body/Shirt?

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

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"Have you ever practiced the I Chin Ching?  --> https://en.wikipedia...iki/Yijin_Jing "

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That is one of the texts we are discussing without discussing. The other is "marrow/brain washing".

 

These are where many exercises have been develop from - 8 pieces of brocade, etc, etc.

 

Tid Sin is not literally derived from just these, but almost all "Iron Shirt" trainings use principles from them in some way.

 

And there are different levels of understanding of these, different levels of detail - but one basic principle is developing "local" qi by a kind of dynamic tension, concentrating and releasing it.

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus