Tendinosis

Tendinosis refers to a degenerative process within a tendon without histologic changes. Tendinopathy is a failure of the healing cascade in which micro injuries occur more quickly than tissue repair. Traditionally, tendon injuries causing pain, swelling, reduced function, and potential histological changes have been classified as tendinitis for acute or subacute cases and tendinosis for chronic cases. Tendinopathy is commonly used as an umbrella term for acute and chronic tendinitis, tendon ruptures, and tenosynovitis, which is inflammation of the tendinous sheath and paratenon tissue. The term tendinopathy has recently been further refined into 3 separate conditions: 1. Tendinitis: Inflammatory cell-mediated histologic changes. 2. Tenosynovitis: Inflammation of paratenon (tendon-surrounding tissue). 3. Tendinosis: Degenerative overuse injuries causing tendinosis  . Spontaneous tears and ruptures are often included in the literature describing tendinopathies, as they often result from the failure of healing in the other 3 conditions.