Athlete Interview: Minna Tan

Personal Experiences With Tendonitis

Q1: Hey! So tell us a little bit about yourself
”Hi! I’m Minna and I’m a swimmer and a volleyball player. I’ve been swimming for about 8 years and just started playing volleyball 2 years ago. I started having symptoms of Tendonitis late 2021 around October.”

Q2: What was your initial reaction?
” Initially, I was denying the fact that I even had an injury because I’ve never been injured like that before.  Once it started getting worse, I couldn’t get through a single swim practice without getting out of the pool because of the pain.”

Q3: Did you try to do anything about it?
” I started to try and loosen my ankle and shoulder muscles by stretching before practice. When it didn’t get better, I took the months of April and May off, and that sort of made it better but not really. I have tried multiple things to help the injury heal; this includes icing, stretching, and even taking a month off exercise. Icing and taking it easy has shown great relief for me, but everyone’s body is different. Some people heal really fast, while others like me take over two years.”

Q4: Do you have any advice for others suffering from tendonitis?
” What I believe is the best course of action is taking rest and doing rehab at the same time, while seeing a certified doctor. Don’t push through it like it doesn’t exist, because that will only worsen the injury”