The first aim with managing tendinopathy is often to reduce pain. It is usually the most troubling symptom for a patient and pain can lead to reduced activity, fear avoidance and muscle weakness. With the pain managed you are then able to focus on maintaining range of movement through the ankle and appropriate loading as already instructed by your physiotherapist. You should work into pain during these exercises but ideally, this should not exceed any more than 3 out of 10 on your self-perceived pain scale.

This is the next progression. More focus is placed on improving strength through controlled, progressive training using relatively heavy loads.

This approach is supported by the results of nearly all studies of tendinopathy management where a well-designed, resistance exercise program was considered the primary intervention ⁽⁴⁾.