13/07/2026
Both hurt near a joint. They are not the same injury, and treating one like the other slows recovery.
Muscle strain: sudden onset, acute tissue damage, genuinely inflammatory in the early phase. Rest and protection make sense here briefly.
Tendinopathy: gradual onset from repetitive overload, not an inflammatory process, as we were taught. Resting it doesn't heal it, it just delays the progressive loading the tendon actually needs to remodel.
Same location, same "achy" complaint on the surface. Completely different pathophysiology, completely different plan.