This is from one of my other posts in the training board:
I noticed that often when I have elbow pain there's spasm in my triceps. It feels like knots in the muscle except you're not aware of it until you start poking around in that area. It's basically a trigger point that causes referred pain in the joint.
It can also impinge nerves and cause less blood circulation to the area where pain is felt.
Often if I pushed the muscle I could actually feel a tingling sensation running through the joint and right down my arm, giving a sensation of almost immediate relief.
The same applies to other parts of the body as well, I've read some studies that indicate that 80% of joint pain is muscular related and referred pain. Doctors like to diagnose 'tendinitis' very quickly but it's actually takes quite a lot to get this condition and is really quite rare.
For immediate relief of muscle spasm, acupuncture works the best in my experience. But if it's something like my elbow, then I just press it with my fingers or put a rubber ball against a wall and push my arm into that.
I've quickly gotten rid of a lot so-called injuries which I at first thought were very serious but were just muscles in very very tight spasm.
Here's an example of how much of an effect spasm can have:
About 2 months ago I thought I tore my biceps, the muscle was literally moving moving along quite strangely and it was almost impossibe to do a curl. The reason once again was the triceps. It was in severe spasm but I was unaware of it, instead I felt pain in the biceps and the tendon connecting to my elbow.
But within days after getting rid of the spasm my arm was fine.
If I had gone to a doctor it would have probably been cortisone and as usual the doctor would focus on the joint instead of the MUSCLES causing the referred pain
When one muscle contracts, the opposing muscle stretches, but if it is in spasm it can't stretch properly as the other contracts and this is what causing the opposing muscle to feel weak and for the tendons to feels pain. The muscle is so tight that it literally pulls against the tendon, often near the bone and the joint.
So get rid of the spasm, do some stretches and the 'tendonitis' will go away.
But always reduce the spasm before stretching otherwise you make the spasm worse then it contracts even more.