Guest guest Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 A painful Achilles tendon could be a sign of an inherited tendency to have high cholesterol, which carries a high risk of early heart disease as we know. If a patient comes in with severe Achilles tendon pain it might be worth doing a cholesterol test. The link between Achilles tendon pain and so-called " heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia " - - or HeFH (I know this is a bit technical). One feature of untreated HeFH is that cholesterol is deposited not only in the arteries but also at certain sites in tendons. This may lead to swelling and painful inflammation of the Achilles tendon. I have had a few patients with painful and swollen Achilles tendon and checked their cholesterol level to find it was quite high. I thought I would share this with the group as it is something to bear in mind and also in obese patients which obviously have a tendancy to have a higher cholesterol level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi Joanna & All, Joanna wrote: > A painful Achilles tendon could be a sign of an inherited tendency to > have high cholesterol, which carries a high risk of early heart disease > as we know... 1. In the TCM Theory, the two Channels closest to Achilles tendon are KI (medial) and BL (lateral) and Wood (LV/GB) " Controls Sinew " . There is a clear connection between cholesterol and LV/GB DysFx but I see no clear connection between BL/KI and cholesterol. Am I missing something? 2. Also, if DysFx of LV/GB causes hypercholesterolaemia, and Wood Controls Sinew, why are sinew (tendon) pains confined to the Achilles, and not (for example) tendons of the upper limb? Comments anyone? Best regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 This is very interesting, as I had a new patient with this combination of symptoms come in just yesterday! On Mar 7, 2007, at 3:21 AM, joannaeriddell wrote: > A painful Achilles tendon could be a sign of an inherited tendency to > have high cholesterol, which carries a high risk of early heart > disease > as we know. If a patient comes in with severe Achilles tendon pain it > might be worth doing a cholesterol test. The link between Achilles > tendon pain and so-called " heterozygous familial > hypercholesterolemia " - > - or HeFH (I know this is a bit technical). One feature of untreated > HeFH is that cholesterol is deposited not only in the arteries but > also > at certain sites in tendons. This may lead to swelling and painful > inflammation of the Achilles tendon. > > I have had a few patients with painful and swollen Achilles tendon and > checked their cholesterol level to find it was quite high. I thought I > would share this with the group as it is something to bear in mind and > also in obese patients which obviously have a tendancy to have a > higher > cholesterol level. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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