azgreg
I'll just add to what I said 4 years ago. If it's a sharp pain and came on rather quickly it most likely is tendonitis and you could have some inflammation and depending on your pain tolerance could play thru it while it heals. In that case NSAIDS and ice may help. It's most likely not a significant tear, but rather small tears.
I've tried everything as I mention before including minimally invasive surgery, acupuncture, physical therapy, eccentric exercises with the rubber Theraband bars and long periods of rest. The consensus now seems to be that unless you have a major tear (unlikely in most cases) that using it opposed to resting it is the way to go.
I still get it from time to time and now I play thru it, where I used to let it rest. I always where a Band It and when it bothers me I use a cream that helps with the pain. But again, everyone is different and responds differently. There's the old adage that if it came on quickly it may alleviate and go away quickly.
Mine was always slow in developing and I never had static or at rest pain. Mine was golf specific. So mine was tendinosis where there's no inflammation, and the tiny tears of tissue were dead and just needed to go thru the stages of my body making the different collagens until it gets to the final stage, where the replacement tissue was regenerated and strong enough to withstand the stress. That can take a long time.
And again, the reason it takes so long to heal is because tendons don't have the blood supply muscles do. If I were rich I'd try stem cell therapy where they use stem cells to help regenerate the damaged tissue much faster. But insurance doesn't cover it at least when I looked at it.
Anyway, I'm not a doctor, but have a lot of experience with this type injury. The bottom line is they still don't have a good understanding of this injury. Again, what works for one might not work for another. Good Luck.
Oh, and stay away from cortisone shots. Unless you have a lot of pain. Cortisone degenerates tissue and while you may get fast pain relief, it'll take much longer to heal in the long run in order to regenerate the tissue.