Same. Suffered from chronic tendonitis in my shoulders. Cortisone shots helped tremendously but it kept coming back once I resumed lifting. 11 months off lifting and it immediately returned once I resumed and thought I was going to have to give up lifting altogether.
Read some studies about Tumeric and thought... what the heck, easy and cheap enough to try it out. Absolutely unexpected results taking 1000mg daily. Tendonitis gone and hasn't returned after years now of constant heavy lifting. New PRs and blood work show extremely low inflammation (c reactive protein).
Later found our my friend, a house cleaner, thought she was going to have to retire early because of arthritis in her hands and she couldn't afford to. She too tried it with low expectations but she swears by it like I do.
Maybe it doesn't work for everyone and maybe they'll figure out why someday... I don't know. It's absolutely changed my life though. Simple and fairly inexpensive, and for me at least it works.