Things you need to know
- Tennis elbow can affect not just athletes by anyone whose jobs include too much motion like plumbers, carpenters, and butchers
- Tennis elbow is a usually self-diagnosed problem and is well treated by a medical professional
- Incorrect posture and overuse of the forearm muscle can lead to tennis elbow
- As many as around 50% of the tennis plays have been detected with tennis elbow
Overview
Tennis elbow, also known as lateral epicondylitis, is an irritation or a condition that affects the tendons where they are attached to the elbow caused due to the repetitive wrist and arm motions leading to severe pain in the arm.
Sports, aggressive workouts, and moving your wrist more than necessary can damage the muscles and tendons. Even a slight movement of the arm becomes difficult due to the unbearable pain in the tissue connecting the forearm muscle to the elbow.
Causes of tennis elbow pain
- Repeating movement of the forearm makes it difficult even to straighten out the arm
- The incorrect technique of playing tennis can cause a sudden twist in the arm
- Involved in activities that require too much movement of the arms like throwing the ball, playing tennis, swimming, playing badminton, etc.
- Manual work like lifting heavy weights, doing carpentry, cooking day and night in the kitchen either at home or a restaurant and doing plumber work
- Lack of strength in your arms can also lead to tennis elbow
The above mentioned are some common possible causes of tennis elbow.
Symptoms of tennis elbow
Symptoms of tennis elbow are self-diagnosed, below are some of the common symptoms to look out for
- Pain even while holding a glass of water
- Severe and unbearable pain that gets worse with time
- If you feel swelling outside the elbow to the forearm, making it challenging to move comfortably
- Pain while trying to fold leaving you with weak grip strength as well
- Essential functions like writing, lifting, and turning a doorknob becomes difficult
Treatment of tennis elbow injury
It is essential to treat tennis elbow because it surely starts to affect your everyday life.
- Over-the-counter medications as prescribed
- Physiotherapy can help strengthen forearm muscles and improve the grip
- Massage the affected area twice a day
- Use muscle strengthening techniques to help reduce the pain
- Relax and rest to give tendons time to heal
- Use anti-inflammatory or pain-relieving ointment as recommended
- A removable support brace can help relieve the tension and stress of tendons and muscles
- Wear a brace to allow the tendons and muscles to relax and soothe the inflammation
- When the pain and soreness just won’t go away, a steroid injection may be one of the last resort.
- The patient might need surgery if no treatments as mentioned above work
