Tennis elbow affects the majority of persons who do not play tennis. Tennis elbow affects fewer than 5% of persons who play the sport. Anyone who utilises their elbow, wrist, or hand repeatedly for their employment, sport, or pastime might develop tennis elbow.
What Is Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis?
Tennis elbow is a painful condition caused by misuse of your arm and forearm’s “extensor” muscles, especially where the tendons join to rounded projections of bone (epicondyles) on the outer or lateral face of the elbow. All of the muscles in your hand that grip, twist, and carry objects attach to the “lateral epicondyle” near the elbow. As a result, a movement of the wrist or hand can actually produce elbow pain.
Tennis elbow is caused by prolonged wrist and hand use, such as while using a computer or running machinery — and, of course, when playing tennis with an inappropriate grip or technique. Athletes, non-athletes, children, and adults are all susceptible. It affects adults between the ages of 30 and 50 and is more common in men than in women.
Signs and Symptoms of Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow symptoms might appear quickly as a result of using the wrist and hand excessively for activities that involve force, such as lifting, twisting, or pulling. Extensor muscle fibres can be injured by vigorous movements, such as pulling hard on a lawn mower starter cord, resulting in tennis elbow.
Tennis elbow symptoms usually appear gradually over a period of weeks or months as a result of repetitive or violent use of the wrist, hand, and elbow. If you work as a grocery store cashier, you may get tennis elbow as a result of repetitive (and frequently too forceful) typing, as well as constant lifting of food bags.
Your symptoms may include:
- Radiating pain in your forearm and wrist
- Difficulty performing everyday chores like opening a doorknob or carrying a coffee cup
- Gripping activities are difficult.
- When you use your wrist and hand to lift objects, open jars, or grip anything securely, such as a knife and fork, you may have more pain.
- Stiffness in the elbow
- Weakness in the wrist, hand, or forearm
Diagnosis
Tennis elbow is caused by repetitive movements. Other muscles and joints in this area of the body may be impacted as a result. Your physiotherapist at Physiotouch Courtice will thoroughly examine not only your elbow, but also other parts of your body that may be affected and contributing to your pain.
Your therapist will use unique manual tests to diagnose the problem and rule out disorders like muscle weakness that could have caused the issue in the first place. The therapist may, for example, ask you to gently tighten or stretch the uncomfortable muscles in order to pinpoint the specific site of the problem. An x-ray is rarely needed to diagnose this illness.
Tennis Elbow Treatment
The First 24 to 48 Hours
For the first 24 to 48 hours after acute onset of your pain, treatment includes:
- Resting the arm by skipping some tasks and changing how you undertake others
- Using ice treatments for 10-20 minutes
- To relieve the pressure on the aching muscles, use elastic bandages or supports.
Your physiotherapist at Physiotouch Courtice will advise you on whether or not you should wear a brace or support to protect your muscles while they recuperate. Treatments such as cortisone injections or surgery may be required in some circumstances. Your physiotherapist can assist you in determining whether or not you require a referral to another medical professional.
Your physiotherapist can create a customised treatment plan to help you recover faster. You will very certainly be expected to conduct exercises and other treatments at home. Your physiotherapist may also employ manual therapy, customised exercises, and ice or heat treatments, or a combination of the two, to assist ease discomfort.
It’s critical to treat a “acute” instance of tennis elbow—one that developed within the last several weeks—as soon as possible. Tennis elbow, if left untreated, can become chronic and linger for months, if not years. This is especially true if your treatment focuses just on pain relief and ignores the muscle weakness and unhealthy habits that may have contributed to your problem.
Improve Your Ability to Move
Manual therapy may be used by your physiotherapist to help your joints and muscles move more easily and with less pain.
Improve Your Strength
Tennis elbow is caused by a lack of muscle strength. The muscles of the wrist and forearm can be weak at times. The difficulty is often caused by a lack of strength in the supporting postural, or “core,” muscles. In fact, you may find that improving your general fitness is required to assist manage your elbow ailment. Your physiotherapist can select the type and number of exercises that are appropriate for you based on the results of the evaluation.
Physiotherapists recommend a variety of activities to help you heal from tennis elbow:
- Your therapist may offer passive exercises to move your wrist and elbow without using your muscles early in the treatment, when the discomfort is the worst.
- As your symptoms improve, you will be able to actively move your wrist and elbow without help.
- You will be able to use weights or resistance bands to further boost your strength as the muscles become stronger and the symptoms lessen. To ensure that you continue to progress and prevent re-injuring your muscles, the amount of weight you lift must be properly managed.
Use Your Muscles the Right Way
Your physiotherapist can assist you in retraining your muscles to ensure proper use. When lifting a large supermarket bag, for example, the muscles surrounding your shoulder blade and trunk should contract to give support for your arm muscles. This simple action, which can be taught to you by a physiotherapist, can help you return to your daily activities while avoiding re-injury by reducing the stress on the affected muscles.
Return to Your Activities
Your physiotherapist at Physiotouch Courtice will educate you how to alter your regular routines to avoid discomfort and future damage, so you can stay active. Changes are sometimes necessary at work, on the sporting field, or at home. To relieve the strain on your hand, wrist, and forearm, your physiotherapist can help you make easy changes to your work environment, computer setup, kitchen items, sports equipment, and even gardening tools. Your therapist will stress the need of stretching pauses to give your muscles a break from repetitive activities and standing or sitting in the same position for long periods of time.
Book your appointment Today! If you require alternate appointment times, please contact us and we will gladly assist you with your reservation.
What to Expect on Your First Visit:
- At Physiotouch Courtice, you will register with our friendly front office staff.
- A comprehensive assessment by a Physiotherapist or other Health Care Provider will take you through a detailed history of your major physical concern, assessment of your range of motion and strength, as well as a variety of special tests specific to your injury or dysfunction. These assessment findings are analyzed and used to create a clinical impression. This will help us to better identifying and understanding your problem and formulating an effective treatment plan tailored specifically for your needs and to achieve the realistic goals. This treatment plan could involve a number of things including therapeutic exercises, therapeutic modalities, manual mobilizations, massage, patient and family education, activity modification, home exercise programs, supervised exercise programs and many others.
- There will be some treatments performed the first day to get you started on your path to recovery. However, during the next visits you will get into all aspects of your treatment plan.
- Our staff will help you scheduling your next visits at Physiotouch Courtice as per treatment plan recommended by related Health Care Provider. We offer many convenient appointment times, however, prime times can become busy, so it is best to book ahead as much as possible.
- If you have any questions at any time, please do not hesitate to call. We want to ensure your satisfaction and full recovery.
Before Your First Visit
- You will receive a confirmation email shortly after booking your appointment.
- This email will contain some forms which you can fill out and sign from your device in handy.
- If you have any questions, ask us before signing the form.
- If you are not able to access the forms online, please arrive 15 minutes early for your first appointment so that we can help you with the paperwork.
- Make a list of questions that you want to discuss on your first visit.
- Bring with you if you have any imaging reports (i.e.) X-rays, Ultrasound/MRI (etc.) and doctor’s referral.
- Bring with you a copy of your insurance card and a photo ID.