What is causing my elbow pain? Understanding Tennis Elbow.
What is causing my elbow pain? Understanding Tennis Elbow written by Jack Myles - Physiotherapist
I think most people will experience some form of elbow pain throughout their life. For some people, this will come and go without a second thought. But for others it can linger and become one of the most frustrating injuries to have. Elbow pain might not seem like a big deal at first but without proper management it can sometimes lead to ongoing symptoms and longer recovery times.
What is Tennis Elbow and can I get it without playing tennis?
During activities that involve a lot of gripping or repetitive movements with your hands, the forces this requires sometimes exceeds our forearm tendons ability to cope. Your wrist extensors (the ones you would use if you were revving a bike throttle) run from the top of your hands and fingers to the outside of your elbow. When these muscles and tendons become overworked, they can become inflamed and lead to pain into the outside of your elbow.
And despite the name, you DON’T need to play tennis to develop tennis elbow. It can affect anyone who regularly performs repetitive gripping or lifting activities, whether at work, at home, or during sport.
Common Tennis elbow symptoms:
Sharp or burny pain on the outside of your elbow
Weakness through your forearm
Pain that often comes and goes without fully getting better
How long does Tennis elbow take to heal?
In most cases with proper rehab, this can take anywhere between 3 to 8 weeks depending on the severity of the injury. However if left untreated, tennis elbow can become a chronic condition that can last 6+ months.
I always ask my patients to imagine stubbing their toe. And then to keep stubbing it every day over a week. The toe isn’t going to get any better right? The same principle applies for tennis elbow. If you are consistently putting your tendons under load that it can’t cope with, it can become at risk of becoming chronically inflamed. Which can lead to degradation of the tendon sometimes causing life long damage.
What can I do to help my tendon heal?
The first step to helping your tendon heal is offloading it to settle down the pain to a manageable level. Tendons don’t get as much blood supply as muscles do, so we have to load them up in a non-aggravating way to help them heal. We usually recommend low level isometric exercises (muscle working but not moving e.g planks) as a starting point. If this isn’t enough to get your pain and function better, I recommend going to see your physio.
How does physiotherapy help with tennis elbow?
Physiotherapy is key for tennis elbow rehab. The biggest risk with tennis elbow is creating a vicious cycle where your tendon is continually being overworked and doesn’t have the chance to properly heal. If this happens, long term inflammation in the tendon can lead to degradation of the tissue, making it more difficult to rehab further down the line. Your physio will identify the specific areas you need to work on and create a tailored rehabilitation program to get you back on track. Some of the treatment that your physio may include are:
Soft tissue release or dry needling
Taping or bracing
Education
The good news is that tennis elbow is almost always funded under ACC. Rehab Co is an ACC-registered provider, so if you’ve injured your elbow, come in and see me at the Christchurch clinic (Jack ) or one of our team to get an assessment and get your rehab process started.
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