Tennis Elbow - April 18, 2016

What do professional tennis players and desk workers have in common? Both suffer from the incredibly common condition of ‘Tennis Elbow’. It is a condition of repetitive stress on the forearm muscles, causing pain and inflammation on the side of the elbow.
 
Although it is usually linked to tennis players, it more commonly occurs with desk workers due to repetitive tasks such as typing and clicking a computer mouse, or backhanding a shot in tennis.
 
Why does the pain occur at the elbow? The best analogy is to think of your forearm muscles like strands of hair attached to your scalp; as you constantly tug at the strands, their attachment site at the scalp becomes sore and painful. As you repetitively stretch your forearm muscles they tug on the elbow bone and cause pain.
 
In the acute stages, make sure to rest the area from the aggravating activity, follow this up with ice application to limit pain and swelling. If after 72 hours there is still pain consult one of our rehab specialists. Treatment for long-term tennis elbow includes therapeutic ultrasound, electrotherapy and physical therapy exercises.
 
To prevent severe Tennis Elbow:

• Limit the amount of typing and clicking you do in a day
• Don’t play racquet sports with excessively thick handle grip
• Avoid playing through the pain, and consult a chiropractor or therapist

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