Elbow pain… It doesn’t have to come from playing tennis or golf! By far the most common cause of elbow pain is extensor (or flexor) tendinopathy. Excessive DIY, heavy gardening or faulty grip technique can tighten the wrist and forearm muscles and irritate the muscle tendons. Gripping or lifting at certain angles can produce sharp pains near the bony points either side of the elbow.
Commonly called tennis or golfers elbow or lateral/medial epicondylitis. Originally thought to be an inflammatory condition the elbow rarely becomes inflamed. Instead the pain has recently been classified as epicondylalgia or tendon pain caused by fibre ‘disarray’ or degeneration.
Anatomy
The picture below shows the extensor muscles of the hand and wrist. A large proportion of the hand and wrist muscles all converge onto a relatively small surface area either side of the elbow joint. Therefore the tendons can be subject to excessive tension potentially causing elbow pain.
Primarily it’s an overuse injury which can occur in hours, weeks or months depending on intensity of activity. Tendons have a relatively poor blood supply and no single treatment has proven to to be wholly effective in treating the condition. The condition is most common in people 30 – 50 years old.
Treatment for Elbow Pain
Resting from aggravating activity and using ‘POLICE ‘ regime is the first remedy for elbow pain or tennis elbow. Trigger point therapy to forearm muscles has proven very effective against acute and chronic epicondylalgia. Regular, gentle stretching of the forearm muscles can also help. Please see the video we produced demonstrating the best stretches to practice below:
A ‘tennis elbow’ brace is recommend if your work is unavoidably aggravating your elbow pain. The brace works by slightly compressing the forearm muscles just below the elbow thereby offloading tension from the tendons at the elbow when carrying or griping anything repetitively. Position the brace about 1-2 inches down from the elbow.
Gentle strengthening exercises that have proven to be helpful for this condition include finger extension and flexion exercises. For instance squeezing a ball and opening your fingers when wrapped up in an elastic band. If it’s known that you have weak forearm muscles then specific dumbbell wrist exercises could help – but be careful they do not aggravate the condition. Ask a sport coach if you suspect faulty grip or technique could be causing the injury.
Other causes of Elbow Pain
Although less common, other causes of elbow pain could be:
- Posterior Interosseous Nerve Syndrome – trapped nerve in the arm radiating pain into elbow
- Osteoarthritis of elbow
- Elbow Joint fracture or Subluxation / Dislocation
- ‘Little Leagues Elbow’ in children / adolescents
- Referred pain from neck or shoulder
Our therapists can help with ‘tennis’ or ‘golfers’ elbow with soft tissue treatments including sports massage and trigger point therapy. You can check availability and book an appointment at our Marlow High Street clinic here
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