Few Important Things to Know About Tennis Elbow
If you feel radiating pain in the elbow after involving in activities that demand continuous movements of the wrist and arm, you might be suffering from tennis elbow. This condition happens due to overburdened tendon muscles of your elbow. Tennis elbow is not only common to sports persons but also to the people involved in the type of work demanding the exertion of arms and wrist. These work types include plumbing, carpentering, painting, etc.
The specific location of the radiating pain of the tennis elbow is where the connective tissue of your forearm and elbow. As it is already said that this is a radiating type of pain, therefore it can also spread to your wrists in some cases.
Tennis elbow is usually treated by preventing wrist and arm movements, over-the-counter medication, or some medical procedure. In this blog, we will discuss certain dimensions of tennis elbow such as its symptoms, causes, etc.
Tennis elbow symptoms
In tennis elbow, symptoms do not develop rapidly rather a weak pain gradually intensifies and other symptoms become prominent with time too. It takes from weeks to months for symptoms of tennis elbow to become completely apparent. These symptoms do not commonly show any sign of injury.
Some of the common symptoms of this condition are:
- Radiating pain in the elbow
- Burning sensation in the elbow and forearm
- No strength in the grip
The most important sign of the tennis elbow is that the pain intensifies with the movement of the arm and wrist from the tasks such as holding something, twisting the wrist, or shaking someone’s hand. Usually, in this condition, your dominant arm becomes the victim of it.
What causes tennis elbow
As stated above, the condition of the tennis elbow is caused due to the overburden in the specific connective tissue of the forearm muscles. This connective tissue connects the forearm muscle to the elbow and provides stabilization to the hand and wrist while keeping the elbow straight. The damage to this tendon, which is connective tissue, is caused by overwork or wear and tear. This results in swelling and inflammation in this region as the blood rushes to the point of damage.
Sometimes osteoarthritis in the elbow is a big contributor to the development of the tennis elbow due to a gradual tear in the muscle of the elbow that connects it with the forearm.
Risk factors of tennis elbow
It is very obvious that athletes come in the first category of people who are at high risk of developing tennis elbow. Apart from them, there are other people involved in vigorous activities who suffer from tennis elbow more often than normal people. These people mostly use their forearm and wrist muscles at least every day.
Many workers like painters, cooks, butchers, and carpenters remain at high risk of this condition. Moreover, there are a few risk factors that contribute to the development of tennis elbow:
- Age: People at the higher end of the age spectrum tend to remain at high risk of this disease
- Type of work: As explained above, certain job occupations involve the continuous wrist and arm movements making the person doing it more prone to this problem
- Type of sports: Athletes do remain at high risk of tennis elbow but some specific sports tend to be more risky with respect to the development of this condition. In particular sports like tennis comes under this category
Diagnosis of tennis elbow
When it comes to the diagnosis of tennis elbow, your doctor will take every symptom and risk factor into account before making any decision about the tests involved in this stage of treatment. Some of the tests included in the diagnosis of tennis elbow are as follows:
- MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging gives clear pictures of connective tissue in which the doctor suspects the damage
- X-Ray: This test gives images of bones to determine whether there is any hand of bone disease to cause tennis elbow
- EMG: This test is done to determine any problem in the nerve to rule out the potential nerve damage that might be causing the disease
Treatment of tennis elbow
There are numerous treatment options for tennis elbow depending upon the cause and intensity of this condition. Some of the treatment options for this disease are as follows:
- Taking plenty of rest
- Medicines to reduce the pain
- Physiotherapy: This includes certain targeted exercises for muscle strengthening and some heat therapies for better healing
- Steroid treatment
- Surgery
Conclusion
Tennis elbow is not a rare disease. It is certainly more common in athletes but many people from different job profiles and day to day activities face this issue too. It is necessary for people to explain their symptoms to the doctor for better diagnosis and treatment.
At Om Physio Plus Nutrition precession in diagnosis is guaranteed for making the treatment more personalized to the patients.