Tennis Elbow

Do you get pain gripping or lifting things? Pain turning a key? Shaking someone’s hand? Or turning a door knob? 

Tennis elbow (aka lateral epicondylalgia) is a painful and stubborn issue that gives you pain on the outside of your elbow. It is an irritation of the tendon to bone attachment associated with muscles that control gripping, and wrist extension (think revving a motorcycle). It’s a bit weird that tennis elbow has more to do with the wrist than the elbow! 

It often begins after doing something very repetitive with your wrist, particularly something new. Think painting the house, lots of extra computer work, or even playing tennis 😂.  

So, what can you do? 

Stopping the activities that cause pain is really important. If you need extra pain relief, ice or over the counter pain relief can be helpful. 

A diagnosis is really important, because there are some nerve and joint issues that present in a very similar area to tennis elbow. So having a physiotherapist assess your elbow is important to make sure you’re on the right path.  

How can we help? 

We will provide an accurate diagnosis and rounded treatment plan to get you on the right path. A treatment plan should include: modifications to aggravating activities, so you can keep working and living without disruption; an exercise program, to improve the strength of your tendons; and pain relief strategies, so you can take the pain away yourself. Other short term treatments like massage, dry needling, and taping can also help.  

If you have tennis elbow and need help managing it, give us a call, we’d love to help 🙂.