Tennis Elbow- Meaning , symptoms, Causes , Treatment, Prevention

Meaning of Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is a common condition that affects between one and three in 100 people.
Tennis elbow most often happens when you have repeatedly overused your arm. This overuse causes inflammation or tiny tears in the tendon. This may become worse if you continue doing the activity that triggered the pain and may cause a more serious tear or rupture your tendon.

Symptoms of tennis elbow

The main symptom is pain and tenderness on the outside of your elbow and sometimes in the muscles on top of your forearm. Tennis elbow usually affects the arm of your dominant hand (eg your right arm if you're right handed) because this is the arm you use the most. Symptoms usually develop gradually. The pain may get worse when you move your wrist or if you repeat the activity that triggered the pain. The pain may become constant. Your affected arm may also be more painful when you grip or twist something, such as turning a door handle or shaking hands. If you have severe elbow pain, can't move the joint or have any loss of feeling, you should seek urgent medical attention.


Causes of tennis elbow

The most common cause of tennis elbow is repeated overuse of your arm. Playing tennis three times in a week when you haven't played for some time is the sort of overuse that could cause tennis elbow. However, most people who develop tennis elbow haven't been playing tennis. A range of different activities that involve repeated hand, wrist and forearm movements is more often the cause. This includes activities like using a screwdriver, using vibratory work equipment (such as a drill), or even using a keyboard.

Rarely, tendon damage can happen after a single and often minor incident, such as lifting something heavy or taking part in an activity which you don't do very often, such as painting and decorating. These activities can cause a tear in your tendon.

Treatment of tennis elbow

To make a full recovery, you will need to change the way you use your arm so that your tendon is rested and has time to heal. How you do this will depend on how your tennis elbow developed and how severe it is.

Self-help

You can treat your symptoms yourself if you have mild tennis elbow. Some of the main self-help treatments are described below.

Rest. The most important part of your treatment is to rest your injured tendon and elbow by stopping or changing the activity that is causing the problem.

Apply a cold compress to reduce your pain. You can use a cold compress, such as ice or a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel as soon as you feel any pain. Hold this against your elbow for 10 minutes every two hours. In the days that follow an injury you can use the ice pack for 10 minutes twice a day. Don't apply ice directly to your skin as it can damage your skin.

Wear strapping or a splint. You can wear strapping or a splint around your forearm and elbow to help restrict the movement of your tendon and relieve the strain. Some people find that this helps, although there is no evidence to show how well it works. You can buy arm braces and supports from some physiotherapists, larger pharmacies and sports shops. Don't wear any strapping or a splint continuously - you should leave it off at night time.

Change the action that caused the problem. If the problem developed as a result of an activity at work, contact your employer's occupational health advisers, if available, or speak with your employer. They can give advice on how to change the activity that caused the problem, allowing your arm to heal.


Prevention tennis elbow

Tennis elbow is usually caused by overuse of your arm, so it can be prevented. A few sensible precautions include:

warm up before activity with five minutes of gentle movements - this allows time for your muscles to adjust to the extra stresses and strains
try not to do the same activity for long periods of time - take regular breaks
seek advice early from your GP or physiotherapist if you notice a problem
stop the activity that's causing the problem or find a different way to do it.

To prevent an old tennis elbow injury from coming back, you should:

give yourself proper rest between sessions
don't play sport if your arm is painful
get professional advice on your technique if you play racquet sports regularly
perform exercises to strengthen the tendon in your arm, as advised by your physiotherapist