Tennis Elbow - Lateral Epicondylitis Treatment in Northern Indiana

What is Tennis Elbow?

Tennis elbow, also called lateral epicondylitis, is a painful condition that happens when the tendons in your elbow are overworked. This usually happens when you move your wrist and arm over and over again in the same motions.

Even though it's called "tennis elbow," it doesn't just happen to tennis players. People like competitive swimmers, plumbers, painters, carpenters, and butchers do repetitive movements that can lead to tennis elbow.

Tennis Elbow Symptoms

The signs of tennis elbow come on over time. Most of the time, the pain starts out mild and gets worse slowly over weeks or months. Most of the time, symptoms don't start because of a specific injury.

Some common symptoms and signs of tennis elbow are:

• The outside of your elbow hurts or burns
• Weak grip strength
• Pain at night occasionally

When you use your forearms to do things like hold a racquet, turn a wrench, or shake your hands, the symptoms often get worse. Most of the time, tennis elbow affects your stronger, dominant side, but it can happen with either arm.

What Causes Tennis Elbow?

Tennis elbow is a muscle strain and overuse injury. The muscles in your forearm that you use to straighten and raise your hand and wrist are to blame. Because of the repeated motions and stress on the tissue, the tendons that connect the muscles in your forearm to the bony bump on the outside of your elbow may develop a series of small tears.

As the name suggests, tennis elbow can be caused by playing tennis, especially when the backhand stroke is used over and over again with bad form. But tennis elbow can also be caused by many other common arm movements, such as:

• Using plumbing tools
• Painting
• Putting screws in
• Cutting up ingredients for cooking, especially meat
• Using a computer mouse repetitively

Tennis Elbow Treatment

Tennis elbow often gets better with nonsurgical treatments, in fact, about 80-95% of patients have success with nonsurgical solutions. But if these measures aren't helping, your doctor may suggest a surgical approach.

Nonsurgical treatment may include:

• RICE therapy
• Medication
• Physical therapy
• Bracing
• Steroid injections
• Proper sports equipment

If your symptoms do not improve after 6 to 12 months of nonsurgical treatments, your doctor may recommend surgery.

Most surgeries for tennis elbow involve removing damaged muscle and reattaching healthy muscle to bone.

Several things will affect which type of elbow surgery is best for you. These include how bad your injury is, how your health is in general, and what your personal needs are. Your options may include arthroscopic surgery as well as open surgery.

Tennis Elbow Care in Michiana

Contact the skilled and experienced orthopedic providers at OSMC to find out what can be done about your elbow pain. Call OSMC at (574)319-1675 or book your appointment now. We hope to see you at one of our eight convenient locations. We serve patients from Michiana (Northern Indiana) and the Southwest Michigan area.