Tennis Elbow

What is Tennis Elbow?

Tennis Elbow is most often caused by repeatedly overusing your arm. This overuse causes inflammation in the tendon. If you continue to do the activity that caused the pain, it may worsen and could cause a more serious tear or rupture your tendon. The medical term for tennis elbow is lateral epicondylitis because it affects the outside of your elbow bone, which is called the lateral epicondyle. The lateral epicondyle is the bony area you can feel on the outside of your elbow.

What causes it?

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.

How can we help?

Your physiotherapist at Davenport House Clinic may try various techniques to reduce the pain. These may include exercises, deep tissue massage and acupuncture.

You may also be shown exercises to do that stretch your muscles and that can improve the movement and strength of your elbow and wrist. You should start these exercises as soon as possible after any injury, when your pain has eased. Your physiotherapist will be able to advise you on this.