Tennis Elbow

A health condition most often associated with tennis playing arm trauma, tennis elbow has been diagnosed for patients who have never practiced the sport in their lives. The formal name that is found in medical books is lateral epicondylitis which in popular language represents the inflammation of the outside elbow bone. Many doctors believe that this condition has much more to do with middle age than with tennis playing or overuse of the elbow. So, it seems, there are no specific pieces of evidence to support that tennis is the real cause of this problem. Yet, the fact that it is pretty common among tennis players has brought the name and the reputation.

If you are not sure as to whether you may have this condition, the symptoms to be identified are as follows. First of all, tennis elbow causes pain in the outer part of the elbow and the appearance of a tender point in the upper part of the elbow bone. Moreover, when one turns the wrist or lifts an object the pain can extend not only to the elbow but to the wrist joint too. Last but not least, another often noticed manifestation is the elbow and wrist stiffness after lack of movement over the night.

If you need to be diagnosed, then going to the doctor would be a smart thing. The most common tests for the identification of tennis elbow is radiography and MRI. Apparently, surgery does not fix the problem as the radiographies are not very evidence-wise as to stating whether surgery is definitely needed and likely to be successful. However treatments do exist and they have brought improvement in the case of many tennis elbow patients. Among the many options for treatment to be resorted to we can mention the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, the application of heat or ice and the wearing of a special elbow strap to make sure that strain on the elbow will be reduced.

The strap would most likely work as a prevention method as by wearing it you would avoid your elbow receiving even more damage than it has already suffered. Acupuncture, the use of splints for immobilizing the forearm and elbow, cortisone shots or ultrasound treatments represent only a few other medical approaches to the tennis elbow condition.