Do you experience pain in the muscles on the outside of your elbow and tender to touch?
Is this pain worse with activities involving raising your wrist? Carrying shopping bags? Typing on your computer for some period of time?
Do you experience increasing pain and difficulty gripping and lifting objects?
Chances are you have ‘tennis elbow’! This common elbow overuse injury is also known as lateral epicondylalgia. Ironically, this condition is seen more commonly outside of tennis despite its name.
It is likely to happen after repetitive strain or overload on the forearm tendons that extend your wrist (resulting in extensor tendinopathy). Perhaps you increased your gym routine? Worked overtime in your office desk job – scrambling to complete that report by the deadline? Or perhaps you actually played some tennis or racquet sports?
Tennis elbow involves degeneration of fibres within the tendon due to microscopic tears and irritation. Physiotherapy plays a pivotal role in assessing and managing this condition to reduce pain and inflammation (in its acute stage), improve the function of your elbow, degeneration of the tendon, and avoid surgery (rarely necessary after physiotherapy).
Physiotherapy may include:
- Advice including activity modification to reduce aggravation specific to your tasks
- Ice/cryotherapy in acute presentations
- Taping or fitting a counterforce brace
- Manual therapy – including massage and joint mobilisation
- Rehabilitation – exercise therapy to restore muscle and tendon strength and overall function
We understand how this condition can significantly affect your life, work and exercise/gym! While it can last from months to years of pain – physiotherapy greatly reduces the implications and duration of this condition and prevents it from re-occurring.
Get assessed for you elbow pain by our Physiotherapists at Bend + Mend in Sydney’s CBD for an accurate diagnosis and start your recovery early.
