TENNIS ELBOW

Lateral Epicondylalgia or tennis elbow is the most common type of elbow injury that Physiotherapists see. Just as it is common, it is also commonly misdiagnosed. The aim of this blog is to educate you on what Tennis Elbow is, who it affects and how we fix it.

Unlike some injuries, Tennis Elbow has a wide range of causes. Tennis Elbow is most commonly derived from racquet sports with some studies showing that up to 40% of tennis players suffer from it (hence the name!). It can also occur in those who work in a manual trade. Therefore, basically in any activity with a repetitive gripping motion there is a risk of developing Tennis Elbow. As mentioned earlier, Tennis Elbow can be misdiagnosed. A large proportion of lateral elbow pain can be of neural origin (I will explore this further in the next section). Because of this Neural / Cervical origin of "pseudo tennis elbow" office workers are also susceptible to developing lateral elbow pain. There does not seem to be a gender preference in Tennis Elbow sufferers,although this condition is most commonly developed in middle aged people.

True Tennis Elbow is an injury to the muscles that extend the wrist and fingers and commonly the attachment site of the elbow. Generally, this acute form of Tennis Elbow occurs after someone does a period of unaccustomed activity such as gardening for the first time in a long time. The chronic form of Tennis Elbow is caused by repetitive stress on the forearm muscles. This is more common in tradesman who grip tools all day and athletes in sports such as tennis or cycling.

Psuedo Tennis Elbow is irritation of the radial nerve at the elbow. This is caused most commonly by a stiffness in the cervical spine, mainly the joints of C5/6. The output of this stiffness is in the lateral elbow. I have found that a large percentage of sufferers of Tennis Elbow also have an increased level of neural sensitivity.

MTM Physiotherapy Warwick are experts in the Assessment and Management of all types of Lateral Elbow pain. If you are experiencing lateral elbow pain we recommend you make an appointment and come in for a thorough physical assessment to determine the exact nature of your pain. Once the cause of your pain is established, your Physiotherapist may use any of the following treatment techniques:

• Cervical / Thoracic Spine Joint mobilisations
• Neural Mobilisation techniques
• Dry Needling to the wrist extensor muscle group or the Cervical/Shoulder region
• Soft tissue massage / Trigger point release
• Bracing / Taping as required
• Home exercise program aiming to firstly improve mobility and then strength / control
• Home management techniques such as ice

If needed we will liase with your GP using our great partnerships with local medical centres in case you needed some medical intervention. If you have any questions regarding Lateral elbow pain why not send an online enquiry or call and speak to one of our friendly therapists today for some free advice.