Elbow Pain And How We Can Help

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Tennis Elbow/Golfers Elbow What is the Difference?

Ever have trouble getting the milk out of the fridge because your elbow hurts?  Do you have to take frequent breaks when typing because of elbow and forearm pain?  Or does it cause excruciating pain to throw a ball or to grip something heavy?  Never mind playing golf or tennis elbow pain can develop from a multitude of activities that repetitively strain the muscles that move your fingers and wrists.

Tennis Elbow (lateral epicondylitis)

If it is the muscles on the outside of your forearm the ones that lift your wrist it is called tennis elbow and is characterized by sometimes severe and activity-limiting pain on the outside of your elbow.  This pain is caused by overuse of the muscles that extend your fingers and wrist and is called tennis elbow because it is prevalent in tennis players when they hit their backhand a lot.

Tennis elbow can be very intrusive and can make everyday tasks like taking the milk out of the fridge or typing and using the computer mouse a challenge.

Golfers Elbow (medial epicondylitis)

Golfers elbow is less common than tennis elbow and involves overuse of the muscle that flexes your fingers and wrists and is so named because it is common in golfers especially when they hit their drivers.  It is also common in throwing sports like football and baseball.  Because it is also common in throwing sports it is sometimes called throwers elbow in adolescent baseball pitchers it is sometimes called little leaguers’ elbow.

Help is Available

Whether it is the outside of your elbow or the inside of your elbow that is painful, the treatment strategies are similar.  

• Control local pain and swelling.

• Where possible unload the affected area either with activity limitation or bracing or sometimes both.

• Provide support for the injured tissues so that they can heal.

• Manual treatments are beneficial in making sure the mechanics of the joints and muscles are working properly so that healing can occur properly.

• Strengthen the tissues and increase their ability and resilience to prevent the pain from coming back.

There are some strategies that can be used to relieve the pain and loss of function that can occur due to elbow pain.  Some treatments that have been shown to be effective at relieving elbow pain are:

• Acupuncture

• Laser

• ART

• Shockwave

• Exercise

• Fascial Movement Taping

• Elbow and wrist adjustments

Because no one treatment is necessarily optimal for every case of elbow pain, at Sun Chiropractic, we often employ a variety of strategies to help make sure your elbow pain gets better as quickly as possible.  We are also keen to give you strategies to help make sure that it is less likely to come back.  

Our chiropractors have the experience you need to help resolve even difficult cases of tennis or golfers elbow.

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