Tennis Elbow and Golfers Elbow

Tennis Elbow - Lateral Epicondylitis

This condition has been given the name 'tennis elbow' because it is commonly brought on by the backhand stroke of racquet sports. This action requires a great deal of the wrist extensors, strangely enough. These extensor muscles of the wrist originate from THE LATERAL EPICONDYLE of the humerus, a bony point just above the elbow, on the outer aspect of the arm.

Eccessive or repetitive pulling by these muscles can cause inflammation at the point of the muscle origin. People certainly do not only complain of tennis elbow after racquet sport. It is frequently aggravated by repetitive actions of the wrist and hand, often in occupational situations.


Golfers' Elbow - Medial Epicondylitis

This condition is exactly the same as tennis elbow discussed above apart from it manifests on the MEDIAL EPICONDYLE of the humerus. This is the bony point just above the elbow, on the inner aspect of the arm. It gets its name from the fact that a normal golf driving action will require strong input from the flexors of the wrist which originate from the medial epicondyle.

Again, excessive or too frequent use results in inflammation of the origin of these wrist flexor muscles. It is not quite as commmon as the lateral condition and tends to be slightly easier to treat.


Treatment

The first thing to do is alleviate the stress of the muscle activity on the point of origin. This will normally involve activity modification or rest.

The use of an EPICONDYLITIS CLASP often helps. This is a simple elasticated strap, fitted on the arm, usually with a velcro fastener, just below the elbow. The effect of this is to reduce the pull exerted by the muscle on the point of origin and they do work reasonably well.

Electrotherapy can help stimulate inflammation reduction. If the condition has been present for many weeks a stronger approach may be needed in the form of deep friction massage and/or manipulation techniques.

Done regularly, by an experienced professional, friction massage can help long standing epicondylitis cases. Treatment times need to be no more than every forty eight hours even stretching to seventy two, to allow the effect of the treatment to go through it's cycle before repeating. If it is working the area of soreness should decrease in size over time. I will generally give up to six treatments and then decide if there has been sufficient progress to warrant anymore.

Should there have been no improvement the next step is possibly an injection of cortico-steroid into the area. These can be extremely effective, albeit sometimes quite painful initially. Some people remain averse to steroids though, possibly because of the bad press they have received in the past.

There are very few cases of epicondylitis of either side that do not resolve at some stage of this course of action.

If you would like more information on products that can help resolve either tennis elbow or golfers elbow please follow this link