elbow pain

Despite their sport names, the most common causes for tennis and golfer’s elbow are day to day activities such as repetitive desk work or mobile phone use for tennis elbow or DIY, gardening and heavy lifting for golfer’s elbow. It is most common in those between 30-50 years of age, but this can vary hugely depending on the activity levels of the person. People who are sedentary are also at high risk of developing these conditions due to underuse of the affected structures.

The pain isn’t always where you expect it to be. In lower limb tendinopathies, tendon pain is very well localised and does not spread up or down. However, in upper limb tendinopathies, the close proximity of nerves makes it quite likely that the pain will be more spread out.

This nerve involvement complicates both diagnosis and treatment, as pain has the potential to spread up and down from the actual site of the pathology and can create additional unpleasant symptoms such as tingling and numbness.

Pain is what causes most people to notice they have developed tennis or golfer’s elbow, but a loss of grip strength usually precedes the onset of pain.

Physiotherapy is well suited to treating tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow. As Physiotherapists, we take a deep look as to why you are in pain, whether that be a movement issue or something else. Once we have found out what exactly is causing your pain, we can formulate a treatment plan to fix the problem. Some of the techniques for tennis elbow treatment include:

• Acupuncture
• Shockwave Therapy
• Electro Magnetic Transduction Therapy
• Joint Mobilisations
• Taping
• Massage
• Exercise
• Injection therapy

Treatment for tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow involves lifestyle changes and prolonged rehabilitation to restore the muscles to their normal strength and prevent recurrence.

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