Are you a swinger? If you answered yes, you’re a great candidate for tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow.
Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis) are painful conditions affecting the elbow tendons which are most often caused by repetitive wrist extensions. Tendonitis occurs when the tendon that connects muscle to bone becomes inflamed, causing discomfort and pain. Tendonitis centred around the outside of the elbow is known as tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow, that’s because 40-50% of regular tennis players or golfers will suffer from one of these conditions at some point in their lives – but you don’t have to be an athlete to be affected.
The good news is that both conditions can be greatly helped by making some positive lifestyle changes alongside a targeted physiotherapy regimen.
How do Tennis Elbow & Golfer’s Elbow Happen?
Here’s yet another reason to drop cigarettes and take maintain a healthy weight: smoking and obesity have been closely correlated with tendonitis. When added to repetitive wrist movements such as swinging a tennis racquet or golf club, this can lead to a tennis or golfer’s elbow flare-up.
But this scenario is not exclusive to sportspeople, in fact tennis or golfers elbow commonly affect craftspeople and office workers who use repetitive wrist movements daily when working with hand tools or typing.
Both conditions tend to hit people between the ages of 35-54 and equally affect men and women.
Common Causes of Tennis or Golfer’s elbow:
- Repetitive wrist movements
- Manual labour
- Daily typing or working with scissors
- Handling objects over 5 kg for over 2 hours per day or lifting objects over 10 kg more than 10 times per day
- Using vibrating tools, like a jackhammer, for over 2 hours per day
- Smoking
- Obesity (BMI >30)
How do You Know if You Have Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow?
These forms of tendonitis can happen suddenly through injury, or they may develop gradually over time through repetitive wrist movements or lifting. If you’re experiencing the following symptoms, you may be suffering from tennis or golfer’s elbow:
Symptoms of tennis or golfer’s elbow:
- Discomfort or pain centered around the elbow on the outside (tennis elbow) or inside (golfer’s elbow)
- Decreased range of motion or stiffness in the elbow
- Difficulty holding or lifting objects (weakness in the hand or wrist)
- Numbness or tingling in the fingers
How is Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow Treated?
As well as obtaining a professional assessment and diagnosis, some basic lifestyle changes can be helpful to steer yourself away form exascerbating the condition and allow your elbow time to heal, such as limiting activities that require repetitive use of the wrist, eating an anti-inflammatory diet and quitting smoking. Patients with a more advanced condition will benefit from getting into a physiotherapy regimen that focuses on stretching and strengthening the affected area.
The RICE Formula
The RICE formula (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) is helpful in easing the pain of tennis or golfer’s elbow. Compression sleeves, arm braces, and athletic tape can be used for pain relief, but they’re not a lasting solution on their own as strength and healing are a must to elimintate pain.
Patients will benefit most from physiotherapy that focuses on stretching and strengthening the damaged elbow.
The gold standard for treatment of both conditions is 6 to 12 months of rest and physiotherapy under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner. Patients whose condition doesn’t improve within a year may have to resort to surgery, but often the RICE method along with a guided physiotherapy regimen will get you back swinging without invasive surgery.
Treatments for Advanced Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow
For some patients, the RICE method simply isn’t enough. If that is the case, your physiotherapist will be able to guide you in the use of more advanced treatment alternatives such as:
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT)
ESWT therapy may sound intimidating, but relax – this is a safe, non-invasive therapy. ESWT involves delivering acoustic shock waves to the soft tissue around the elbow for pain reduction and to promote healing. The process forces the body to create new tissue cells at the site of the injury. Patients may experience some mild discomfort during an ESWT therapy session, but whether or not the process is painful depends on the severity of the patient’s condition. Most patients notice their condition has significantly improved within 2 months of regular ESWT sessions.
PRP injections
Some new studies have emerged that support the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections as an alternative to cortisone steroid shots. Injured tendons heal slowly because blood flow is restricted to the site of the injury. The PRP method involves injecting the patient’s own blood to the elbow, allowing the body’s healing platelets to go to work healing the injured tendon. Noticeable pain relief usually begins within one month of regular PRP injections.
Need Help With Tennis Elbow or Golfer’s Elbow?
If you think you may be suffering from tennis or golfer’s elbow, our physiotherapy team can help diagnose your condition and recommend the proper treatment options that are right for your specific needs. The longer you wait to treat your tennis or golfer’s elbow, the worse the condition can become. You don’t have to live with the annoying pain and discomfort any longer. Give us a call! 416-207-9395
Resources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31387611/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21708051/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26001427/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/a_to_z/tennis-elbow-lateral-epicondylitis-a-to-z
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Great website, continue the good work!