Anyone for tennis...Ouch? Understanding Tennis Elbow

By Atim Davey, Head of Physiotherapy Department Tyack Health.

Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is known as an inflammatory condition of the outside of the elbow. Commonly it is considered as an overuse injury which can occur in males or females from adolescents upwards and is most prevalent in the middle years (35-55). It can be caused by repeated activities, such as lifting, cleaning, gardening, painting and twisting of the forearm, or from direct trauma like a knock to the elbow.

There are varying symptoms and intensities of pain. These may present anywhere from a discomfort on the outside of the elbow with heavy activities like lifting to an unbearable sharp pain and constant high grade ache even extending down the forearm which may limit you from even wiggling your fingers.

Generally tennis elbow is seen as micro tears of the muscular attachment to the bone via the tendon. However other causes of pain over the outside of the elbow include instability of the elbow joint, arthritis, radial tunnel syndrome and even referred pain from the neck. Thus it is very important to consult your health professional as soon as possible to help determine the correct diagnosis and treatment regime.

From a physiotherapist’s perspective, treatment is usually initiated with ice and anti-inflammatory tablets to obviously reduce the inflammation. Ice is best applied for 10-20 minutes every 1-2 hours until symptoms reduce. Additionally a compression garment or tennis elbow brace can be utilised to help reduce pain and modifying your techniques such as lifting items with palms face up. Symptoms can last anywhere between a couple of weeks to a couple of years depending on how you look after the condition. It is recommended that you consult a physiotherapist as soon as possible to help reduce the length of pain and symptoms.

The physiotherapist will assess the injury and help reduce pain with manual hands on techniques, advice on reducing inflammation and managing pain, assist with regenerating muscle strength and length via prescription of home exercises to aid the recovery of the condition.

If you have any further concerns please feel free to contact the physiotherapy department at Tyack Health on (07) 3249 5333.