If you’re feeling pain along the outside of your elbow, particularly with simple tasks like turning a doorknob or lifting your morning cup of coffee, you might have a condition called tennis elbow — even if you’ve never picked up a tennis racquet. Also called lateral epicondylitis, tennis elbow is a common cause of elbow pain caused by all sorts of repetitive movements of the joint and lower arm.
The good news: Thomas E. Powell, MD, and the team at Powell Orthopedics and Sports Medicine can help relieve those painful elbow symptoms and even help prevent them from recurring with patient-centered therapies tailored to your unique needs. Here, learn what causes tennis elbow and what we can do to treat it and prevent complications.
Before explaining tennis elbow treatments, it’s important to know a little bit about elbow anatomy and how tennis elbow happens. Most of us know the elbow as the hinge joint that forms where the upper arm bone (or humerus) meets the two lower arm bones (known as the ulna and the radius). But that’s just the beginning.
At the end of the upper arm bone, there are two bony bumps called epicondyles. The medial epicondyle is the lump located on the inside of your elbow joint closest to your body, while the lateral epicondyle is located on the outer side of the joint.
The epicondyles serve as connection points for the tendons that control your lower arm, wrist, and hand movements. Tennis elbow involves the lateral epicondyle, occurring when overuse causes irritation and inflammation in the tendons and muscles that connect to your elbow.
In addition to joint pain, you can experience other symptoms, like joint stiffness, tenderness, and warmth along the outer edge of the joint, along with pain or weakness during movements like arm rotation, grasping, or lifting even lightweight objects. Without prompt medical treatment, you can wind up with permanent muscle weakness or nerve damage.
The first step in relieving tennis elbow is to have your elbow medically evaluated. During your initial visit, Dr. Powell reviews your symptoms and your medical history, along with a history of when and how your symptoms began. In most cases, he orders diagnostic imaging to see inside your elbow, a key step that can help confirm or rule out tennis elbow.
Once diagnosed with tennis elbow, the next step is conservative treatment. Depending on your specific symptoms, your therapy might involve:
Many people find that their symptoms resolve and their joint health and function improve over time with conservative therapy.
If your pain persists, Dr. Powell might suggest minimally invasive therapies, like joint injections to deliver anti-inflammatory and anesthetic medications directly to the joint. Other treatments, like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections or shockwave therapy, promote natural healing responses and can be used alone or in combination with conservative treatments.
For stubborn or severe progressive symptoms, Dr. Powell recommends surgercical treatment. to restore and repair the elbow joint. Surgery can yield very effective, long-term results, but it’s typically only recommended once less invasive methods have been attempted.
Tennis elbow rarely goes away on its own — in fact, it can become worse, developing lifelong complications, like permanent weakness in your arm or hand. Fortunately, prompt treatment is very effective in preventing these problems.
To learn how we can help, request an appointment online or over the phone with Powell Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, today.
