Tennis Elbow Information

What is Tennis Elbow and What Causes it?

Tennis elbow is sometimes called Lateral Epicondylitis. Tennis elbow is a term used to describe a condition where an individual experiencesa extreme pain at the back of their elbow. The pain feels worse during movement, usually actions that involve some strength to straighten the arm, twisting the forearm or bending the wrist. It is not a tennis injury. The name is misleading. Most people who have tennis elbow do not play tennis

Did you know, doctors use the term 'Tennis Elbow' to describe the condition you are experiencing when the doctor often doesn't know the root cause? There are quite a few conditions where people report pain in a part of their body that is real pain, but testing doesn't reveal any underlying issue with the body. Tennis Elbow is one of these conditions. Elbow Bursitis is another condition that doctors may just declare as 'Tennis Elbow' because the symptoms can be similar. And regardless of what the underlying condition is, a doctor can't prescribe anything for it, so they just tell you to rest.

Your doctor may tell you, 'It might be overuse'. They may tell you, 'It might be' an activity you're doing. Your Doctor will likely ask you what you think may be a factor, and just validate what you say. The reality is, the doctor doesn't know why you have it, because it's a condition that sneaks up on people out of the blue. Doctors use Tennis Elbow as a term to explain a condition where even they do not know the root cause. They can just diagnose that you are injured.

Tennis elbow may or may not show up on diagnostic tests. You may get an X-Ray or MRI on your elbow. If the tendon damage is severe and obvious in the MRI it will likely show up. Even if the diagnostic didn't show anything wrong, the doctor may diagnose it as Tennis Elbow. The doctor knows the situation; they see it all the time. Often they don't even bother ordering tests, they just give the diagnosis from examining you.

If there was a specific injury revealed by testing, the doctor would usually give a more specific diagnosis. There's never any harm in getting diagnostics done. If there is a more specific injury, those tests often reveal the issue. But if your ache kind of came out of nowhere and your doctor isn't ordering more tests, don't be alarmed.

There is a lot of misinformation online. You will find sites that say tennis elbow is from repetitive use or an excess-strain injury. You will find sites that say it's related to some activity or another. But the truth is, there is no clear cause of what causes Tennis Elbow in most people. What's most important to understand though, is that the pain and the cause are often 2 different events.

Tennis Elbow Pain

Most people feel the pain of tennis elbow first, in some sort of physical activity that they often do. It might be tennis, or it might be another form of exercise, or it may be something you do commonly at home. In the end though, the activity that the pain first shows up in, is often not the cause of the issue itself. It's just where you first feel the pain.

That you feel pain during some activities is important. Pain during any activity means that what you are doing is more than what your elbow is ready to do at that point in time. It may not be the activity that started the problem, but it is now an activity that can make the situation worse. When you have pain, respect the pain. Let up on the activity you are doing a bit. Don't drive through the pain. Even if that activity didn't cause it, driving through pain can definitely make your condition worse.

Understanding "Repetitive Strain"

Repetitive strain and Overactivity are often said to be the caused of Tennis Elbow. Let's be clear here: Overactivity or Repetitive Strain that causes Tennis Elbow is when you do something excessively strenuous over and over. If the activity is light, you can do it endlessly and never have to worry about developing Tennis Elbow or other elbow injuries. Your elbow is designed to do repetitive activity. Lifting medium to light weights repeatedly, constant pushing, pulling, sweeping, and bending of the elbow, these are all considered light activity. Even a whole lot of light repetitive activity is not a concern for a healthy elbow. Again, your elbow is designed to do that type of light to moderate activity repeatedly.

There are protectors in your elbow called bursae. Usually, a bursa protects your epicondyle tendons from rubbing on the bone and surrounding tissue. That's it's purpose. For light to medium activity, it is 100% protection. If the activity is heavy though, if you are putting a lot of pressure on the joint during the motion, the tissue can push together more than the bursa can protect them, and injury can happen. Even if it happens occasionally, that's not a problem. The bursa will protect you during times of occasional heavy strain. But there's a limit when it comes to heavy activity.

If you do a heavy load activity over and over and over again so that the bursa is constantly getting squeezed, then it is possible the tendons get worn down over time faster than they can regenerate. When that is the case, a doctor will tell you the joint has developed epicondylitis or Tennis Elbow.

Tennis Elbow can go away if you let up on the activity and let the joint heal. Often, active people develop epicondylitis that they don't even realize is there. And the body's response to a slightly injured tendon is to start producing synovial fluid, which fills up the bursa and nourishes the area to help the joint heal. When the repetitive injury is mild enough that you don't notice it, but it persists for a long time, then that can cause Tennis Elbow to develop.

Again, it's worth noting that if you are doing mild repetitive activity, you are not likely to sustain any injury no matter how much you do it. If the elbow tendons are not being pushed hard enough to bump more than the bursa can protect them, then your joint can do that activity forever. So don't get confused by the terms 'overuse injury' and 'repetitive strain injury'. That sort of injury only occurs if the excessive activity is also excessively strenuous on the joint.

There are other much less common elbow injuries that can result in damaged elbow tendons. If you have a very jarring motion that causes a hard momentary rubbing of the two bones together, it is possible to put a significant tear in a tendon with just one incident. Those situations are less common. Suffice it to say, that if some part of that Elbow has an injury that you don't know about and your body is trying to resolve it for a long time, Tennis Elbow can result.

Isometric Strain Injury

Your elbow is designed to be in constant motion. That motion contributes to circulation and prevents the parts of your joints from getting squeezed for too long. You can actually hurt your elbow by 'doing nothing'. Constant pressure on a body part when it is not moving can lead to injuries called Isometric Strain Injury. If you are inactive for an extended period of time and your elbow is being held in a position where part of it is being squeezed to much and too long, you may be hurting yourself.

You have cartilage between the bones in your elbow. When you move it gets squeezed between the bones and released, over and over again. It's designed to work that way. But it's possible, when you stop in the wrong position, that your bones squeeze the cartilage constantly and do some damage. If that position is held for really long periods of time, day after day, that damage may accumulate. The same goes for your tendons and ligaments and nerves and the other tissue in your elbow. If they get squeezed under a lot of pressure for a very long time, they can get damaged. Very often, it is the times when we're not using our elbows that cause the condition. And that kind of damage doesn't hurt when it's happening. It hurts later, when you try to use the tissue for your normal activity. Very often, that is Tennis Elbow.

So the chances are high that you may be hurting your elbow during times of inactivity. And that makes it hard to figure out because you end up feeling the pain during other times of activity. It is quite probable that the activity you are doing when you feel the pain isn't the root cause of the problem. But the pain is an indication that your situation is bad enough that your activity may start to make your situation worse. The good news is that if you correct the underlying cause and treat the condition so it heals, you may be able to resume your favorite activity and never have to worry about Tennis Elbow again.

How Long Does Tennis Elbow Last?

If you look online, many sites repeat the message that 2 years is the typical duration for Tennis Elbow to plague people. But that data is very old and it is also based on people who did nothing to correct the root cause or proactively heal their elbow. Your Tennis Elbow is going to last until your body successfully heals the underlying injury. By the time that damage develops to the point that you notice it, you have probably had the injury for several months already.

There's no doubt about it, something in your lifestyle is causing your injury to persist - your body can't heal the problem as fast as its getting reinjured. So, it is unlikely that it will just go away, unless you change something about your activity. Perhaps you've already corrected the underlying issue and it just didn't have a chance to heal, and the pain has persisted ever since.

Knowing the cause is the best scenario, because if that's the case, you know what to change. You can allow your body to heal and get past that injury. Then, you are likely to be able to return to the same activity level as before and never have the problem again.

No matter what the cause, though, you have an underlying injury now and you need to let it heal. If you correct the underlying problem, your tennis elbow will go away and you will likely be able to resume normal life. That is, if this whole ordeal is dealt with properly...

What Not to do when you have Tennis Elbow

The internet is full of bad advice about treating your elbow. Here's a short list though: Don't start wearing bands or compression sleeves that squeeze your elbow - that's a recipe for much worse problems. If there's a lump, anti-inflammatories usually don't help - it's not that kind of swelling. Pain killers will probably make it worse. Driving through the pain will just make it worse. Creams don't solve the underlying problem - again they just mask the pain if they do anything at all.

What You Should do when you have Tennis Elbow

For a little while - not forever - it is really helpful to give your elbow a rest. In many cases, resting your elbow for a few weeks will give it time to heal to a point that your body gets ahead of the problem. It's important to realize that once the pain goes away, your underlying injury may not be healed completely. Take it easy. Once the pain and swelling are gone, go back to regular life gradually.
If you want to be more proactive about healing the problem, you can click here to visit the Recommended Treatments page.

Rest & Use Conservative Treatments

If you want your Tennis Elbow to go away as quickly as possible, you need to rest your elbow. Avoid any physical activities that could cause further pain. If you really think your tennis elbow developed from a specific activity, do your best to avoid that activity for an extended period of time.

Do regular ColdCure^® treatments to control the pain and swelling in the back of your elbow. The compression during each treatment helps gently move synovial fluid back into your elbow from the bursa sac where it may be collecting.

You can also focus on healing your underlying elbow injury with regular BFST^® treatments. This combination will work to finally get rid of your Tennis Elbow.

Around the 3-5 week mark you can start doing some light stretching and strengthening exercises. Slowly work your way back to your regular level of activity. Continue doing BFST^® treatments long after the pain disappears to maintain the healing you've done. Do a ColdCure^® treatment if you experience any flare-ups of pain or swelling, and after any significant activity.

Dealing With Pain

Painkillers are BAD, Not Good

Painkillers mask the pain, causing you to continue to stress and injure your elbow. This will only make your condition worse. It is understandable that people need relief from the pain, so if you have to take painkillers, restrict them to times when you are being kind to your elbow. Using them when you are active is a recipe for permanent damage. Your choice of pain killers is important. You can give us a call to discuss which ones are best.

The ColdCure^® Elbow Wrap is designed to relieve the pain associated with Tennis Elbow. This safe and effective pain reliever is also great at bringing down swelling and inflammation. The ColdCure^® Elbow Wrap is incredibly soothing and provides support and protection for your injury. The painkilling element is incredibly powerful and it works instantly - there's no 20 minute wait like with pills.

Tennis Elbow can be extremely painful and debilitating. Painkillers such as ASA and acetaminophen are often used to treat the pain but these drugs do nothing to treat the actual condition. Cortisone injections are used in extreme cases but these too are intended to address the pain. They do not promote healing of the injury itself and they put you at a very high risk of further injury.

Blood Flow is Essential for Healing

You don't have to wait for endless months in pain. You can heal much more quickly with the right treatment. For an elbow injury, blood flow is the most critical element in rapid recovery. Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy^™ (BFST^®) gives your elbow the blood flow it needs to heal quickly and completely.

BFST^® brings extra oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the injured area - a requirement for the body to heal itself. Unfortunately, an injured elbow at rest often has restricted blood flow, which extends your healing time and greatly increases the amount of scar tissue that develops. With a King Brand^® BFST^® Elbow Wrap, blood flow can be stimulated in the area of injury while you are at rest. With improved blood flow and without physical activity and the risk of re-injury, you can recover from your elbow injury at a surprisingly rapid rate.

For more information on treatments click here to visit the Recommended Treatments page.

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To be more proactive about healing your underlying problem, you can click here to visit the Recommended Treatments page.