Tennis Elbow Is Usually a Chronic Problem



Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009

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Tennis Elbow, as it is often called, is the most common ailment or condition at the elbows of the tennis players, but also arises in everyday life (most people who suffer from Epicondylitis have never played tennis). The pain from Tennis Elbow is felt in the external side of the elbow when muscle activity or pressure is done on the affected area. According to the severity of the pain, it will extend into the hand or the shoulder. If this condition is not treated properly can lead to serious mobility problems of the elbow. It often appears in people over 30 years.

It's good to know that tennis elbow is just an inflammation of muscles of the forearm and the tendon that connects the muscles to the bones in the elbow. Tennis elbow is frequent in sports like badminton, tennis, and racquetball and work with repeated gripping activities. This condition produces severe, burning pain over the bone at the side of the elbow.

This disease or condition is caused among other things by poor technique when hitting a backhand. Tennis Elbow is also caused when the elbow is overstressed or repetitively overused and affects the outer area of the elbow, rather than the inner area often identified with Golfer s Elbow. Other than players who play with racquet, labors who lay bricks in the construction of a building, housewives, manual workers who are doing a lot of lifting and using the muscles of the forearm, and computer users who types a lot are prone to get this injury because their work require repeated bending of wrist.

This disease has symptoms that begin gradually. It often manifests them through a little pain that increases until becoming unbearable. As time goes on, it may take longer for the pain to go away. Pain may spread to the hand, other parts of the arm, shoulder, or neck (referred pain). Other symptoms are, pain that radiates from the outside of the elbow into the forearm and wrist, pain when you extend your wrist, forearm weakness, pain that gets worse over weeks or months, a painful grip during certain activities, such as shaking hands or turning a doorknob, an inability to hold certain objects, such as a coffee cup, pain that typically lasts for 6 to 12 weeks and this discomfort can continue for as little as 3 weeks or as long as several years.

If you happen to have some of these symptoms that we've described here, the most important thing is to go to the doctor as soon as possible, so he can recommend immediate treatment. In those cases where the disease is far advanced it is recommended the so called conservative treatments which are very successful in most patients who suffer from this condition. In most cases conservative treatment works in an efficient way and pain disappears but sometimes not. Since medical science has improved through the years, new techniques have been created in the treatment of Tennis Elbow. It is very important to use ice packs in the affected area to reduce the swelling and in conjunction with this you can take some anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen to ease the pain. Stretching and strengthening exercises will increase strength without causing any irritation or overuse of the tendons. One of the most common treatments to combat Tennis Elbow may be acupuncture which is very popular today. Massage therapy, and acupressure are also used to relief this type of injury.

This condition can be caused by many factors, but according to statistics the most common and most frequent is age. Studies have shown that the most common age of contracting this disease is between 30 to 60 years of age. It is very important that we all know that most known risk for Tennis Elbow is playing the sport of the racquet at an advanced age, as well as doing movements or contractions of muscles that can cause this condition and of course do strenuous activities to which we are not used.

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Karina Wilson, creator of "Pool Enclosures made easy"

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