What is Tennis Elbow?

What we know as a ‘tennis elbow’ is called lateral epicondylitis in medical terms. To get things straight, it is a recurring pain that occurs in the part where the forearm meets the elbow.

The funny thing about tennis elbow is that it isn’t caused by playing tennis alone. There are varied reasons as to why a person might be suffering from tennis elbow.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some causes, symptoms, and treatments of tennis elbow. Take a look:

What Is Tennis Elbow?

Tennis elbow happens when you use your arms repeatedly. It is due to this repeated use of your arms which can lead to a tear in a certain muscle: the extensor carpi radialis brevis. As a result of the tears, it often leads to inflammation, thus leaving a feeling of immense stress and pain in your hands.

Like we said before, tennis elbow is a funny name for a disease. More than 3% of the people in the US suffer from tennis elbow, but less than 2% of them have tennis elbow because of playing tennis. There are different reasons that can cause tennis elbow.

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Causes Of Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is caused majorly because of the overuse of the arms and is a classic repetitive stress. That points towards the fact that almost any activity that involves a lot of repetitive hand movements can lead to tennis elbow over time. While tennis players do acquire the tennis elbow, it is not an injury that affects top players. It only happens to those players who have a poor technique.

As much as tennis, you can get tennis elbow by pretty much any activity that involves repetitive hand movements such as tree cutting, carpentry, and painting. In fact, tennis elbow can be acquired even if you shake hands a lot. There are some major symptoms of tennis elbow. Let’s take a look at them.

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Symptoms Of Tennis Elbow

Of course, the most usual symptom of tennis elbow is an ache near the elbow. The pain can eventually become chronic in nature. It gets extremely tough to perform even everyday activities like wiping or lifting. If the outside of your elbow is painful to touch, you could be suffering from a tennis elbow. It can also affect both of your hands.

How Long Does It Take To Heal Tennis Elbow?

Fortunately, tennis elbow is an injury that is easily curable. All it takes is a bit of patience and performing a few basic exercises. It generally takes anywhere between 6-12 months for tennis elbow to cure. The first thing that you should do is to visit your doctor. He will most likely suggest you certain arm exercises. He can even ask you to go through an MRI. The most common treatments of tennis elbow include physical therapy, exercises and certain painkillers like ibuprofen and aspirin.

(Image Courtesy: Health Exchange)

So, there you have it. Everything you had to know about tennis elbow including its causes, symptoms, and treatments. If you found this article informative, let us know in the comments below.