Dr. Wojo. Healthy Living. Simplified.

One of the more inconvenient injuries people experience is “tennis elbow” - pain felt from the outside of the elbow and down the forearm (if the pain is experienced on the inside of your elbow, it is known as “golf elbow”). It can make the simplest things, like turning a doorknob, using a screwdriver, opening a jar, brushing your teeth, lifting a fork, or swinging a racket uncomfortable and difficult.

Despite its name, tennis elbow is most often caused by repetitive everyday actions in one’s life - the repeated contraction of the forearm muscles used to straighten and raise your hand and wrist. Think of carpenters, mechanics, assembly line workers or landscapers who use their arms and hands in a repetitive manner each day. These repetitive motions can inflame or tear the tendons that attach the forearm muscle to the outside bone of the elbow. The result is pain that is exacerbated when you have to move your wrist or squeeze your hands.

If you have tennis elbow, reduce inflammation by icing the sore area and taking ibuprofen. In some cases, your physician may inject cortisone. It’s also important that you allow this injured area to rest - and that’s where things may get a little difficult. If you’re a carpenter by trade, resting the area isn’t necessarily a viable option. And for those of us whose injury isn’t related to our profession, it’s still difficult to properly rest the area because we utilize our forearm, elbow and wrist for so many everyday activities - simply holding a coffee cup can stress the area. Thus, rest the area and ice it when you can. Use your uninjured arm as often as possible. Ask others to open that jar of pickles and put off the latest home improvement task if it involves lifting, screwing or hammering. The drywalling can wait.

You can also use an elastic band that wraps around your forearm, just below the elbow. This may help provide some relief. In some cases, pulsed ultrasound is used to increase blood flow to the area and break up the scar tissue that is causing discomfort.

Gentle stretching will help the area heal and strengthen. Start with forearm flexor/extensor exercises. Extend your arm, wrist upward, and gently pull your fingers down to bend your wrist. Then extend your arm with your forearm upward and gently pull down on your fingers. You can also place a large rubber band around the tips of your fingers (bring your extended fingers together) and gently spread your fingers against the rubberband. Most sporting goods stores sell small squeeze balls that you should use on a regular basis to work on strengthening your grip. Finally, wrist curls with light weights will strengthen your forearm and wrist. Extend your arm across a flat surface (a tabletop or workout bench), and repeat the flexion and extension exercises mentioned above - just with a weight in your hand. Your physician or trainer can also suggest exercises to stretch and strengthen the muscles and tendons.

If your condition does not improve, see your physician. Your physician may provide you with a splint to keep your injured area immobile for two to three weeks. In about 5% of tennis elbow cases, surgery is necessary to repair the damaged muscles and tendons around the elbow.