What are the symptoms of tennis elbow? Is tennis elbow incurable?

The main symptom of tennis elbow is arm pain. It is called tennis elbow because it is common among tennis players. However, tennis elbow is not only common among tennis players. People who use their forearms a lot can also get it. So what are the symptoms?

What are the symptoms of tennis elbow?

Tennis elbow is a type of tendinitis, swelling of the tendons, which causes pain in the elbow and arm. These tendons are tough tissues that connect the muscles of the lower arm to the bones. Even if you have never played tennis, you can still get tennis elbow. Conversely, any repetitive gripping activities, especially if they use the thumb and first two fingers, may contribute to tennis elbow. It can appear in people of any age, but it is most common around the age of 40.

There are three main manifestations of pain in tennis elbow: first, the elbow will hurt when lifting heavy objects; second, the elbow cannot be stretched; third, pain or numbness will occur from the forearm to the hand at night, and some people will not be able to make a fist when they wake up in the morning. If you have these symptoms, you should consider the possibility of tennis elbow, not just cervical spondylosis!

The pain in tennis elbow is mainly due to damage to the forearm extensor muscles, which affects the function of muscles and nerves. The purpose of rehabilitation is to relieve the pain points of the forearm extensor muscles and make the pain disappear, rather than blindly taking injections or medication to relieve pain. Otherwise, no matter how hard you try, the pain will still exist and is prone to recurring!

Is tennis elbow irreversible?

You just need to relax your elbow and do what you can to speed up the healing process. Other treatments that can help include:

Apply cold compresses to your elbow to reduce pain and swelling. Experts recommend doing this for 20 to 30 minutes every 3 to 4 hours for 2 to 3 days, or until the pain is gone.

Use an elbow brace to protect the injured tendon from further strain.

Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, naproxen, or aspirin, can help with pain and swelling. However, these drugs can cause side effects, such as bleeding and ulcers. They should only be used occasionally.

Perform a range of motion exercises to reduce stiffness and increase flexibility. Your doctor may recommend that you do these three to five times a day.

Strengthen and stretch your muscles with physical therapy.

Injected steroids or pain relievers temporarily relieve swelling and pain around the joint. Research shows that steroid injections are not helpful in the long term.

Most of the time, these treatments will work. However, if you develop severe tennis elbow that doesn't respond to 2 to 4 months of conservative treatment, you may need surgery. In this procedure, the damaged tendon is usually removed and the rest of the tendon is repaired. Surgery works in 85%-90% of cases.

How to prevent tennis elbow

1. Master the correct technical movements and choose the technical movements that suit you, such as tennis players should use double backhand as much as possible.

2. When choosing suitable protective gear or equipment, you need to consider the elasticity, hardness, weight, balance point, etc. of the equipment.

3. Pay attention to stretching and relaxation activities during and after training.

4. Before training, do some exercises to prevent injuries, for example, tennis gripping exercise: grip a tennis ball with the injured hand for 2-3 minutes, 3-4 times a day; wrist flexion exercise: keep the injured arm straight with the palm facing down, and press the other hand on the back of the injured hand, pressing down so that the injured part feels a noticeable pull, but without causing pain; wrist rotation exercise: make fists with both hands, bend the elbows on both sides of the body, rotate the wrists in different directions 5 times, straighten the elbow joint, and repeat the above wrist rotation movements.