What is Tennis Elbow? 6 Tips to prevent Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is also known as lateral elbow pain or Lateral Epicondylitis. It is not necessarily related to tennis but can occur when the elbow is overloaded due to repetitive motions of the wrist and arm.

What is Tennis elbow?

Tennis elbow is a condition that causes pain around the outside of the elbow. It usually happens after overuse or repeated action of the muscles of the forearm which are near the elbow joint.

What causes Tennis elbow?

Contrary to the name, tennis causes only a minority of cases of tennis elbow. It can also result from other sports such as squash, cricket, fencing, weight lifting.

It also affects people with jobs or hobbies that require repetitive arm movements or gripping such as typing, carpentry, painting, knitting etc.

It is caused by overusing the muscles attached to your elbow and which are used to straighten your wrist. If these muscles are overused, tiny tears and inflammation develop in them near your elbow which causes pain and discomfort.

What are the symptoms of Tennis Elbow?

• Pain in the elbow which may be mild at first but becomes worse gradually. Pain may extend to the wrist and sometimes to the fingers also.
• Pain while lifting objects, shaking hands, squeezing an object, opening doors, jars and bottles.
• Weak hand grip

How to treat Tennis Elbow?

• Most cases of Tennis Elbow are treated successfully without surgery.
• Resting the elbow – It is very important as the break in activity allows the tears to heal. Avoid activities that strain the affected muscles and tendons. Alternatively, you may be able to change the way you do these activities so they do not cause any pain.
• Icing the elbow to reduce pain and inflammation. It should be done for 10-15 minutes 3-4 times in a day.
• Strapping or bracing – Supporting the area helps relieve pressure on the area and realigns the muscle fibers.
• Anti-inflammatory medications help with the pain and swelling. However, they may have side effects such as gastritis.
• Newer modalities such as Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Injection are effective in the treatment of Tennis elbow.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Injection

PRP is a promising and safe treatment for patients with tennis elbow with good outcomes. PRP treated patients report improvement in pain and elbow function. The side effects of the treatment are minimal since it uses the patient’s own platelets. It is recommended when the initial management fails to improve the symptoms.  

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐦𝐚?

Platelet rich plasma therapy uses the regenerative ability and natural growth factors of platelets to heal tissues. Blood contains mainly a liquid called plasma and small solid components (red cells, white cells and platelets). The platelets are best known for their importance in blood clotting but they also contain hundreds of proteins called growth factors that play a very important role in healing of injuries.

PRP is plasma with platelet concentration much more than what is found in blood. Hence the concentration of growth factors is also greater.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐑𝐏 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝?

Blood is drawn from the patient in special tubes. These tubes are kept in a machine which separates the platelet rich plasma from the rest of the blood. These activated platelets are then injected directly into your injured or diseases body tissue. This releases growth factors that stimulate and increase the number of reparative cells your body produces.

6 Tips to prevent Tennis elbow

1. Stop doing the activities that cause pain, or find an alternative way that does not cause pain or stress.

2. Avoid using your wrist and your elbow more than your arm and the shoulder.

3. Warm up properly and gently stretch your muscles before working out and before playing a sport.

4. Get coaching advice for racquet sports to improve your technique.

5. Do exercise to increase the strength of your forearm muscles.

6. Use lighter weight tools and sports equipment with a larger grip size – this reduces the strain on the tendons.