The term Tennis elbow is medically known as lateral epicondylitis.
It is an inflammation of the tendons that attach the forearm to the arm bone,
the usual stress point is around the elbow, and hence the term tennis elbow.
What exactly causes tennis elbow, is still completely not understood, some
people believe that the reason is the frequent wear and tear of the elbow
joints, others believe that the muscles that are responsible for the cocking
the wrist back are to blame (this group of muscles is also called the extensor
carpi radialis brevis). However, there is a very good understanding of the way
tennis elbow can be controlled, and also what steps can be taken to reduce the
pain experienced by people who are suffering from tennis elbow pain.
Symptoms of Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow is usually associated with a pain on the
outside of the elbow, this pain may be asymptomatic and is usually worsened
when the patient attempts to lift weights, or attempts to grip objects or
engage the wrist muscles. In chronic cases, the patient experiences pain and
sometimes a burning sensation when he carries out even simplest tasks like
lifting a mug of coffee.
Occasional there is also tenderness of the elbow associated
with the pain, and the characteristic pain as mentioned earlier usually
subsides after a period of rest. In addition to the typical pain around the
elbow, there is also a rarer shooting pain that is experienced down the
forearm, sometimes the pain is completely asymptomatic and it does not require
a person to carry heavy weights or to exercise the arm to feel the pain.
In chronic cases, swelling and bruising of the elbow has
also been reported, if so one should not delay a visit to a doctor, as swelling
and bruising around the elbow region is usually the body's warning system, and
the problem should be treated before there is any more damage done to the
elbow. There are also rarer and more obvious symptoms like not being able to
straighten the arm at all, however, more often than not, patients usually get
medical help before the tennis elbow reaches such an advanced stage.
Diagnosing Tennis Elbow
The first step in the diagnosing of tennis elbow is usually
to get an X-ray done, unfortunately, more often than not, the X-ray of patients
suffering from tennis elbow is normal. It requires a specialist or an
experienced doctor to diagnose the problem based on the symptoms that the patient is experiencing, Therefore correct reporting of symptoms is an important tool in diagnosing the exact type of tennis elbow that the patient is
experiencing.
Once a clinical problem is ruled out, it is usually a better the idea to go to a specialist like an orthopedic surgeon to get the further diagnosis
of the problem, as there are numerous subcategories of tennis elbow and based
on these sub-categories the treatment, and further diagnostic techniques
usually, vary. Another reason to go to a specialist is that there are other
problems like tunnel carpel syndrome that cause similar symptoms; hence it is
very important that the problem is diagnosed correctly.
For further info on tennis elbow and how you can beat it,
check out the internet's top tennis elbow resource.
Article Source:
https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Geoff_Hunt/71378
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