Tennis elbow can cause pain and other symptoms in your elbow, forearm and wrist due to muscle strain, especially from repetitive movements. Whether these symptoms are mild or severe, you might have trouble doing everyday activities or tasks. Finding effective treatment for tennis elbow can help ease pain, weakness and other symptoms. The following are some of the treatment options that are available for this injury.
Self-Care
Making some changes to your daily life can provide relief for tennis elbow. Although this injury might heal on its own, a few self-care measures can help the recovery process. Tennis elbow occurs when you strain or overuse your elbow tendons. Resting these tendons gives them a chance to heal while also preventing your injury from getting worse. You should avoid doing any activities or movements that irritate the affected area. When you do need to use your elbow, forearm or wrist, avoid doing repetitive movements.
Applying ice to the affected area each day can help relieve soreness. You can put a cold pack or ice pack on for around 15 minutes a few times per day. To ease pain, you can also take over-the-counter pain relievers, such as naproxen or ibuprofen. Wearing a brace on your arm might also provide relief, since it allows the tendons and muscles to rest.
Physical Therapy
Practicing proper techniques for movements that involve your elbow tendons and forearm muscles, such as tennis swings and certain job tasks, can help ease symptoms. Physical therapists can help you make the muscles in this part of your arm stronger and more flexible, which helps reduce the risk of muscle strain. You might also benefit from wearing a brace on the affected arm.
Injections
In some cases, self-care measures and physical therapy aren’t enough to provide relief for tennis elbow symptoms. Cortisone injections in the affected area can reduce inflammation, which helps ease pain and discomfort. How often you might need these shots for relief depends on different factors, such as how severe your injury is. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are another treatment option. This involves obtaining platelets from a blood sample taken from your arm and injecting them into the affected area.
Surgical Procedures
Non-surgical treatment options for tennis elbow might not be enough in some cases, such as if your injury is severe. When you still have pain and other symptoms several months after trying non-surgical treatment, surgery might help. Surgical procedures for tennis elbow involve removing damaged tissue and reattaching healthier surrounding tissue to the bone. This can be done in different ways, such as arthroscopic surgery or open surgery. Arthroscopic surgery is a minimally invasive procedure that uses small incisions, while open surgery uses a larger incision. Rehabilitation exercises are part of the healing process after having surgery done for tennis elbow.
If you need treatment for tennis elbow, please contact Huntington Orthopedics for an appointment. We can go over treatment options, including non-surgical and surgical options, to help you find relief from tennis elbow symptoms.