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Tennis Elbow

18 years ago

Was just dx with a tennis elbow...Besides taking the Naproxen my doctor prescribed for the inflammation...what is the best thing to do to help the healing..

Thank you!

Anicee

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Comments (24)

Gina_W
18 years ago
Acupuncture helped me over 20 years ago with this. I stopped trying to play after that. If you are not squeamish about it see your local acupuncturist. A friend who plays daily just got over his with the help of Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements.
ilovepoco
18 years ago
Ask your doctor for a referral for some physical therapy. I had about 8 sessions over a 2-month period at my local hospital a few years ago, and was amazed at how effective it was in resolving the problem. I received some massage, was taught some simple exercises with light weights, and also had some weird but highly effective gel electrophoresis sessions where a mild (undetectable) electric current was used to draw medication into the affected area.

Good luck, it is a miserable condition.

Susan
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Comments (17)
With regard to my previous posting above, recovering your ability to do activities which caused your injury may be complicated/limited if your injury has existed for a long time and you have developed a chronic pain condition, which can be a separate problem in addition to tendinitis etc. The Mayo Clinic is a good place for learning to understand chronic pain conditions. I'm posting this follow-up because it's been a few years since I posted the previous messages in this thread and I've recently reread them and noticed a few corrections that need to be made. Someone e-mailed me about my postings recently and wanted a link to the guide I was working on, which unfortunately I haven't finished and probably won't have finished any time soon (long story). The most essential information is in my previous postings anyway (even without the corrections). Anyway, I thought I would provide corrections to some of the information above here. 1. I explained total daily usage of an affected limb badly. My statement that "everything else you do with this limb in the day, other than what you do in the time limit, is adding injury to your arm" is not phrased very well. I'm really referring to other things you do in the day that are similarly strenuous to the activity which caused your injury, including computer usage and other things like that which are typically associated with repetitive strain injury. While you are gradually rebuilding your ability to do the initially aggravating activity, you should do these other similar things sparingly. And eventually it may be a good idea to introduce these other things with the same 10% a week duration technique as well. 2. Although a very long walk can aggravate some severe injuries, it is important to stay mobile; avoiding walking entirely is a very bad idea. Going out for walks is good for your knees particularly. 3. Two things mentioned in the list of things that aggravate RSI's, placing your arms on your chest while sleeping, and vigorous grooming habits really had more to do at the time with a chronic pain condition I had developed (it was difficult at the time to distinguish the two). Obviously you will have to assess your own sleeping position with regard to your specific RSI, and perhaps your doctor or a physio (physical therapist) can help you understand what would be best. 4. The assertion that tendons get thicker as they develop more endurance is something I heard from only one doctor several years ago, and nowhere else since. It doesn't even make sense to me that an increase in width would help an injury that gets worse when inflammation occurs and pressure on the nerve increases... 5. Be very wary using wrist braces, unless you have been given very specific instructions by a doctor who is well specialized in these types of injuries. The biggest danger with wrist braces is overusage, which can stiffen up soft tissues drastically, making them much more susceptible to injury (which I know from experience) from range of motion activities/exercises. In my experience, wearing wrist braces 24/7 is a terrible terrible idea, unless for some reason it is medically necessary for you and you have been advised by a well specialized medical professional. Anyway, if you have been wearing wrist braces excessively, and then stop wearing them, be especially careful about starting up new exercises and stretches. Start gradually with these under these circumstances. 6. Naprocen/naproxen is one of the anti-inflammatories that is particularly hard on your stomach, and not indicated for long-term usage. I had good results from the anti-inflammatory Meloxicam/Moxib over a long period of time, although anti-inflammatories are generally drugs you shouldn't take long term. Eventually I was just trying to treat a chronic pain condition with it, which is not effective. Nonetheless, stopping an anti-inflammatory too soon can also cause significant, potentially permanent, complications. In my experience it is necessary to attain a significant level of flexibility before ceasing anti-inflammatory medications, otherwise permanent soft tissue complications may occur. My experience with this was contrary to some advice that I got from some doctors [not specializing in RSI] at all the, whose principal concern generally is that you get off the medication. 7. Although it is important to reduce or stop your aggravating activity for a while as a response to your acute RSI, and then build that activity up again gradually, over the long term if you reduce your limb usage too much you can cause inflexibility which will not help your situation. Working with the right health professional will probably help you find the right balance for this (keeping in mind the importance of building up new, or previously aggravating, physical activities at a rate of 10% a week). 8. There are a couple other simple thumb stretches you can do to loosen up that part of the hand. Right now when I do a round of stretching I do one of the kind mentioned in my earlier post, as well as one of each of these two mentioned now. One is to stretch your thumb out to the side, that is just directly away from your pinky finger. You can do this with your other hand pulling on the thumb, or you can rest your thumb on a surface and push down on the wrist [gently at first, don't overdo it of course] with your other arm to create the same stretch. In my experience if you only put the very tip of your thumb on the surface, you stretch it in a weird way and aggravation occurs more easily and you don't really get as full a stretch. I usually place the thumb on the surface close to the first knuckle. The other thumb stretch is to just stretch your thumb straight back, in the same direction your hand goes when you're doing a wrist stretch. You just use your other arm to push your thumb back until it starts bending the wrist and you get a good stretch. These two thumb stretches, in addition to the one mentioned in my earlier post, work on thumb flexibility in a few different directions, which is good. 9. Additional wrist stretch techniques. It can be difficult or unproductive to use one arm to stretch the other (specifically for wrist stretches), which is the technique I described in my original post. There are other techniques to do the wrist stretches which avoid this. One is to stand beside the edge of the table, as high as somewhere about half way between your waist and knee [whatever gives enough room for your arm and is comfortable; you can accommodate a little lower surface but not higher]. Placing your fingertips approximately 8 cm from the edge of the table, palm facing forward, you can drop your arm down (applying a little body weight downward for advanced stretches), keeping your elbow straight, causing a bend at your wrist. Keeping your hand near the edge of the table keeps your thumb out of the way so that you can just focus on stretching out your wrist with this particular stretch. Remember to keep your thumb and shoulders relaxed, keep the arm next to your side and make sure that the wrist is fully rotated so that the palm faces forward (when unstretched obviously). 9b. If your wrist is so rigid that you cannot even put your hand in the position to start the above described stretch technique, there is another technique you can use which is a little bit more complicated. I will only describe it vaguely, and if anyone is more interested they can e-mail me and I could show them a picture of the setup I used for this. Personally I started with this technique when my hands were very stiff, and then moved on to the one mentioned above. I kept doing the thumb stretches the same way I was doing them as they are mentioned much further up this thread (in one of my 2004 posts), although I will mention a couple more useful thumb stretches below in this particular post. Anyway, the technique is that you lay your arm over the top of a chair [a standard, simple kitchen or desk chair, nothing oddly shaped or fancy], making contact with the forearm just below the elbow, palm facing up, and the chair itself has been raised from the floor so that your arm is at least 45° from the floor or something like that, probably higher is better but your arm doesn't need to be sticking straight out from your body. Whatever is comfortable while stretching. You will need to fashion some sort of compartment which you can slide your four fingers into, up to the web of your thumb [making it out of two CD cases might work for you]. It's just something that will keep your fingers straight, and you will attach a strap to the end of this small device (closer to the index finger side). The path of the strap is a little complicated and goes as follows: from the finger compartment near the tip of your index finger, under something that is taped onto the side of the top of the chair [right arm = right side of chair], over the top of the top of the chair [on the other side of something you tape onto the top of the chair in the middle, to prevent the strap from sliding up next to the arm you're stretching], and then the strap will hang down [which might work out better if your chair doesn't have a completely solid back] and be attached to a counterweight heavy enough to hold the stretch, but not so heavy as to create additional stretch without you having to pull on the strap [very important to get this weight sorted out correctly, using coins in a bag is a good way to get the right weight]. Basically the way this works is that you can pull on the strap somewhere [before it goes around the thing taped to the middle of the top of the chair is a good place to pull on] and increase the stretch on your wrist, and when you let the strap go friction at the places it is wrapped around the chair will keep it held in place without you having to hold on to it for the duration of the stretch. You may have to use your imagination to understand my setup, or use your imagination to create a setup which works better for you. The important thing is to make sure the strap is pulling your wrist in the right direction, which you can check out by just putting your arm on the chair and pulling on the strap and figuring out the first place the strap needs to go around [basically the positioning of the thing taped to the side of the chair is very important for this]. Anyway, I can provide a picture of my own device if anyone ever needed to see it. Don't overstretch, and tighten and release the strap slowly and carefully!!!!! Sorry for anyone who read my previous guide and may have been thrown off or were affected negatively by some of the information which is not completely correct, or just false. Nonetheless, the most important aspects of recovering from an RSI are included in that information. It has been a long learning experience for me dealing with RSI, but I'm back now with a good level of functioning and am regularly playing a significant amount of music on the musical instruments now, even with my chronic pain condition. jgecc@hotmail.com
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I have major joint and muscle pain all the time. If I may offer a suggestion - ask your doctor about Voltaren Gel- a sample to try would be nice - it is a topical gel that is non greasy, no stinky smelly odor, and no heat. You only use a teeny amt for each sore area. It is a wonder drug for me, and harmless (as harmless as any thing you put on your skin can be anyway). The relief is immediate. It is specifically for tendinitis, I believe. I am not in the medical profession ~ so speak to your Doctor. Pain is not something most ordinary Docs are good at dealing with - so you may need to see one who specializes in Pain.
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socks
18 years ago
I had tennis elbow years ago. The dr. offered to give me a shot of cortisone, but being a needle-phobe I said no thanks. It finally went away, but it was many, many months, and even now if I lift or pull too much weight, I feel a slight twinge. I think I wore a brace on my arm near the elbow for a while, the lower arm that is. Don't know if it helped, but it seemed to feel better.
naturelle
18 years ago
Your situation may be beyond this simplistic band aid, but it's worth a try.

I had tennis elbow many times, and tried the tensor appliances, which are available at the drug and health care stores. I had a drug for inflammation, but for day-to-day activities, including sports, I used the tensor. You see lots of athletes using them. I had heel spurs, and I thought I was scuppered forever, but another simple appliance did the trick. It's amazing, how these devices work. In both cases, I was pain free and the problems eventually healed.

Try this experiment. Wrap a cord or elastic bandage around your forearm about 3 inches below your elbow with some pressure, and manipulate your arm and wrists about. See if you have any pain. With the actual devices, it will be more comfortable and you can relieve the pressure intermittently
lagatella
18 years ago
Other things you might want to think about are:

1. Are you playing with used balls. Nothing will give you tennis elbow faster then hitting dead balls.

2. Check to see the stiffness of your racquet. I have found over the years a very stiff racquet can cause tennis elbow(oh, and hitting the ball too late). Have you changed racquets recently?

Hope it gets better soon and you are able to get out on the courts. It is terrific exercise!
dirtboysdad
18 years ago
An ice cube rubbed on the sore spot once a day for ten minutes cured both my tennis elbow and an even more painful protruding metatarsal joint problem. This solution came from an orthopedist. Simple, cheap and it works - you can't beat that!
surfergal
18 years ago
I have tennis elbow and I do not play tennis or any racket sports. I believe it is from using a computer mouse daily in a non-ergomatic position. going on 6 weeks now. getting very frustrated. Dr also said to come back for a cortisone shot if it did not improve. have not talked to anyone who has ever had cortisone help. Three weeks since diagnosis. I have been using advil, ice twice a day and purchased an elbow strap, but it seems to be getting worse. I am even now wearing the elbow strap to bed at night, and all day. I take it off to shower and then it starts hurting just washing my hair. Morning routine is the worst from then on. have to brush teeth, do hair, makeup etc with bad arm. Even shifting to reverse and back in mu A/T car hurts. It just aches all day and night. Been trying to mouse with left hand,but not helping so far. I have also been taking of Glucosamine and Chondroitin (with msm) supplements for over a year for my knees with no results at all. I was recently reading if one gets no relief from the Glucosamine after two months to stop using to not waste money.
dirtboysdad
18 years ago
Try the ice cube thing - it really works!
socks
18 years ago
Surfergal, that sounds really bad. I think you need to make a trip back to the dr.
surfergal
18 years ago
as I understand it, there is nothing Dr. can do other than cortisone shot. just need rest from activity which caused it. They do not recomend therapy/exercise until pain is gone. As stated, I am icing twice a day. Personally, I do not understand why icing would have any effect, let alone healing. If it was swollen ice would make it go down, but it is not. Ice just numbs it for a few minutes.
littleonefb
18 years ago
The first thing to do is be sure you have an accurate diagnosis. MRI is very helpful in this. The best docs to use for this problem is a sports medicine doc in orthopedics that deals specifically with this issue.
If a doctor is telling you the only thing that can be done is cortisone shots, get another doctor ASAP.
I know this from experience with tennis elbow personally.
Long story short, went to primary with the problem, he diagnosed tennis elbos immediatley and sent me to orthopedic surgeon. He diagnosed a torn tendon and tennis elbow. Had MRI and doc said it confirmed the torn tendon.
Surgery to repair, what turned out to be a non existent torn tendon and complicated the whole thing. I only found out that the tendon wasn't torn when I ended up getting another opinion quite a few months later. 3 months after surgery, he finally sent me for occupational therapy.
Now I had OT telling me I couldn't have had a torn tendon because I could bend the arm. When first doc wanted to do more surgery to correct what didn't work the first time.
That's when I went to a sports medicine orthopedist and found out that the radiologists read the MRI correctly and the Doc was wrong.
What I learned was that tennis elbow is caused my microscopic tears in flexor pronator tendon (the one the 1st doc said I had torn off). the proper treatment is 2 weeks of as little usage of the affected arm as possible, ice to decrease swelling and inflamation, anti inflammatories for the pain. Then, occupational therapy and a custom made molded splint, made by a sports medicine occupational therapist. With the OT you learn to properly stretch the muscles and tendons of the affected arm. Then you start a slow weight strenghening program that can take several weeks or a couple of months. You will be given a program to follow at home to continue with and should be healed.
In my case, because of the needless surgery and imobilization of one arm for several months, I developed the same problem in the other arm. I also have permenent loss of upper arm strength in both arms especially the original arm and permenent nerve inflamation as well.
Had I been properly treated from the beginning, I would have no problems now, no permenent disabilities.
My neighbor developed the same thing a year ago and is in her early 60's. I sent her to my docs, who treated her properly right away, and she healed fine.

Don't ignore the problem and settle for cortisone shots and being told there is nothing to treat this. Cortisone can only be given 2 or 3 times, then it can cause serious damage to the muscles of the arm. Being told there is nothing to treat this is nothing more than a lie.

Good luck to all of you. You can be healed. don't end up like me with permenent problems.
socks
18 years ago
Gee Fran, you've been through a lot. I hope time will finish the healing process. Your post seems like a reminder to consider second opinions, although that seems such a nuisance sometimes. I felt surfergal should see a doctor because she is in so much pain and can barely do anything with the arm.
marie26
18 years ago
On his radio program, Dr. Dean Adell (sp?) suggested getting a botox shot for tennis elbow.
littleonefb
18 years ago
socks12345, your're right, surfergal needs to see a doc ASAP. A different doc than she was using as he is not knowledgable in the proper treatment. She is only making the problem worse by not getting proper treatment to heal.

Marie26, botox, just like cortisone, is just a pain reliever, if it works and it doesn't work on everyone. What is really needed is proper treatment, molded splints and occupational therapy. Without those treatments, the tennis elbow will never heal, you will just compound the problem, do further damage to the tendons, muscles and nerves and end up in my shoes. Permenant damage and loss of some of not all function in one or both arms.

Surfergirl, please get yourself to a sports medicine orthopedic doc that specializes in hands and arms. You will be amazed at how he/she can help you.

Fran
bonelady
18 years ago
Here is a good link with the information you need

Here is a link that might be useful: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Gina_W
18 years ago
surfergal, I don't know how to treat your elbow, but I use the computer daily and I switched to a new chair at one point. Then my arm started hurting a bit each day. I was like, oh no! carpal tunnel syndrome! I tried different positions, then on a whim I removed the arm from the chair - I had been resting my arm on it while using the mouse. Voila! No more pain. So I got another new chair that has arms but is large enough so that I don't rest my arm on the chair arm.

That change fixed my problem. Try different things like that also and see if it alleviates the problem.
gaurdanddig
15 years ago
Hey,

I posted this for gardeners who had trouble bending but it will work for tennis elbow's too because it has to do with joint recovery and increased in bending. This stuff called Micosamine is made from dehydrated cow milk. It's pretty effective.

Here are the studies i posted in the other forum. Hope this works :).

Zenk JL, Helmer TR, Kuskowski MA. (2002) The effects of milk protein concentrate on the symptoms of osteoarthritis in adults: an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Cur Ther Res 63(7):430-442

http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?n=78713&m=1NIE802&c=nlymlzmqozzac
aipeursson_yahoo_com
15 years ago
I realize that I'm now posting more than three years after the original posting, but I've found recent success combating tennis elbow just by icing my elbow right after I play. Some of the pain, I think, can be caused by bad technique and my lack of strength in my arm, but immediately after every time I play (at least a few times a week), I ice my elbow now. It's really helped.

For those that want to try it, you can try bringing an ice pack and a towel in a cooler every time you play. Then wrap the ice pack around your elbow with the towel. There's also a product now on the market called SootheMate which makes this whole thing easier. You can Google it and check out their website to find out more.

Just remember, ice helps reduce inflammation and really only works when you apply it right after you play. It's certainly easier and IMO, more effective, than other treatments.
alanis
11 years ago
I was just diagnosed with Tennis Elbow! The only thing I've done differently in the past few weeks is use a small shovel in my flower bed digging out weeds.

Has anyone had luck with using a brace or excercise ball? I've checked out a lot of videos. My arm hurts on the inside of my forearm...

Any advice or tips to help with this would be greatly appreciated!!
anicee
Original Author
11 years ago
I originally posted on my tennis elbow back in 2006. Best advice is rest-rest-rest and take anti-inflammatory. Mine was so bad I couldn't even extend my arm at the table to take something.

Good luck!

Anicee
eddym
10 years ago
Hey im suffering from tennis elbow at the moment does anyone know whether orthotic supports help with the recovery or not? Cheers! :) ouch my elbow hurt just typing this out.,..
littleonefb
10 years ago
Have you been diagnosed by an orthopedic specialist that you do have tennis elbow?

If so, you should have been sent to an occupational therapist for treatment.

Depending on the severity of the tennis elbow, will determine what the OT will need to work with you on, but it usually is a custom made wrist spint to use, special exercises and sometimes an aircast for tennis elbow can and is used.

The quickest and best treatment is proper diagnosis from an orthopedic specialist and then occupational therapy.
Without the therapy, it can turn into a long, long recovery time, and could result in more injury to your arm, the tendon and could eventually result in permanent microscopic tears of the tendon that can leave you weak and limited in the use of your arm.
claudiawangsg
9 years ago
I would love to suggest you go to physiotherapist.
heretohelp2015
9 years ago
Sorry to hear you have been diagnosed with tennis elbow.

I've been there myself.

In the short term, the pain medication should help with your pain and symptoms but it is not a long term solution unfortunately.

The first thing you need to do is stay away from activities and movements that involve repetitive motions using your affected arm.

Secondly, you need to build the strength back up in your arm.

What worked for me was a Doctor approved home treatment program for tennis elbow.

You can find it over at tenniselbowtips.com.

Good luck, hope this helps.

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