Elbow pain or physical discomfort in or around the surrounding joint, muscles, tendons, or ligaments are rarely caused by an underlying disease and most often can be easily diagnosed and treated effectively without drugs or surgery!
Before we see what the treatment options are and what you can do at home to help with the pain and healing process, let’s layout the 5 most common causes of elbow pain.
TENNIS ELBOW- LATERAL EPICONDYLITIS
This is arguably the most common cause of elbow pain. Despite its name, anyone can experience this condition, not just athletes. Patients will experience pain, burning, inflammation, or weakness occuring on the lateral aspect (outer side) or top of the elbow, especially with repetitive motions of the arm and wrist. The symptoms associated with this condition may radiate down the arm and typically increase with turning a door knob, shaking hands, or trying to grasp or hold objects.
GOLFERS ELBOW- MEDIAL EPICONDYLITIS
This is pain, stiffness, inflammation, or weakness experienced on the medial aspect (inner side) of the elbow. You may also experience numbness or tingling in the hand or fingers- usually the ring and little fingers. This is also a condition that afflicts many people, not just golfers, and is typically caused by repeated use of the wrist or fingers and fist clenching overuse.
BURSITIS
When the small fluid-filled sac on the backside of the elbow becomes inflamed, irritated, bruised, or injured, it swells up and can become hot, causing painful bursitis. Bursae act as “pillows” that cushion the bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons at or near joints. This condition typically occurs from repetitive motions, constant pressure on the area, or from injury. The pain usually stays local at the site but may feel very stiff and achy, look swollen, have redness, and hurts more with bending or movement of the elbow.
MUSCLE STRAIN- MUSCLE SPRAIN
When the surrounding muscles or ligaments at or surrounding the elbow become overworked, overused, excessively stretched, or tear, than it’s considered a strain-sprain syndrome. You may notice limited range of motion, muscle and joint pain, as well as weakness in the forearm, wrist, or hand, especially when trying to lift an object. This can occur when picking up heavy items, sudden jerky movements, quick accelerated motions like throwing a ball, or daily over-use at a job or repetitive tasks.
OSTEOARTHRITIS- ARTHRITIS
Pain from this is felt from a degenerative-type process whereby the ends of the bones wear down, deteriorate, or become rough. The joint itself is mainly affected and the pain typically stays localized. Along with joint pain, general stiffness is felt especially with lack of movement and in some longer standing cases, joint deformity may be seen. Any arthritic related condition can be accelerated by previous injury, improper joint mechanics, over-use type syndromes and repetitive activities. This is not just always seen in middle-aged or elderly patients but is more common with age.
So what can be done to help alleviate your elbow pain? Sometimes nothing! If given enough time, it may just heal on its own and the pain will resolve. But, if symptoms persist or worsen, than it may be time to seek help. As a practicing chiropractor with 23 years of clinically treating patients, I see this condition present quite often in my office. As I have mentioned above, elbow pain diagnosis’ are on the rise, especially in non-athletes these days! A proper and accurate diagnosis is a must before an effective treatment protocol can be implemented, that’s where an experienced chiropractor like myself is essential. Once diagnosed, we can institute several effective, timely, and pain-free treatments and therapies to alleviate your elbow pain. Besides physically adjusting the joint, we typically will perform soft tissue mobilization techniques of various types, apply cold laser therapy, connective tissue ultrasound therapy, electro therapy application, kinesio taping protocols, stretching, and exercises. Sometimes we will fit the patient with a non-cumbersome specific elbow brace or forearm retention strap to alleviate pain and pressure as well as prevent further injury. I also discuss and recommend activities of daily living suggestions, work performance modification, and home therapy procedures to help speed up healing, reduce the chances of further injury, and prevent future recurrences. Seeing a chiropractor is a great drug-free, non-surgical option for most elbow pain conditions that is safe, effective, and efficient!
