soreness or pain in your outer elbow?
Lateral epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, is a painful condition involving the tendons that attach to the bone on the outside (lateral) part of the elbow. Tendons anchor the muscle to bone. The muscle involved in this condition, the extensor carpi radialis brevis, helps to extend and stabilize the wrist. With lateral epicondylitis, there is degeneration of the tendon’s attachment, weakening the anchor site and placing greater stress on the area.
This can then lead to pain associated with activities in which this muscle is active, such as lifting, gripping, and/or grasping. Sports such as tennis are commonly associated with this, but the problem can occur with many different types of activities, athletic and otherwise.
Your health care provider will examine your arm and elbow, looking for tenderness and swelling. You will also be checked for misalignments in your elbows, and wrists.
The length of recovery depends on many factors such as your age, health, and if you have had a previous injury. Recovery time also depends on the severity of the injury. A tendon that is only mildly inflamed and has just started to hurt may improve within a few weeks. A tendon that is significantly inflamed and has been painful for a long time may take up to a few months to improve. You need to stop doing the activities that cause pain until the tendon has healed. If you continue doing activities that cause the tendon pain, your symptoms will return and it will take longer to recover.
Everyone recovers from an injury at a different rate. Return to your activity will be determined by how soon your tendon recovers, not by how many days or weeks it has been since your injury has occurred. In general, the longer you have symptoms before you start treatment, the longer it will take to get better. The goal of rehabilitation is to return you to your normal activities as soon as is safely possible. If you return too soon you may worsen your injury.
You may safely return to your normal activities when, starting from the top of the list and progressing to the end, each of the following is true:
The best way to prevent a lateral epicondylitis is to correctly warm up and stretch your forearm muscles before exercise. If you have tight forearm muscles, stretch them twice a day whether or not you are doing any sports activities that day. If you have a tendency to get lateral epicondylitis, strengthening and conditioning the muscles of the forearm and wrist will also help to prevent tennis elbow. Keeping your body in alignment is key for all optimal performance in all activities.
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