Recognizing tightening in elbow first step toward treatment

By Kang Tae-hwan

Many patients who visit the clinic with elbow pain usually self-diagnose their symptoms as “tennis elbow” or “golf elbow” Internet sources or word of mouth.

However, elbow pain is a result of not only these two conditions, such rash diagnosis may be dangerous.

Many other diseases, such as nerve entrapment syndrome, calcific tendinitis, synovitis, and rheumatoid arthritis, exhibit similar symptoms and cause elbow pain.

Patients who suffer from these diseases may also have tennis elbow, golf elbow, or both.

Tennis elbow, also known as lateral epicondylitis, and golfer's elbow, also known as medial epicondylitis, have an onset rate of one to three percent and are most commonly found in patients in their 40s and 50s.

Tennis elbow is more common, and golfer's elbow occurs in about 20 percent of patients with tennis elbow.

These conditions derive their names from the fact that they affect many athletes.

Tennis elbow is so named from the injuries caused by repeatitive backhand posture in tennis, where the elbow is straightened, and the wrist twisted toward the back of the hand, which applies pressure onto the outer part of the elbow.

Meanwhile, golfer's elbow is so named from the swing posture, which causes pain to the inner side of the elbow.

However, these two disorders are found more commonly among blue-collar workers and housewives who are constantly engaged in physical activity than among athletes.

These conditions are especially more common among women, as they tend to have weaker muscle strength than men and are more susceptible to muscle damage.

The main symptom of tennis elbow is loss of strength when holding or lifting an object.

On the other hand, the main symptom of golfer's elbow is pain during a daily activity involving moving the elbow toward the body, such as washing the face or combing the hair.

If you experience symptoms of tennis elbow or golfer's elbow, the most important thing to do is rest and avoid the use of the painful areas.

Improvement should be carefully monitored through physical therapy and icing the area.

Also, the use of an elbow band, below the elbow that stretches, and the practice of wrist exercises can strengthen the surrounding undamaged muscle and alleviate pain.

Finally, therapies such as extracorpeal shock wave therapy and ligament strengthening injection may be performed with other conservative treatment for faster recovery.

However, if pain persists even after these treatments, joint arthroscopy surgery may be necessary to remove the tissue with degenerative symptoms.

The elbow joint is one of the most commonly used joints; thus, it accumulates a great deal ofstress.

If the stress is not properly managed, resting in between laborious exercises and consistent stretching should be done to strengthen and relax the muscles.

The writer is specialist ofan orthopedic surgery specialist at Bumin Hospital Seoul in Gangseo District.