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Alan L. Hammond, TennisMD News
Reviewed by the
TennisMD Medical Review Board.
Jul 25, 2010
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Almost a third of all American tennis players are affected by tennis elbow each year.
It’s also a constant threat to players world-wide. Copious research has been done to gain a better understanding of the affliction and ways to fight it. The main problem is that today's lifestyle of bigger, better, faster, has taken players' minds away from about the condition, one that can end a career. Once tennis elbow develops there are treatments that can help to repair the problem. However, preventing the development of is the best treatment by far.
Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is caused by the repeated motions of playing tennis. The constant swinging of the racket eventually starts to wear down the tendons connecting the muscle to bone. Microscopic tears develop in the tendons causing tendinitis, or pain and inflammation of the tendons. The pain can radiate out from the elbow, down the forearm, and upward to the shoulder. Players feel pain mainly when gripping their rackets, or hitting a backhand shot. Some researchers even believe that performing too many unstable backhands can also cause tennis elbow, so proper technique is suggested.
There are some other methods of prevention as well. Some of these are:
- Warm-up exercises are good for prevention. Do hand-flips, or wrist circles, to flex the muscles and tendons in preparation of play or training.
- Strength training is recommended as well. Squeezing a ball or sock in the hand repeatedly is a good exercise. Doing wrist and bicep curls will build strength in the arms and further decrease risk of injury.
- Stay in overall good physical shape. Eating healthy and making sure to get plenty of exercise will not only help in prevention of tennis elbow, but produce many other benefits later in life.
Unfortunately, not all cases of tennis elbow can be prevented. Some tennis elbow treatment only provides temporary relief, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroid injections. Other treatments have been found to offer long-term pain relief, and function. Arthroscopic treatment is one such procedure that has been found to help. This type of surgery, which uses a small camera to see inside the joint, has enabled surgeons to repair small tears, and even remove small bone fragments. Players with chronic elbow pain may want to consider this as an option if other treatments don't the desired effect.
References: Treatment Of Lateral Epicondylitis, Johnson, G., Cadwallader, K., Scheffel, S., Epperly, T., American Family Physician, Volume: 76(6), September 2007, 843-848. American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (2007, July 16) Tennis Elbow Procedure Demonstrates Long-term Success, Science Daily.
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