What Is "Tennis Elbow"?

Tennis elbow is a condition where the outer part of the elbow becomes painful and tender due to a specific strain, overuse, or some sort of direct impact. If you have this condition you find that moving or touching the elbow is painful.

The technical term for tennis elbow is lateral epicondylitis. It has been called "tennis elbow" because it is a condition commonly found in tennis players, due to the repetitive strain that playing tennis puts on their elbow joint. Tennis elbow is also commonly found among painters and decorators, plasterers, mechanics, and other professions and trades which involve repetitive arm movements.

Treatments for tennis elbow include rest, physiotherapy, application of heat, ultrasound, and anti-inflammatory drugs. More recent methods include the injection of a small amount of steroid into the affected area. Other forms of treatment include acupuncture, which can be tried as an alternative remedy. Wearing an arm brace can also help.

Tennis elbow is also known as lateral epicondylitis. A person is said to suffer from tennis elbow when the outer part of the elbow becomes painful and tender. Exact causes of why this occurs are unknown but it is thought that slight tears of the tendons that attach the arm bone to the muscles of the forearm at the elbow joint usually because of specific strain, overuse or a concussion.

Tennis elbow is in many ways similar to golfer's elbow, but that affects the other side of the elbow. Tennis elbow affects people using the set of muscles attached to the bone at this part of the elbow repetitively. It happens in not only athletes but also to painters, mechanics and plasterers.
Symptoms of tennis elbow include:
i) A sudden or gradual onset of pain over the outside of the elbow
ii) Pain when lifting objects
iii) Pain radiating down the forearm