How to Fix Tennis Elbow: The Up-to-Date Approach
Tennis elbow is one of the most common conditions treated in a physical therapy clinic. Unfortunately, patients often leave dissatisfied due to lingering pain, continued weakness, or no resolution of their symptoms. While there are no guarantees with treatment and even fewer guarantees in medicine, there are specific steps and rules to follow to set yourself up for the best outcome.
Science and research have allowed physical therapy to become much more technical, developing laser-targeted treatment approaches based on the individual patient we care for instead of throwing the same exercises and ice packs at all patients with elbow pain. We are excited to bring this level of care to Summit Physical Therapy patients.
Modern medicine is better than ever at treating tennis elbow but we know that it is not isolated to the elbow itself. Tennis elbow frequently includes dysfunction at the shoulder and neck which can be an underlying cause of the problem to begin with. When coming to a proper diagnosis, it is important that we do not stop with the assumption of “Tennis Elbow.” Tennis elbow is an umbrella term, speaking about a few conditions that cause pain at the outer elbow, and each of these issues have different causes and solutions.
A few of the diagnoses falling under the tennis elbow umbrella are:
Lateral Epicondylalgia
Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis Tendinopathy
Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus Tendinopathy
Extensor Digitorum Longus Tendinopathy
Supinator Syndrome
Cervical Radiculopathy
Radial Tunnel Syndrome
While this list of diagnoses can be overwhelming and make tennis elbow issues seem even more complicated, a thorough examination by a physical therapist makes coming to the correct diagnosis easier. Receiving a proper diagnosis allows you to make the most out of your time in physical therapy, ultimately improving your chances of success and proper healing.
Below we will discuss how these diagnoses fall into three main categories of treatment. There are some more specific details that we will leave out for simplicity's sake, but these three categories will explain how we improve the diagnoses mentioned above.
Your Elbow Is the Problem
This means that one of the tendons in your lateral elbow is the cause of your issue. It could also mean that there has been some overuse or specific injuries to one or more of these tendons. Your physical therapy treatment may be focused specifically at the elbow and wrist to help improve the strength and load tolerance of this area. Exercise is excellent at remodeling the quality of the tendon that is injured too. Surprisingly, treatments like heat, ice, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation are not helpful in these cases.
Your Neck Is the Issue
Believe it or not, your neck can radiate pain down to your elbow, and beyond. There are a large number of patients who are misdiagnosed with tennis elbow who actually have radiating pain from the neck. A few signs of pain radiating from the neck versus isolated tennis elbow are:
Pain or tightness in your forearm or in the back of your hand
Neck or shoulder pain pre-dating your elbow pain
Elbow pain at rest (now while you are using your wrist)
If you have been treated for tennis elbow, and your neck was not evaluated, we highly recommend seeking further evaluation, especially in cases where there was no benefit with previous physical therapy targeted at the elbow.
Your Neck and Shoulder Caused Your Elbow Issue
Many patients present with a combination of the previously listed scenarios. While it is not intuitive to treat your neck to improve your elbow symptoms, there is good research to show that patients tend to get better when physical therapy is targeted at the neck, shoulder complex, and elbow to improve tennis elbow.
Summit Physical Therapy Treats Tennis Elbow Patients
At Summit Physical Therapy, our therapists are trained using the most up-to-date research available, with the goal of being able to apply this knowledge to your specific case—working toward your recovery. We believe that proper diagnosis is key, and will work with patients to develop a formal plan to address your tennis elbow so you can get back to doing the things you enjoy. Request An Appointment today with one of our licensed physical therapists. No referral is needed to receive our care!