Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis

For a whole week I've stopped playing the piano and worked on a home project instead. I've had this nagging pain on my wrist that seemed to radiate from the right elbow and so decided to give the piano playing a rest.

Even the brief finger stretching exercises have not worked. It is a dull pain and feel it on my wrist and forearm when tipping my coffee mug to drink.

Apparently what I do have is a condition called Tennis Elbow. Yeah and I don't even play tennis. :(

Where did I get it then? About a month ago, I worked on a huge garden trellis that required me to repeatedly use pliers and vise grips for an extended amount of time.

Since I'm right-handed, the unbelievable amount of gripping work with the pliers to cut, bend and form steel wire had led to an overuse injury on my right forearm.


Above photo is from Healthwise. Here's a definition and description from lifesteps.com:
Definition of Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is an inflammation of several structures of the elbow. These include muscles, tendons, bursa, periosteum, and epicondyle (bony projections on the outside and inside of the elbow, where muscles of the forearm attach to the bone of the upper arm).


Tennis Elbow Description

The classic tennis elbow is caused by repeated forceful contractions of wrist muscles located on the outer forearm. The stress, created at a common muscle origin, causes microscopic tears leading to inflammation.

This is a relatively small surface area located at the outer portion of the elbow (the lateral epicondyle).

People at risk for tennis elbow are those in occupations that require strenuous or repetitive forearm movement. Such jobs include mechanics or carpentry. Sport activities that require individuals to twist the hand, wrist, and forearm, such as tennis, throwing a ball, bowling, golfing, and skiing, can cause tennis elbow.

Individuals in poor physical condition who are exposed to repetitive wrist and forearm movements for long periods of time may be prone to tennis elbow. This condition is also called epicondylitis, lateral epicondylitis, medial epicondylitis, or golfer's elbow, where pain is present at the inside epicondyle.

My condition is not as bad in that I don't have to take medications for the pain. I'm now doing stretching and strengthening forearm exercises to get rid of the tennis elbow.



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Cecil said...

Tennis elbow, if left untreated, the condition will get worse and become more debilitating. If not treated correctly, the pain will continue to recur every time the arm is used. Experts recommend strength training and right posture when doing repetitive activities.