Tennis Elbow

What is Tennis Elbow?

Tennis elbow, also know as lateral epicondylitis, is a condition that causes pain on the outer part of the elbow, where the tendons of the forearm muscles attach to the bony bump of the elbow. Despite the name, you don’t have to play tennis to get tennis elbow. It’s commonly caused by overuse or repetitive strain, especially activities that involve gripping, lifting, or twisting movements.

Common Causes include:

  • Repetitive use of hand tools or computer mouse

  • Lifting heavy objects with a bent elbow or straight wrist

  • Sports like tennis, squash, or even golf

  • DIY or gardening tasks

Characteristics/ Clinical Presentation

Tennis elbow occurs when the tendons in your elbow become overloaded, leading to tiny tears and inflammation in the tendon that connects your forearm muscles to the elbow.

Symptoms:

  • Pain or burning on the outside of the elbow

  • Weak grip strength

  • Pain that worsens with gripping, twisting, or lifting, even during simple tasks like turning a key or opening a jar

With the right treatment; such as Physiotherapy, rest, and activity modification, most people recover fully from tennis elbow.

Clinical Diagnosis

Unlike many other injuries, tennis elbow is usually straightforward to diagnose. A few simple clinical tests, along with your symptoms, are often enough to confirm it.

Common signs include:

  • Pain or tenderness on the outer part of the elbow

  • Discomfort that worsens with gripping activities

  • Pain during everyday tasks such as turning a door handle, shaking hands, or holding a pen

If you’re experiencing these symptoms and think you may have tennis elbow, it’s best to get it properly assessed. Our expert Physiotherapists can confirm the diagnosis and guide you through an effective treatment plan to relieve pain and restore function. Click here to book your appointment today.

Treatment

Physiotherapy and Massage treatments can be great to speed along recovery on tennis elbow. A well structured exercise programme can be key to overcoming this injury.

During the treatment, the Physio may use some deep manual techniques which can help to increase blood flow to the area and help promote healing.

If the tennis elbow has been around for a while and becomes a chronic issue, then Shockwave Therapy may be the best type of treatment for you. Shockwave will help restart your healing process, help to reduce your pain and improve function.

Steroid (corticosteroid) injections are also sometimes used to treat tennis elbow, especially when pain is severe or not responding to initial treatments like rest, physiotherapy, or anti-inflammatory medication.

Here at Comfort Health

We offer a comprehensive range of treatments to help support your journey back to full health. Our services include Physiotherapy, Sports MassageAcupuncture, Shockwave Therapy and Steroid Injections. Each of these therapies can play a valuable role in reducing pain, improving mobility, and accelerating recovery.

You can book any of the above services online today using this link, or use the links to find out more information. If you have any further questions about which service to book, please get in touch via phone or email.