Tennis Elbow is a common disease

Lateral Epicondylitis is a painful syndrome located on the outside of the elbow, all along the forearm, sometimes extending upwards to the back of the arm. Professional tennis players are usually vigilant and take precautions to prevent the occurrence of Tennis Elbow. Professionals engaged in other activities do not have the same care and this can cause long-term types of skeletal muscle disorders. Certain job related diseases can affect people who do sedentary work or on the other hand, heavy duty activities.

It's good to know that tennis elbow is just an inflammation of muscles of the forearm and the tendon that connects the muscles to the bones in the elbow. Tennis elbow is frequent in sports like badminton, tennis, and racquetball and work with repeated gripping activities. This condition produces severe, burning pain over the bone at the side of the elbow.

This disease or condition is caused among other things by poor technique when hitting a backhand. Tennis Elbow is also caused when the elbow is overstressed or repetitively overused and affects the outer area of the elbow, rather than the inner area often identified with Golfer s Elbow. Other than players who play with racquet, labors who lay bricks in the construction of a building, housewives, manual workers who are doing a lot of lifting and using the muscles of the forearm, and computer users who types a lot are prone to get this injury because their work require repeated bending of wrist.

This disease has symptoms that begin gradually. It often manifests them through a little pain that increases until becoming unbearable. As time goes on, it may take longer for the pain to go away. Pain may spread to the hand, other parts of the arm, shoulder, or neck (referred pain). Other symptoms are, pain that radiates from the outside of the elbow into the forearm and wrist, pain when you extend your wrist, forearm weakness, pain that gets worse over weeks or months, a painful grip during certain activities, such as shaking hands or turning a doorknob, an inability to hold certain objects, such as a coffee cup, pain that typically lasts for 6 to 12 weeks and this discomfort can continue for as little as 3 weeks or as long as several years.

If you happen to have some of these symptoms that we've described here, the most important thing is to go to the doctor as soon as possible, so he can recommend immediate treatment. In those cases where the disease is far advanced it is recommended the so called conservative treatments which are very successful in most patients who suffer from this condition. In most cases conservative treatment works in an efficient way and pain disappears but sometimes not. Since medical science has improved through the years, new techniques have been created in the treatment of Tennis Elbow. Initial treatment may include application of ice packs to the elbow and use of anti-inflammatory medications (such as ibuprofen) for pain relief. Another treatment that is recommended in these cases are the stretching and strengthening exercises that will increase strength without causing any irritation or overuse of the tendons. One of the most common treatments to combat Tennis Elbow may be acupuncture which is very popular today. Massage therapy, and acupressure are also used to relief this type of injury.

This condition can be caused by many factors, but according to statistics the most common and most frequent is age. Studies have shown that the most common age of contracting this disease is between 30 to 60 years of age. Some speculative risk factors for lateral epicondylosis include taking up tennis later in life, unaccustomed strenuous activity, decreased reaction times and speed and repetitive eccentric muscle contractions.