The Nightmare Injury For The Tennis Player

For those of us who play tennis, the dreaded tennis elbow is an injury that has caused much consternation and many days, weeks and months of lost activity time. The repetitive twisting, or appropriately termed, supination and pronation of the forearm at the elbow joint leads to chronic inflammation of the tendons that attach the forearm to the upper arm.

The extensor tendons of the forearm are affected with tennis elbow

As seen in the picture of the forearm below, the extensor tendons are the primary tissues affected with this overuse injury. Tennis elbow may be more commonly referred to as lateral epicondylitis. 

In a recent study found in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), it was found that "Corticosteroid injections and physical therapy, either individually or in combination, failed to help patients with "tennis elbow" except for a short-term benefit seen with the steroids, a randomized trial showed.

Additionally, it was noted in the journal article, that follow-ups one (1) year later found worse outcomes for patients who sought cortisone shots (steroid injections) as compared with those who received a placebo. So the steroid shots only provided short-term relief and did not solve the problem.

Overuse injuries such as this, and its counterpart, golfer's elbow are effectively treated at Rehabilitation & Spinal Care of Rockford without the use of steroids. Treatments are focused on restoring full, painless, range-of-motion and correcting the biomechanics that ultimately caused the condition to flare up.

Unfortunately, this and other chronic conditions are not self-limiting and tend to persist without corrective care, so don't live your life in pain and unable to perform the activities that you enjoy. Call the office today at (815) 394 0309 to schedule your initial appointment.