Tennis Elbow

Hey,

I am Doctor Sanjay Kapoor, consultant orthopedic surgeon. Today I will talk to you about a very common condition which is known as tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis. This condition usually occurs in young male and female. These days, especially with the overuse of computers, laptops, mobiles. The action of the finger movement, as well as the wrist movement, has tremendously increased because of which there is a problem in the lateral aspect of the elbow, typically at this point the patient comes in and says that I have pain in this area, I have difficulty lifting objects or have difficulty in typing, so this condition is usually diagnosed on the basis of clinical examination usually the patient come here and says there is a tenderness in an area. So when you press this area there is a typical severe pain and we ask for few clinical examinations like we ask the patient to dorsiflex the wrist against the resistance, in this movement patient also typically feels the pain.

Apart from clinical examination, we advise few x-rays to rule out any pathology in the bones or in the joint, few blood tests are also ordered to rule out any kind of infections or any kind of inflammation which is going inside the joint. Once these things are ruled out, the common treatment for this condition is usually we give some splint to the patient so that the moment of the rest are avoided for a few days.

Also some kinds of fomentation, hot water fomentation or cold packs application are done in the inflamed area or in the painful area, sometimes physiotherapy is also advised to control the inflammation, but the most important thing will be restriction of activity especially in which the forearm muscles, the extensor muscles of the forearm are used, so with the use of medical management, precautions, the main is the overuse of the wrist extensors of forearm extensors muscles, with fomentation, with rest this condition is easily treatable.

The message for the general population will be to avoid the overuse of your wrist or forearm or finger movements plus you should stress on regular exercises so that the muscles of the forearm, muscles of the wrist is strengthened and such conditions can be avoided.

Thank you