THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR ELBOW

KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR ELBOW

 

 Pain on the outside of the elbow – a condition known as “tennis elbow” – is common, and not just among players of the sport. 
Nearly half of all tennis players suffer from this disorder at some point, but they still represent only 5 per cent of the people seeing doctors about the complaint.
It involves inflammation of the tendon on the outside of the elbow brought on by damage to the tendon and muscle, whether by accident or by repetitive use over a long period of time. 
Contributing factors can be sports equipment that’s poorly designed or ill suited to an individual’s style, incorrect or excessive training, and frequent lifting and dragging of heavy objects. A housemaid might suffer from tennis elbow because the tendon degenerates from all the sweeping and wringing clothes.
Often the damaged tendon isn’t given enough time to heal completely before it’s subjected to more strain. Repetitive tearing brings on inflammation and swelling, and the body will taken even longer to repair itself, often six to 12 weeks.
Inflammation of the elbow can be simply a result of tendonitis. In that case the inflammation often includes the area where the muscles and tendons are attached to the bone or joint at the elbow, a condition known as epicondylitis.
You have tennis elbow if you suffer from the following symptoms:
n Recurring pain on the outside of the elbow.
n Pain at the back of the hand that extends to the wrist.
n The pain intensifies when lifting objects, especially when the hand is palm down while sweeping floors, washing dishes, stirring food or the like.
Diagnosis is straightforward, based on medical history and an examination, but some symptoms are often mistaken as indicative of tennis elbow, such as pain in the inside rather than the outside of the elbow joint – a condition known as golfer’s elbow. Meanwhile, pain at the back of the elbow suggests bursitis, which is caused by a cyst.
Since the pain of tennis elbow is caused by a tendon injury in a specific area, the best treatment is to stop doing whatever brought on the condition. Then, once the pain begins to ease, you can begin exercising the muscle – at least five minutes a day. 
If you return to work or your favourite sport too soon, the injury can be could be aggravated and the pain will return. 
Physicians generally prescribe anti-inflammatory medicine in the earliest stage, when the pain is not so great. If it proves ineffective, steroid injections into the inflamed tendon are recommend, but only sporadically over a short period. Otherwise the steroids can have side effects, such as local whitening of the skin, fat atrophy and rupture of the tendons.
If the treatment is still not having an effect, surgery should be considered to remove the damaged tissue and to repair and tighten the tendons. About 3 per cent of sufferers take this option.
Sports injuries result from muscle and joint imbalance and can be prevented. You should always warm up for five or 10 minutes before you start to play.
 
Associate Professor Chathchai Pookarnjanamorakot, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon at Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital.
 
 
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