When To See A Gp
You should avoid the activity that is causing the pain until your symptoms improve.
If the pain in your elbow does not go away after a few days of rest, visit a GP.
The GP will check for swelling and tenderness, and carry out some simple tests, such as stretching out your fingers and flexing your wrist while your elbow is stretched out.
If the GP thinks the pain is due to nerve damage, further tests, such as an ultrasound scan or an MRI scan, may be done.
Strengthen Your Forearm Muscles Use Light Weights Or Squeeze A Tennis Ball Even Simple Exercises Can Help Your Muscles Absorb The Energy Of Sudden Physical Stress
Stretch before your activity. Walk or jog for a few minutes to warm up your muscles. Then do gentle stretches before you begin your game.
Fix your form. Whatever your sport, ask an instructor to check your form to avoid overload on muscles.
Use the right equipment. If youre using older golfing irons, consider upgrading to lighter graphite clubs. If you play tennis, make sure your racket fits you. A racket with a small grip or a heavy head may increase the risk of elbow problems.
Lift properly. When lifting anything including free weights keep your wrist rigid and stable to reduce the force to your elbow.
Know when to rest. Try not to overuse your elbow. At the first sign of elbow pain, take a break.
Tennis Elbow And Golfers Elbowwhats The Difference
While many people are familiar with the names of these conditions, there is less widespread understanding about how they differ. Both tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, and golfers elbow, or medial epicondylitis, are injuries to the tendons attaching your forearm muscles to the bone at your elbow. The epicondyle part of epicondylitis refers to the bony bumps or protrusions at your elbow.
Lateral epicondylitis affects the tendons attached to the outer side of your elbow, which are connected in turn to the muscles that extend your wrist backward and straighten your fingers. Medial epicondylitis affects tendons connected to the inner side of your elbow, which are attached to the muscles that flex your wrist and contract your fingers when you grip something.
Both injuries are usually the result of repetitive strain on the tendons, and although you dont have to be a golfer or tennis player to experience them, the repeated forceful motions involved in both sports make them very common.
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The Difference Between The Tennis And Golfer’s Elbow
As mentioned above, the biggest difference is where you feel pain. Tennis elbow pain is felt on the outside of your elbow. Golfer’s elbow pain is on the inside of your elbow. There are other conditions and injuries that can cause elbow pain, so it is best to visit your doctor for proper diagnosis and determine the most effective treatment.
Whether you play tennis and golf or not, here’s the breakdown of the two.
Tennis Elbow Vs Golfers Elbow: Lateral Epicondylitis Vs Medial Epicondylitis
Its simple enough to decode these technical terms. Lateral is a medical word for outer, while medial is a medical word for inner. Epicondylitis is inflammation surrounding an epicondyle a rough protuberance above the condyle of a long-bone. In laymens terms, tennis elbow is inflammation on the end of the outer elbow, and golfers elbow is inflammation on the end of the inner elbow.
Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis affects the outer or lateral side of your elbow. These are the muscles you use to bend your wrist backward and straighten your fingers. Golfers elbow or medial epicondylitis affects the inner or medial side of your elbow. These muscles flex your wrist and close your fingers into a fist. Repetitive strain and overuse cause both of these injuries.
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Difference Between Tennis Elbow And Golf Elbow
Tennis elbow and golfers elbow are both overuse ailments, which means they are the result of repeated stress to the same region. Microscopic rips in the tissue, edema, irritation, and pain around the elbow are the results of such frequent impacts. Tennis elbow and golfers elbow are two distinct types of elbow tendonitis in this regard.
Racquet sports
It goes without saying that overuse or incorrect technique while playing tennis or another sport requiring a racquet might harm the tendon. An injury might also come from using a racket that is too small or heavy.
Throwing activities
Golfers elbow can also result from other sports that require elbow extension, including archery, football, and javelin throwing. Baseball or softball pitchers who employ poor technique frequently cause injuries.
Weight lifting
Weightlifting is another activity where poor technique can lead to an elbow overuse injury. Poor technique, like curling the wrists during a biceps exercise, overstretches the tendons and muscles around the elbow, leading to tears.
Workplace requirements
Construction, piping, painting, and carpentry are a few professions that require repetitive, strong wrist or arm movements that might result in tennis or a golfers elbow.
Regular uses
A repetitive motion injury to the elbow might result from typing, meal preparation, raking, or gardening. Tennis or golfers elbow can be caused by anything, including relaxing pastimes like knitting or playing an instrument.
Tennis Elbow Vs Golfers Elbow: The Causes Symptoms & Treatments
Late summer is prime time for tennis and golf. In fact, two of these sports most anticipated and highly watched events occur every year in August. With the 2015 PGA Championship now over, the tennis world is gearing up for the US Open, which begins on August 31. Unfortunately, with more people hitting the tennis courts and golf courses, late summer is also the season for two common types of sports injuries: tennis elbow and golfers elbow.
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How To Continue Playing Sports
If you participate in one of the sports mentioned above, have your physician or expert look at your equipment to make sure you’re using the right gear. Have a coach or professional look at your form and technique. Work with your coach or physical therapist of stretches and exercises you can do to keep the tendons healthy. Always wear proper bracing for support and compression. Use ice and heat if you experience inflammation and swelling. And make sure to rest when needed.
How To Treat Tennis Elbow
Because tennis elbow is a degenerative condition, rather than an acute injury, it can progressively worsen if left untreated. Tennis elbow could lead to difficulty completing everyday tasks such as opening a door, brushing your teeth or gripping a coffee mug. Fortunately, your physician can recommend various conservative treatment options to help prevent tennis elbow from becoming a major issue.
These are some of the conservative treatment options your physician is likely to suggest.
- Rest: Limit your daily participation in activities that increase stress on the tendons and bring on tennis elbow symptoms.
- Avoiding some activities: Steer clear of physical activities that exacerbate tennis elbow.
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Relieve Your Elbow Pain Fast With Help From Airrosti
Although it is most common in the elbows and shoulders, tendonitis can develop virtually anywhere where tendons connect muscle to bone. It is important to treat signs of tendonitis as soon as you start noticing symptoms to avoid a more significant injury.
At Airrosti, we can help dramatically speed up your tendonitis recovery and provide long-lasting pain relief from both golfers elbow and tennis elbow. Our providers will take the time needed to diagnose and treat your injury at the source, so you can get back to enjoying a pain-free life.
Schedule an in-office or virtual appointment today if you are struggling with tendonitis symptoms.
Read our Medical Disclaimer here.
Lateral Epicondylitis Vs Medial Epicondylitis
Epi- what? Epicondylitis is the inflammation of the tendons attached to your humerus, your upper arm bone, which makes up part of your elbow. The tendons involved with Tennis Elbow are attached to the bony bump on the outside of your elbow, this structure is also known as the lateral epicondyle of the humerus. Golf elbow involves the tendons attached to the bony bump on the inside of your elbow, known as the medial epicondyle of the humerus.
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What Are The Differences Between Tennis Elbow And Golfers Elbow
| Tennis Elbow involves the muscles and tendons of your forearm that extend your wrist and fingers. Symptoms may develop gradually, with mild pain that slowly worsens over time. Tennis elbow usually doesnt come from an injury, but rather from overuse of the tendons in your forearm. Symptoms include weak grip strength and a pain or burning sensation on the outer part of the elbow. Usually, they get worse when you use your forearm in activities like holding a racquet , turning a wrench, or shaking hands. | Golfers Elbow involves the forearm muscles. In this case, were talking about the muscles that attach from the wrist and go to the funny bone area of the elbow near the inner bump. These muscles are responsible for wrist flexion and the twisting inward motion of the wrist, which explains its connection to golf. Symptoms include pain or tenderness near the funny bone, or inner bump of the elbow, as well as reduced strength in your grip. This type of injury can happen outside of sports activities: workers that regularly complete tasks that involve repetitive wrist flexion or twisting or forearm pronation commonly suffer from golfers elbow. |
Luckily, there are some exercises and stretches applicable to both conditions that you can do to help manage your symptoms. Here are some options that can help with both tennis elbow and golfers elbow injuries:
Treatment For Golfers Elbow & Tennis Elbow
Immediate Treatment
Give your elbow and wrist a rest. It may take several weeks of resting the elbow and wrist to feel a decrease in pain, and even longer until the symptoms are gone completely. You can help reduce pain and swelling by icing the painful area. Taking anti-inflammatory pain relievers, such as ibuprofen or aspirin can also help. However, its important to seek medical attention from your health care provider if the condition does not show improvement.
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Get Treated For Tennis Elbow And Golfers Elbow In Ny
If tennis or golfers elbow is affecting your game, NY Orthopedics can help. Our practice is home to several recognized leaders in the field of both non-operative and operative care of elbow conditions and sports-related injuries. The fellowship-trained orthopedists at our Hand, Wrist, Elbow & Shoulder Center specialize in tailoring treatment plans to meet the unique needs of our patients.
We know just how important a pain-free match or an 18-hole round is to passionate tennis and golf players. We look forward to helping you get back in the game with minimal downtime. Fill out the schedule appointment form on this page to see a specialist at one of our six office in the New York area.
What Is The Difference Between Golfers Elbow And Tennis Elbow
In the simplest of terms, tennis elbow refers to pain on the outside of the elbow, while golfers elbow refers to pain on the inside of the elbow. Tennis elbow is more common than golfers elbow.
Certain activities may be more likely to cause tennis elbow rather than golfers elbow, and ironically, you dont need to play tennis or golf to suffer from either problem. Lets explore each of these issue individually.
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What Can Be Mistaken For Tennis Elbow Or Golfers Elbow
A few other conditions share similar symptoms with tennis and golfers elbow. Pain in the elbow joint or forearm can be a sign of several conditions, so its important to seek a professional diagnosis. You may believe you have tennis or golfers elbow when you actually have one of the following conditions:
- Radial tunnel syndrome: This is a dull, aching pain at the top of the forearm due to excess pressure on the nerve.
- Osteochondritis dissecans: This joint disorder tends to form in young athletes and involves cracks in the cartilage. Its most common among adolescent gymnasts.
- Osteoarthritis: This is the most common form of arthritis. It involves cartilage wearing thin and can result in severe pain in the joints.
- Rheumatoid arthritis: An inflammatory disorder, rheumatoid arthritis affects the joints and other tissues of the body.
If you suspect you have either tennis or golfers elbow, consult with your healthcare professional to confirm. You may actually have one of these other conditions, which require different treatments and can be more serious.
Tennis Elbow And Golf Elbow
Tennis elbow and golf elbow are very common. Despite the names, you dont have to be a golfer or a tennis player to develop either of these elbow tendonitis-related injuries. Both of these injuries typically develop when certain tendons in your elbow become overloaded, overused, or poorly used. Typically, these elbow injuries occur from repetitive activities with the wrist, arm, and/or fingers. Whether it is golf or tennis elbow all depends on the tendons involved .
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What Is Golfers Elbow
Medial epicondylitis, or Golfers Elbow, is an irritation on the inner side of the arm and elbow. This condition can be caused by activities that require repeated twisting or flexing of the wrist. Generally, its due to overuse of the forearm muscles. Activities such as gardening, shoveling, playing golf or tennis can cause Golfers Elbow. Repeated lifting, especially when your elbow is extended and your palm is facing down, can also cause it. Other causes include racquet sports, baseball or softball, weightlifting, carpentry, painting and other similar activities.
What Is The Difference Between Tennis Elbow Vs Golfers Elbow
Both conditions involve inflammation, microinjury and degeneration of the tendons at their attachment on the epicondyle which is also called epicondylitis . The difference is in the location. Tennis Elbow, also know as lateral epicondylitis, is inflammation and injury and pain on the outside of the elbow whereas Golfers Elbow which also known as medial epicondylitis, affects the inside of the elbow. If it helps Tennis, Lateral and outside all have Ts and is an easy way to remember that Tennis elbow involves the LaTeral or OuTside of the elbow. Pain is the primary symptom.
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What Causes Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow is usually caused by overusing the muscles attached to your elbow and used to straighten your wrist. If the muscles are strained, tiny tears and inflammation can develop near the bony lump on the outside of your elbow.
As the name suggests, tennis elbow is sometimes caused by playing tennis, but any activity that puts repeated stress on the elbow joint can cause it.
Pain that occurs on the inner side of the elbow is known as golfer’s elbow.
Treatment For Golfers Elbow Vs Tennis Elbow
If you feel persistent pain in the muscles attached to your elbow, seek sports medicine help. The treatment for these conditions is similar in that you should seek professional care. Dont give the condition a chance to worsen. If you do, it can become more difficult and expensive to treat, or impossible to completely fix. Talk to a sports medicine doctor as soon as you can.
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Tennis Elbow Vs Golf Elbow: What Is The Difference
Tennis elbowor golfers elbow can still be responsible for the slight or severe pain in your hand even though you dont constantly hit the court or lift heavy objects. Both medical conditions are caused by continuously stressing the muscles in the elbow, thereby causing a micro tear in the tendons.
These conditions are not peculiar to just sportsmen as a simple daily task such as typing or lifting a jar can cause golfers or tennis elbow.
People often confuse these conditions to be the same. Well, thats quite understandable as both conditions involve pain around the forearm, wrist, and elbow.
However, the Tennis elbow and the golfers elbow have different health conditions. To clear up the confusion around Tennis elbow or golfers elbow, lets discuss the causes, differences, treatment options, and preventive measures for each of these injuries.
Golfers Elbow Vs Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow is when you have pain on the forearm on the outside of the elbow.
Golfers elbow is when you have pain on the forearm on the inside of the elbow.
Both are forms of elbow tendinitis and require sports injury treatment. You can remember it with this mnemonic: Golfers are trying to hit the ball in. Tennis players are trying to out match their opponents.
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Where Does Golfers Elbow Cause Pain
Golfers elbow affects the inside epicondyle. Youll hear your orthopedic surgeon call this medial tendon inflammation. Affected muscles are the flexor carpi radialis and pronator teres in your arm.
Golfers elbow usually occurs when you repeatedly twist or flex your wrist. You may experience pain when you lift your wrist or hand, twist your forearm, or make a fist.
You may also notice:
- Numbness and tingling in your fingers, usually your ring finger and pinky.
Here Are 5 Helpful Tips For Treating Both Tennis & Golfers Elbow:
Your health care provider may also prescribe an elbow brace. The purpose of the brace is to redirect the pressure over your muscles so that the injured area does not take the full force. Some elbow braces, such as the 3pp Elbow Pop Splintare designed with adjustable compression. This allows you to determine where and how much pressure to apply to promote healing without restricting blood flow.
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