Common causes of elbow pain

Elbow pain is most often caused by strenuous, excessive use. Many sports and jobs involve repetitive hand, wrist or arm movements. Elbow pain can occasionally be caused by arthritis, but the elbow joint is much less prone to degenerative damage than other joints.

Elbow pain is a symptom that can have the following causes:

• Arm fracture
• Bursitis (inflammation of the joint bursa)
• Elbow dislocation
• Golfer's elbow
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis (inflammatory joint disease)
• Stress (overuse) fracture
• Tendinitis (tendon inflammation)
• Tennis elbow
• Throwing injuries (injury acquired during a throwing motion)
• Nerve entrapment, compressed nerve fibers

Overuse – the most common cause

Elbow pain can occur in anyone who frequently performs repetitive arm movements. It is common among carpenters, joiners, painters, and butchers, for example. It can also be triggered by seemingly "innocent" activities such as extended mouse use. It often occurs after spring gardening following a long winter "break" when sudden exertion (digging, raking, pruning) is performed. The same applies to irregular athletes — pain may appear after the first spring tennis match.

On the outer and inner sides of the elbow you can feel bony prominences (epicondyles). The tendons of the forearm muscles that move the hand attach there. On the outer side attach the tendons of the wrist and finger extensor muscles, and on the inner side attach the tendons of the wrist and finger flexor muscles.

If you subject these muscles to heavy strain, small tears can develop at the points where the tendons meet the bone, and the periosteum can even be injured. Overuse can cause inflammation at the tendon attachment sites. If periosteal inflammation develops around the attachment, the muscles reflexively tighten, and pressing or moving the area causes elbow pain over the epicondyles.

Epicondylitis develops — inflammation of the elbow prominence. More familiar names are tennis elbow and golfer's elbow. Tennis elbow refers to inflammation at the outer bump, while golfer's elbow refers to inflammation over the inner bony prominence. Despite their different names they both cause similar chronic pain. Despite their sporty names, they are far from being limited to athletes.

Characteristics of elbow pain

A symptom of epicondylitis is a strong, deep pain radiating toward the forearm and wrist, which can even extend upward to the shoulder joint. Elbow pain can be troublesome even at rest, but joint movement, holding small objects, or even making a fist intensifies it. The area around the bony prominences becomes tender to pressure. The pain increases with physical exertion. Overuse is always the underlying cause.

Home treatment options for elbow pain

One of the most important steps in treatment is offloading the joint. If possible, stop the activity that causes the symptoms (whether sport or work).

There are many pain-relief, steroid and non-steroidal medications, creams and patches available. You should know that pain relievers generally do not have a curative effect; they only suppress the symptoms, so it is worth looking for a solution that also targets and heals the inflammation.

For the first few days after acute onset of elbow pain, treat it with cooling. Gel cooling straps that conform to the joint are the most suitable. When using ordinary ice, place a towel between the ice and the skin. Direct contact with ice can cause frostbite on the skin over time. Cooling has the strongest analgesic effect when the skin temperature drops by at least 15°C within 10–15 minutes.

If cooling does not eliminate the elbow pain, you can choose further physiotherapy treatments. Their curative effects develop slowly — i.e., improvement is expected after 7–10 days of treatment. However, pain reduction can occur after just a few sessions.

Deep heat therapy

The simplest and probably cheapest method is deep heat therapy. Infrared rays warm the tissues, stimulate circulation and thereby help flush out toxins and metabolites — speeding up the healing process. Do not apply heat in freshly developed tennis elbow, but if you have been suffering for several weeks, heat may reduce the pain!

Softlaser treatment

Aim the laser beam at the most painful point and hold it there until you deliver 5 Joules of energy to the painful area. Different power lasers require different treatment times — read the device's manual! The laser's energy penetrates deep into the tissues and stimulates the healing processes. It effectively reduces pain and inflammation.

TENS treatment

The electrical impulses of TENS devices are used for pain relief. For elbow pain, stick one electrode 3–5 cm above and one 3–5 cm below the epicondyle. If your device has a modulatory TENS program, use it; if not, you can select the conventional or endorphin programs. TENS is a symptomatic treatment — it relieves pain but does not affect healing.

Microcurrent treatment

Microcurrent treatment is applied similarly to TENS, with the difference that microcurrent (in addition to strongly reducing pain) activates your body's regenerative processes. First, it restores the disturbed cell membrane potential. As a result, ATP (energy) and protein synthesis begin, and the healing processes "gain strength." Microcurrent gives a considerable "boost" to the healing.

Magnetotherapy

In Western European medicine, magnetotherapy is part of physiotherapy-rehabilitation in acute and chronic musculoskeletal diseases. It has a biostimulatory effect — similarly to microcurrent and softlaser (but by a different mechanism) it stimulates the healing processes.

Ultrasond treatment

Ultrasound waves raise the temperature of the treated tissues, accelerate blood circulation and thus speed up healing. Always use contact gel for ultrasound treatment. Move the applicator head slowly in circular motions over the painful area. You can read about the correct dosing of ultrasound in this article of mine.