Knee Elbow

Knee Elbow

Common Reasons Of Elbow Pain

The elbow is the region surrounding the elbow-joint and it is in the middle of the arm. Elbows are joints just like knees and their function is to rotate, flex and support the body weight when needed. Excessive pressure, continuous action and aging can hurt the elbows and knees. When too much strain is put on them or when they are leaned upon, they will hurt. Most common cases of elbow pain are golfer elbow, tennis elbow and bursitis.

Golfer's Elbow

If the pain radiates from different area of the elbow and it is felt on and around the bony area extending through the flexor muscle below the arm, it is called golfer's elbow and it is little similar to tennis elbow.

Force exerted on the flexor muscles during a golf swing pulls the tendons. When the wrist is flexed or the hand is made to grip, the muscles are pulled against the tendons. Excessive use of those muscles from continuous golf or tennis swings results in pain and inflammation around the elbow joint.

Tennis Elbow

If pain is felt and it starts from the outer side of the upper forearm just under the bend of the elbow radiating down towards the wrist, this means that the person is suffering from tennis elbow. This pain is mostly felt bending or lifting the arm when even grasping light objects like a tea cup.

This name has been given because playing tennis often results to this kind of elbow pain. This pain is not limited only to tennis players. The sport requires continuous rotation and flexing of the arm from shoulder to wrist. These movements can cause little tears in parts of the muscle and tendon. When the first tear has healed, it often tears again and continuous tearing results in the bleeding of the muscle. Rough tissue and calcium deposits are formed and a protein named collagen leaks out from around the injured areas causing inflammation. The pressure of the swelling cuts off the flow of the blood pinching the radial nerve which is one of the main nerves that controls the muscles in the hand and arm.

There is difficulty extending the forearm fully because of the inflamed ligaments, muscles and tendons. This inflammation can continue typically for 6 to 12 weeks. Although tendons do not receive the same amount of blood and oxygen that muscles do but they heal more slowly. Due to this slow healing process, the pain can last for as less as 3 weeks and can continue for several years.

Tennis elbow can be a type of tendonitis that is mostly the case. If the bones and muscles of the elbow joint are also involved, it is called epicondylitis. Although swelling in never a symptom of tennis elbow but if there is swelling, other possible conditions have to be checked like infection, arthritis, tumor or gout.

Bursitis

If pain is felt directly on the back of the elbow joint rather than below the outside of the arm, then this is the sign of bursitis. This is caused by the inflammation of lubricating sacs in the joint. Constant rubbing of the tendon over the bone along with high amounts of repetitive shoulder, arm, hip, knee and ankle causes this pain.

Treatments for Elbow Pain

One can have a quick relief by doing the following like; giving the arm a rest till the pain disappears and then massaging the area for relieving the tension and stress in the muscles. Do exercise to strengthen the area for preventing any further injury. If it has to be remembered what was being done, that caused the injury, one must not forget to warm up for at least ten minutes with gentle stretching before starting any activity. Frequent breaks must not be forgotten.

Assortment of treatments for elbow pain is offered in conventional medicines. They range from drug injections to surgery but the pain will never completely finish unless one stops stressing the joint. The muscles and tendons can get damaged and the pain can further worsen without adequate rest.

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