Tennis Elbow: What Is It? How Do I Get Back to My Regular Activities?

Previous article Full AccessPerspectives for PatientsTennis Elbow: What Is It? How Do I Get Back to My Regular Activities?AuthorsJournal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical TherapyPublished Online:March 28, 2023Volume53Issue4Pages235-235https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2023.0504SectionsPDFPDF PLUSAbstract ToolsAdd to FavoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AboutAbstractYou do not have to play tennis to get tennis elbow—a very common problem for people who do lots of repetitive movements of the wrist, forearm and elbow, such as carpentry, painting or racquet sports. Most people with tennis elbow feel pain on the outside of their elbow and upper forearm. Experts in managing elbow pain developed a guideline for rehabilitation clinicians to use to help you understand more about tennis elbow. Here, we explain what the guidelines say about how to diagnose tennis elbow (sometimes called lateral elbow pain or lateral elbow tendinopathy), the specific treatments your physical therapist might offer you to help manage pain and improve the mobility of your elbow, and the types of exercises you could do to strengthen the muscles in your wrist and forearm. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2023; 53(4):235. doi:10.2519/jospt.2023.0504Tennis elbow, also known as lateral elbow tendinopathy, refers to pain around the bony bump on the outside of the elbow. This type of elbow pain usually occurs after repetitive movements that involve the wrist, forearm, and elbow, such as in carpentry, painting, or swinging a racquet. If you have to bend and twist your wrist and forearm a lot, you might eventually feel pain in your outer elbow and forearm.How do I know if I have tennis elbow? Most people with tennis elbow feel pain on the outside of their elbow and upper forearm, where the forearm muscles connect to the bony part of the elbow (A). The pain may be gradual and usually gets worse with bending your elbow or lifting, gripping objects, turning a door handle, or opening a jar.To help diagnose tennis elbow, your physical therapist might ask you about the type of work, sport, and recreation activities you do, and test how strong your forearm muscles, wrist, and fingers are (B).How long will my elbow problem take to recover? Tennis elbow often gets better on its own. Some people experience a short bout of pain in their elbow and forearm and never have it again. For others, the pain might linger, or they might have periods where the pain gets better and then flares up again. In addition, for about 1 in 5 people, pain may last for 3 to 5 years. The good news is that physical therapy can help to reduce elbow and forearm pain and help you get back to work, sport, and your regular activities.Download FigureDownload PowerPoint(A) Tennis elbow typically starts as pain on the outside of the elbow and upper forearm, where the forearm muscles join the elbow bone. (B) Physical therapists might use a test called Maudsley's test, where they press on the outside of the elbow while asking the person with elbow pain to resist pressure on the middle finger. (C) An exercise program that includes strengthening the forearm and the wrist is an important part of recovering from tennis elbow and getting back to work, sport, and daily activities.WHAT THE GUIDELINES MEAN FOR MANAGING YOUR ELBOW PAINPhysical therapy rehabilitation will usually start with reducing the pain in your elbow and then improving how it moves. Once the symptoms have settled and your elbow is moving more freely, the focus will shift to building up your hand, forearm, arm and shoulder muscle strength.Your physical therapist might help you stretch and move your elbow, and your neck and upper back, if you find that helps improve stiffness and pain. Your physical therapist might also recommend other therapies, such as dry needling, which they will discuss with you in more depth.Strengthening the muscles in your forearm is also an important part of rehabilitation. Strengthening can include exercises where you slowly raise and lower your hand and wrist. As your strength improves, you can begin to hold weights in your hand while exercising (C). A slow and steady progression will help prepare your body to return to doing your work, sport, and daily activities.This JOSPT Perspectives for Patients is based on clinical practice guidelines by Lucado et al: “Lateral Elbow Pain and Muscle Function Impairments” (J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2022;52:770–836. https://doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2022.0302). This JOSPT Perspectives for Patients article was produced by Patient and Public Partnerships Editor Joletta Belton and a team of JOSPT's editorial board and staff, led by Editor-In-Chief Clare Ardern, and illustrated by Jeanne Robertson. For this and more topics, visit JOSPT Perspectives for Patients online at www.jospt.org.JOSPT PERSPECTIVES FOR PATIENTS is a public service of the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy®. The information and recommendations contained here are a summary of the referenced research article and are not a substitute for seeking proper health care to diagnose and treat this condition. For more information on the management of this condition, contact your physical therapist or other health care provider specializing in musculoskeletal disorders. JOSPT Perspectives for Patients may be photocopied noncommercially by physical therapists and other health care providers to share with patients. The official journal of the Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy and American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and a recognized journal of more than 35 international partners, JOSPT strives to offer high-quality research, immediately applicable clinical material, and useful supplemental information on musculoskeletal and sports-related health, injury, and rehabilitation. Copyright ©2023 JOSPT®, IncFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 53, Issue 4April 2023 Pages: 159-235 PDF download