IPHREHAB
What
is Tennis Elbow ?
Tennis elbow is an injury to the muscles and
tendons on the outside (lateral aspect) of
the elbow that results from overuse or
repetitive stress. The narrowing of
the muscle bellies of the forearm as they merge into the tendons
create highly focused stress where
they insert into the bone of the
elbow. If one hyper extends an elbow in any sport, this may be classified as
tennis elbow. Anyone who does a lot of work involving lifting at the elbow or
repetitive movements at the wrist is susceptible to tennis elbow. The medical
term is lateral epicondylitis.
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| TENNIS ELBOW |
LATERAL EPICONDYLITIS (TENNIS ELBOW)
Lateral Epicondylitis
is defined as a pathologic condition of the wrist extensor muscles at their
origin on the lateral humeral epicondyle. The tendinous origin of the extensor
carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) is the area of most pathologic change.
Changes can
also be found in the musculotendinous structures of the extensor carpi radialis
longus,extensor carpi ulnaris and extensor digitorum communis. Overuse or
repetitive trauma in this area causes fibrosis and microtears in involved
tissues.
Nirschl
referred to the microtears and the vascular ingrowth of the involved tissues as
angiofibroblastic hyperplasia. Degenerative process should be termed
tendinosis.
Most
patients with lateral epicondylitis are between the ages of 30 and 55 years and
many have poorly conditioned muscles. 95% of tennis elbow occurs in non-tennis
players. 10 to 15 % of regular tennis players experience tennis elbow symptoms
of varying degree in their tennis lives.
The most common cause in tennis players is a
"late" mechanically poor backhand that places excess force across the
extensor wad i.e. the elbow "leads" the arm.
Other
contributing factors includes-
1. incorrect
grip size
2. string tension
3. poor racquet "dampening"
4. underlying
weak muscles of the shoulder,elbow,and
arm
Tennis grips
that are too small often exacerbate or cause tennis elbow.
History of
repetitive flexion-extension or pronation-supination activity and overuse is
obtained.
Causes of
lateral epiconylitis:
#Tightly
gripping a heavy briefcase is a very common cause.
#raking
leaves
#baseball
#golfing
#gardening
#bowling
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