Certain repetitive movements of the wrist in certain cases cause injury to the outer bony structure of the elbow. The condition is also known as lateral epicondylosis.
This strained condition of the elbow is called tennis elbow as it is most commonly felt by tennis player. However, the tennis elbow can be caused by repetitive movements of the wrist in any other activity.
The symptoms of tennis elbow can appear in many different ways. You may experience some or all of these symptoms.
Your forearm may feel sore, you may also experience tenderness on the outer bony part of the elbow. Morning stiffness of the elbow with pain is very common in most tennis elbow cases. The pain may get worse when you try to hold an object.
Once it is established by your doctor that you have tennis elbow and then you have many options including some home remedies to get pain relief.
It is possible that you may not require any other medical help, but your doctor is the best person to make that decision.
Following are some of the things you can do at home to heal tennis elbow.
1. Rest the Elbow
The sore and injured elbow should be given sufficient rest to heal itself. Any pressure or stretching will further aggravate the tennis elbow, therefore rest you fingers and wrist also.
2. Cold Compress
Apply Ice to the elbow. 15-20 minutes twice a day should be a good practice to heal the tennis elbow fast. Never apply the ice directly on the skin. There must be a protective layer of cloth or rubber between your skin and the ice. There are many different ways to apply ice on the body.
You can buy one of the ice bags, place ice cubes or crushed ice cubes to fill the bag. Apply an ice bag to the tennis elbow.
If you don’t have the ice bag, then you can use a towel or cotton cloth. Place ice cubes in a cloth and wrap them. Apply the ice wrapped cotton cloth on your skin.
The best way and easy to manage way of applying ice to skin is to use paper cups. Fill water in a paper cup and place it in the deep freezer. Remove the cup from the freezer when water becomes ice. Now remove the bottom of the paper cup with a knife, so that the ice is exposed from the bottom of the cup. Wrap the cup in a cotton cloth and apply it facing the bottom towards the skin. . As the ice melts it keeps moving down to the bottom of the cup to continuously cool your tennis elbow.
3. Eccentric Exercise
According to the North American Journal of Sports and Physical Therapy (NAJSPT), eccentric exercise done at home can give good relief to the tennis elbow pain and can help it to heal fast.
Hold one end of a Flexbar in a vertical position in the affected hand by keeping your forearm horizontal and extending it out. The affected elbow remains close to the body on the side. Your thumb should be facing up while holding the Flexbar
Grab the upper end of the Flexbar with the other hand (unaffected hand). Twist the flexar with the non-affected hand to bring the flex bar in horizontal position. Both forearms are parallel now with both elbows still on the side of your body. Now slowly stretch both the elbows to move the hands forwards until both the arms are stretched and become horizontal.
Repeat the cycle 15 times, then give rest for 30 seconds and repeat the cycle of 15 again. Do 3 such sets daily for 7 weeks.
4. Normal Exercise
Whenever possible keep elevating your elbow. This will reduce swelling in your wrist and forearm and reduce pain and expedite healing of the tennis elbow.
References
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2971639/