Tennis elbow is one of the common sports injuries. Tennis elbow earned its name because tennis players often suffer from this disease due to improper posture when serving, hitting or using one-hander backhand. Besides tennis players, office workers, housewives, and typists are also common patients at the hospital. Patients with tennis elbow often feel the sore pain in elbow when carrying heavy objects, doing laundry by hand, and wringing towels. When not treated, chronic pain and even periostitis and muscle spasm may occur.

Symptoms

• Pain in the outer part of the elbow
• Lack of strength in arm
• Limited mobility in elbow, stiff joint

Treatments

The principle of treating tennis elbow is the same as treating other diseases—early intervention along with long-term rehabilitation for best results. The treatments include:

• Conservative therapy: Reduce the use of moving that needs to twist the upper arm. Wear elbow support for exercises.
• Medication: Apply or take anti-inflammatory drugs. Topical injection is recommended if the symptoms do not improve.
• Surgical treatment: Surgery is recommended when conservative therapy and medication do not improve the severe symptoms.

Simple Prevention Methods (Training on Muscle Strength and Flexibility)

Muscle strength training on extensor of wrist: Hold dumb bell or can in hand with elbow slightly bent and fixed on the desk or arm of a chair and move wrist upward repeatedly without moving the upper arm. Patient may also use a wide elastic rubber belt as resistance to do the same exercise.

Passive stretching exercises on extensors of wrist: Straighten wrist with palm facing down and use the other hand to slowly push the wrist downward till muscles are tight. Last for 5 seconds and then relax. Repeat several times. This exercise can be warm up before playing tennis.

Daily Care Guidelines

Improper hand postures in daily life may easily cause soreness in elbow and muscle tension and bring inconvenience. Thus, it is beneficial if one can follow the guidelines below:

• Choose racket that are lightweight, good elasticity, and good quality when playing tennis to reduce burden for the arm.
• Do warm up for elbows and wrists prior to playing tennis.
• Make sure to use accurate postures and do not practice for more than 1 hour if you play tennis often.
• Use a shopping cart when shopping and avoid using a basket. Do not bend wrist backward when carrying heavy objects by hand.
• Correct postures for holding spatula and knife to reduce the bearing of hand.
• Bend knees and use the strength from waist and legs when mopping instead of using arms only.
• Hold boxes up to upper abdomen and chest when moving boxes to balance the use of force.

It is important to have correct concepts when doing sports and exercises. Besides technique practices, exercise equipment and body coordination should be considered to avoid sport injuries while trying to stay healthy. Housewives who are lack of exercises should know how to protect arms while doing busy heavy chores. Once injured, one should seek for assistance from doctors and physical therapists immediately for quick recovery of injured tissues and to avoid more severe injuries.