What We Treat

Tennis elbow is characterised by pain over the outer aspect of the elbow itself, usually when picking something up or gripping.

The strong muscles located on the back of the forearm cock the wrist back. We adopt this position naturally to improve the strength of our grip. They all attach to one very small area just above the elbow.

Overuse of these muscles can cause micro trauma and inflammation in the tendons and bony attachment, leading to pain.

It is often triggered by repetitive use of the wrist and/or hand. Its name comes from playing the back hand shot used in tennis, however hardly any tennis players develop tennis elbow.

More frequent causes are things like using hedge trimmers or shears, scissors, lifting and carrying heavy objects, or prolonged use of a computer keyboard and mouse.

Local physiotherapy treatment, such as electrotherapy and muscle re training, at an early stage will often resolve the issue.

However, Tennis Elbow symptoms can be very complicated as there is frequently more happening that just the local problem.

Involvement of the neck can cause pain to be referred down the arm, appearing at the elbow. And problems within certain structure of the elbow joint itself can also cause pain in a similar location.

As a result it is frequently necessary to assess and treat other areas, not just the elbow, in order to reduce the symptoms.