Sports Massage Therapist May Give Relief From Tennis Elbow

by William Jones manager

Tennis elbow or otherwise known as lateral epicondylitis is something that many athletes and sports enthusiasts are aware of. At our Sydney clinic, it is not unusual to see a client with this condition. The condition essentially affects the extensor muscles in the arm and is the result of stressful, repetitive movements. The area becomes inflamed and painful.

As the name suggests, tennis players are most affected by a tennis elbow, because of the high impact movements during the game. Hitting a ball with the racquet puts excessive pressure on the wrists, flexors, pronators and supinator muscles. Injury to the tendon and muscles may lead to a condition like a tennis elbow.

However, the condition is not limited to tennis players only. There are other racquet sports that have the same effect on the body muscles, because of overuse of the forearms. It can when painting, cleaning, desk work and other activities that involve a similar movement.

What Do You Think Is The Most Common Cause Of Tennis Elbow?

Now, the clients we see for sports massage at our clinic in Sydney, are not always tennis players! They can have tennis elbow from any of the activities mentioned above. It doesn’t matter what the activity is, if the flexor tendons are involved and the other symptoms are there, it’s called tennis elbow. So as you can imagine, desk work is a common cause we see – especially in the last 10 years or so when more and more people are spending long, long hours on the keyboard.

How To Tell If You Have Tennis Elbow

Pain or discomfort is the first and foremost sign of tennis elbow and it is what will cause someone in Sydney to see our sports massage therapists. Lifting or bending the arm can be really painful as can gripping objects or rotating the forearm.

Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) may involve microscopic tears of tendons as part of the injury especially with higher impact activities like serving in tennis. Lower impact movements can still result in tennis elbow and this is more likely to primarily affect the muscles resulting in inflammation and strain.

As with any condition, getting a fast diagnosis can be important and minimise the time of recovery, but it is interesting to note that there are modalities that can still treat a condition, even if a diagnosis has not yet been made, especially modalities that are symptom-based and not condition-named based.

During the diagnostic process, certain movements are tested for pain, restriction or discomfort. The area is observed for swelling and redness, both signs of inflammation. An important part of the diagnostic process is finding out what a condition is not, so other areas may be checked and assessed in order to rule them out as a contributing factor. After an assessment, the condition can be further categorised as one of two things: