Tennis Elbow Treatments
Posted on February 17, 2009
Filed Under Treatment
Now we get to the heart of the matter. You have tennis elbow and don’t know what to do.
It is essential to begin tennis elbow treatment as soon as you realize that your elbow pain is a symptom of tennis elbow.
The best possible treatment involves stopping the activity that caused your tennis elbow in the first place. Unfortunately this is seldom a realistic scenario. League tennis players don’t want to let the team down by dropping out and people whose occupations led to tennis elbow can’t afford to just give up those jobs. So for most of us, we continue the activity and apply treatments the best we can.
One of the best treatments for tennis elbow if you must continue the activity is a strap or brace around the forearm. If a tennis elbow brace is used before the elbow pain becomes too great, it can slow the progression of or even stabilize the condition. Although a tennis elbow brace can be a lifesaver, it is not the only treatment for tennis elbow pain.
I don’t like taking pills and don’t think presciption medication is called for except for severe tennis elbow. Ibuprofen as a general pain reliever and naproxen sodium as a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory are the most I would recommend for treating tennis elbow pain.
Other treatments for tennis elbow include cold and hot treatments. Although swelling from tennis elbow is generally minor, ice packs are the best immediately following the activity. Tennis elbow is predominantly a tendon issue and because tendons receive less blood flow than muscles, the application of heat is beneficial to increase the blood flow to the tendons. In order for the tendons to heal, blood flow is crucial.
Alternative tennis elbow treatments include massage therapy, acupuncture, ultrasound and laser treatments.
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