Category: Elbow Pain

Three tips for dealing with pain in the elbow when straightening the arm
You probably don’t give much thought to your elbows until one or both of them are hurt. When your elbows are hurt, your daily life can suddenly become much more difficult due to the limited use of your arm.

Several types of injuries and conditions can affect your elbows, causing a variety of symptoms. One symptom that affects many people with an elbow injury or condition is pain in the elbow when straightening the arm.

Sometimes, elbow pain when straightening the arm might be the result of some mild soreness after physical activity. However, if this pain persists or grows worse, it might be related to something more serious that needs professional treatment.

If you’re dealing with pain in the elbow when straightening your arm, you should follow these three tips to start taking care of it:

1. Follow P.R.I.C.E.

When you’re dealing with pain in any part of your body, you should follow the P.R.I.C.E. method to begin the initial steps of treating your pain. The steps for P.R.I.C.E. are:
- Protect — Keep the elbow safe from harm and avoid physical activity that stresses the elbow.
- Rest — Rest the elbow so that the soft tissue can work on healing itself.
- Ice — Apply ice or a cold pack to the elbow for 15 minutes at a time three times per day. This can help reduce swelling and pain.
- Compress — If there is swelling, you should wrap the joint with a compression wrap or sleeve. This can help reduce swelling and promote circulation.
- Elevate — While resting, keep your elbow elevated above your heart level. This will help with any swelling you might have.
2. Check your symptoms

You must pay attention to your symptoms when you have elbow pain when straightening to your arm. If the pain won’t go away after a few days or is getting worse, you should consider visiting a health care professional, like a physical therapist, for treatment.

If your pain is accompanied by any deformity in the elbow or excessive swelling, bruising and inhibited movement, you should contact your physician for immediate treatment.

3. Visit a physical therapist

In most cases of elbow pain when straightening your arm, physical therapists can help you recover. They use natural methods that promote your body’s natural healing processes to help you reduce elbow pain, improve your range of motion and prevent similar pain in the future.

Physical therapy is beneficial because it can be used to treat your elbow pain and injuries, reducing your need for pain medications or surgery.

Visit Border Therapy Services for elbow pain treatment

Losing the ability to use your arms due to elbow pain makes your daily life very challenging. Our physical therapists at Border Therapy Services can help you treat your elbow pain and regain the use of your arm. Contact our team today for more information about elbow pain or to schedule an initial appointment.
May 1, 2020
Three reasons you might have wrist pain with no swelling
The wrist is one of the most used joints in the body. It allows us to turn doorknobs, type and bend our hands in many directions. However, most people don’t pay much attention to this vital joint until it starts to hurt. In fact, wrist pain is a common complaint among individuals of all ages and can be caused by a variety of factors such as overuse, injury, or underlying medical conditions.

In some cases, wrist pain can occur without swelling, and physical therapists can help you determine why you’re feeling pain in this joint. In many cases, your symptoms could be the result of one of three common causes.

These three causes could be the reason you have wrist pain with no swelling

There are certain people who are at higher risk of developing wrist pain without swelling. Sports players are often more susceptible to wrist injuries since sports often involve wrist impacts. They can also require repetitive wrist movements. Repetitive work movements can put you at higher risk for wrist pain as well. No matter whether your risk is high or not, your wrist pain could be caused by these three common issues:
1. Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common condition, with approximately 150 cases occurring per 1,000 individuals annually. Interestingly, certain high-risk populations have a susceptibility rate exceeding 50%. This syndrome arises when the median nerve in the wrist undergoes irritation or compression, leading to symptoms like pain, tingling, or numbness in the palm and fingers.
2. Moving on to sprains, they involve the overstretching or tearing of ligaments, making them a prevalent wrist injury type. Surprisingly, sprains account for around 49% of all hand and wrist injuries. People often experience wrist sprains when they fall and brace themselves with their hands, resulting in pain, swelling, bruising, and tingling sensations.
3. Lastly, fractures represent an injury where a bone suffers partial or complete breakage. Wrist fractures often occur when individuals instinctively reach out their hands to break a fall. However, they can also stem from impact during sports activities. Research suggests that fractures constitute approximately 10% of all wrist and hand injuries.
Find help for injuries that cause wrist pain with no swelling at Border Therapy Services

Dealing with wrist pain can be tough, especially when there’s no visible swelling or obvious cause. At Border Therapy Services, our dedicated team of experienced professionals is here to provide comprehensive support to help you effectively manage your pain and regain optimal wrist function.

Our state-of-the-art clinics offer complimentary screenings that are designed to carefully identify the root cause of your discomfort and symptoms. By understanding the underlying issues, we can tailor a personalized therapy plan specifically for you. This individualized approach aims not only to alleviate your pain but also to expedite your recovery process, ensuring that you can get back to your daily activities with confidence and comfort.

Are you ready to start getting our help with your wrist injury? Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
April 6, 2020
Three exercises to avoid to keep tennis elbow from worsening
Pain on the outside of the elbow. Stiffness in the elbow when waking up in the morning. Increased elbow pain when grasping objects or repeatedly moving the elbow. If you have all these symptoms, it’s a good bet that you have a condition called lateral epicondylitis.

More commonly, this condition is called tennis elbow. It’s estimated that up to 3% of the U.S. population develops this condition every year. This means that almost 10 million Americans could develop tennis elbow this year based on current population statistics. Physical therapists often use exercises to treat tennis elbow. However, there are certain exercises your therapists might recommend that you avoid to keep your tennis elbow from getting worse.

What are some exercises you should avoid to keep tennis elbow from worsening?

The therapeutic exercises that therapists typically prescribe for tennis elbow are designed to be gentle. They can also help stretch and strengthen the forearm muscles and elbow ligaments affected by this injury. However, there are certain types of exercise therapists typically avoid when working with tennis elbow patients. Three of these are:
1. Repetitive weight-bearing exercises — Many exercises involve holding up most of your body weight while moving your arms. The chin-up is one common example. Pushups are another example of a common exercise that falls into this category. For tennis elbow patients, such exercises place a lot of stress on the injured elbow. This stress can slow down your recovery or even injure your elbow further.
1. High-weight wrist exercises — Physical therapists often prescribe wrist exercises as part of a tennis elbow therapy plan. However, the exercises they prescribe are done with little or no weight. You might be used to doing barbell extensions and other exercises that use a lot of weight, but you’ll want to avoid them during your recovery. If you don’t, it’s possible that your recovery could be longer than you thought.
1. Straight-arm exercises — Straight-arm exercises like planks are popular for building core strength. Other exercises in this category, like pullovers and L-sits, are popular for building arm strength. However, doing these types of exercises is a no-no when you have tennis elbow. Straight-arm exercises require that you hold your arm rigid for extended periods of time. This places a huge amount of pressure on elbow tendons and forearm muscles, which can impede your recovery.
Panther Physical Therapy can help you figure out which exercises to avoid with tennis elbow

The exercises that should be avoided if you have tennis elbow will depend on how it’s affecting you specifically. Our team at Panther Physical Therapy can help you figure out which exercises will and won’t work for you. We’ll start by having you come into one of our clinics for a free screening. The data we gather in this screening will then be used to build a personalized therapy plan for your tennis elbow.

Are you ready to start getting our help with your tennis elbow treatment? Contact our team today for more information or to schedule your free screening.
March 4, 2020
Three tennis elbow exercises you should avoid to prevent making the pain worse
If you’re dealing with tennis elbow, the right combination of rest and therapeutic exercise can go a long way toward helping the recovery process. Working with a skilled and experienced physical therapist can help you develop an effective plan that helps improve functionality and injury resistance. However, it’s important to understand that some types of exercise can actually worsen the injury and potentially make your pain even worse.

While there’s no substitute for working with a professional, we’re happy to share the following overview of three types of tennis elbow exercises that you should absolutely stay away from. As you read this information over, please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or would like to learn more about your treatment options.

Stay away from these types of exercises if you have tennis elbow

While you may think that any type of arm strengthening exercise will make you more resistant to tennis elbow, there are some that can put excessive strain on the wrists. These include:
1. Straight arm exercises — Any type of exercise that requires keeping the arms straight and the elbow fully extended is bad for tennis elbow. This is because it increases the strain on the same muscles and connective tissue that are trying to heal.
2. Bench presses and pushups — These types of exercises put tremendous strain on the wrists, forearms and elbows. This is especially true if improper form is used.
3. Rowing exercises — These exercises are very similar to the types of motions that actually cause tennis elbow, putting excessive stress on the elbow tendons.
With any type of exercise, if it causes actual pain, don’t do it. Since they are biomechanical experts who understand the functioning of your musculoskeletal system, physical therapists can provide the guidance to distinguish exercises that help from the ones that hurt.

Tennis elbow relief from our experienced team

When you come to Specialists in Sports and Orthopedic Rehabilitation, our therapists can provide highly personalized treatment plans that can help you overcome repetitive motion injuries like tennis elbow. We can perform a detailed evaluation that helps you better understand your condition and how the right types of exercises and manual therapies can encourage recovery and healing. Once you get on the right treatment path, you’ll be surprised how quickly you start to see results.

To learn more about tennis elbow relief, contact us today and schedule your initial appointment.
March 2, 2020
Three issues that cause pain when bending or straightening the elbow
Your elbows are busy moving on a daily basis. They help you lift a glass to your mouth so you can drink. This joint straightens your arm so you can grab objects above your head, and these are just a few of the normal daily movements you use your elbow for.

Such movements can become much more difficult when you have pain when bending or straightening your elbow. People who are experiencing this type of pain could have one of these three issues:
1. Tennis elbow
The formal medical term for one condition that can cause pain when bending or straightening the elbow is lateral epicondylitis. However, most people know this condition as tennis elbow. Tennis elbow affects the tendons that connect the forearm muscles to the outside of the elbow. It’s typically caused by repetitive movements that inflame the outer elbow tendons, but playing tennis isn’t the only way to get this condition. Any job or task that involves repetitive elbow movements can cause tennis elbow. Assembly line workers are especially vulnerable to this issue, and commercial painters are as well.
1. Osteoarthritis
Natural wear and tear on elbow joint cartilage can lead to osteoarthritis, and this issue can lead to pain when you bend or straighten your elbow. Cartilage helps cushion the ends of the bones in the elbow joint. It also helps reduce friction as the joint moves. People with elbow osteoarthritis tend to feel pain when moving this joint, and the pain is typically caused by the bones rubbing together as they move. It can also be related to the inflammation that osteoarthritis causes.
1. Biceps tendon injury
The biceps tendon connects the biceps muscle to the elbow. Several types of injuries to this tendon can cause pain when bending or straightening the elbow. Biceps tendinitis occurs when the biceps tendon becomes inflamed by repetitive movement or infections, and overstretching or straining this tendon can also lead to movement-related pain. Likewise, biceps tendon tears can lead to high levels of pain when moving your arm in normal ways.

Panther Physical Therapy can treat your elbow pain

One option you should consider when dealing with pain when you bend or straighten your elbow is physical therapy. Our team at Panther Physical Therapy offers just the therapy you need. We can perform a free screening for you, and this screening is designed to reveal the source of your elbow pain. Our team can also create an individualized treatment plan to tackle your pain.

Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an appointment to start treating your elbow pain.
February 4, 2020
Pain when bending and straightening elbow: Three causes
Your elbows do a lot more work on a daily basis than you might think. Your elbow moves every time you bring your morning coffee to your mouth. Turning the steering wheel of your car would be impossible without it. It even allows you to straighten your arm to reach objects above your head.

All these normal daily tasks can become much harder to do if you have pain when bending and straightening your elbow. Physical therapy can help treat many causes of elbow pain. However, your treatment plan will be most effective if the root cause of your pain is identified first.

Three causes of pain when straightening and bending the elbow

Various issues can cause pain when your elbow is bent or straightened. Repetitive movements can cause injuries that lead to this symptom, and impacts from sports or car accidents could lead to painful elbow injuries. However, there are three specific issues that often cause people to seek physical therapy for elbow pain. These issues are:
1. Golfer’s elbow — This issue is a repetitive motion injury. It occurs when the tendons connecting the forearm muscles to the inside of the elbow become inflamed. This condition isn’t limited to golfers; weightlifters, pitchers and anyone doing forceful elbow movements can develop this injury.
1. Bursitis — A bursa is a fluid-filled sac in the joint that provides cushioning between soft tissue and bones. The bony point of your elbow has a bursa called the olecranon bursa. Impacts to the point of the elbow or long periods of leaning on it can irritate the olecranon bursa. Infections can also cause this bursa to become inflamed.
1. Nerve irritation — There are several nerves that run through tunnels in the elbow tissue: One of these is the cubital nerve and another is the radial nerve. These tunnels are called the cubital and radial tunnels. Elbow impacts or repetitive movements can cause inflammation in these tunnels, which can irritate the nerves running through them.
Come to SSOR for help with pain when bending and straightening your elbow

Do you want to find effective treatment for the pain you have when bending and straightening your elbow? SSOR has a physical therapy team that can help. Our team can assess your elbow using a complimentary screening, and this assessment can help us learn the cause of your pain. Using this information, we can build you a personalized therapy plan. This plan will include multiple beneficial therapy methods, and your plan may use therapy methods such as:
Contact us today for more information about elbow pain treatment or to schedule your complimentary screening.
February 3, 2020
Two exercises help pain when elbow is bent or straightened
You might not think too much about it, but your elbows move a lot during a normal day. They bend to lift your morning cup of coffee to your lips. They twist to turn doorknobs. Bending and straightening so many times every day can leave your elbows vulnerable to injury. In fact, one medical article reports that injuries like tennis elbow affect up to 3% of the U.S. population every year.

People who are feeling pain when bending or straightening their elbow can find help from a physical therapist. These specialists have many techniques at their disposal, and they can combine them into a personalized plan to reduce your pain. Therapeutic exercises are commonly used to treat elbow pain. There are two exercises in particular that your therapist might prescribe.

1. Wrist extensor stretch

Tightness in your forearm muscles is one common cause of tennis elbow, and it can also lead to elbow pain when bending or straightening your arm. Physical therapists can show you how to stretch forearm muscles to reduce tightness. One exercise often used for this purpose is the wrist extensor stretch.

How to do the wrist extensor stretch
- Start by holding the affected arm straight out in front of you with your palm down. You can also rest your forearm on a table or countertop if you have trouble maintaining this position; just make sure your wrist is hanging over the edge of the surface.
- Grasp the fingers of the affected hand with your other hand.
- Slowly pull downward toward the floor until you feel a stretch in the outside of your forearm.
- Hold the stretch for 10 to 15 seconds.
- Release the stretch and rest your arm for 10 seconds.
- Repeat these steps until you’ve done three repetitions.
2. Wrist turn

Physical therapists can also show you exercises that can strengthen the forearm muscles. Improving strength in these muscles can help decrease pain in your elbow when it’s bent or straightened, and this goal can be accomplished with the wrist turn exercise.

How to do the wrist turn exercise
- Place the affected forearm on a table, countertop or other flat surface; your wrist should be over the edge of the surface, and your palm should be facing up.
- Slowly turn your hand inward so that your palm is facing down. Concentrate on tightening the forearm muscles during this movement.
- Hold this position for three to five seconds.
- Return your hand to the starting position and rest for five seconds.
- Repeat these steps until you’ve done three sets of five repetitions. You can also use a light hand weight or can of soup to add weight, which will make the exercise more challenging.
Elbow pain when bending and straightening your arm can be treated at Excel Sports & Physical Therapy

Are you feeling pain every time your elbow is bent and straightened? Excel Sports & Physical Therapy offers treatment options that can help. Our clinics offer free screenings to help you get your treatment started. We also create individualized therapy plans that meet each patient’s specific needs, and our plans often include beneficial therapy methods such as:
- Therapeutic exercises
- Joint mobilization
- Kinesio Taping^®
- Hand therapy
- Joint mobilization
Don’t wait to start getting our help with your elbow pain. Request an appointment or call us today at Affton, North O’Fallon, St. Louis, Creve Coeur, Ellisville, Saint Peters, O’Fallon, Saint Charles, Warrenton & Wentzville, MO centers.

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February 2, 2020
Elbow pain when bending and straightening — steps to relief
There are many sports-related injuries and repetitive motions that can contribute to elbow pain that is more pronounced during bending and straightening motions. For example, one of the most common conditions that causes these symptoms is called tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis. This inflammation of the elbow joint caused by repetitive motions like swinging a tennis racket can cause pain on the outside of the elbow that is most noticeable when extending the arm.

No matter what the cause of your elbow pain is, it is extremely important to seek immediate diagnosis and treatment from a qualified professional. Delaying care can result in symptoms worsening and the injury requiring more intensive treatment.

For most causes of elbow pain, physical therapy can be highly effective. By learning more about the typical steps involved in working with a physical therapist, you can take a more confident and proactive role in your treatment.

How a physical therapist identifies and treats elbow pain

When you first meet with a therapist for an initial appointment, here are the typical steps you can expect:
- A discussion of your specific symptoms and pain levels
- A review of your medical and treatment history, including any diagnostic testing or imagery that has been performed
- A hands-on examination of your elbow
- Movement and range-of-motion tests
With this information your therapist can assess the sources of your pain and develop effective treatments. Physical therapy typically involves a combination of active and passive methods designed to relieve pain, promote healing, improve range of motion and strengthen important supporting muscles.

By consistently attending sessions and making recommended lifestyle adjustments, patients can overcome their injury and promote the long-term health of their elbow.

Work with the elbow pain experts at Back in Motion

When you come to Back in Motion you can expect the highest level of care from our experienced clinicians. We’ll work with you on a one-on-one basis to isolate the underlying causes of your pain and develop a custom-tailored treatment plan. Our goal is to get you back to the quality of life and activity level you deserve.

To learn more and schedule your initial appointment, contact us today.
February 2, 2020
These issues can feel like arthritis in the elbow
Rheumatoid arthritis is a common issue that affects the elbow, leading to symptoms like pain, swelling and joint stiffness. However, these symptoms can also be caused by other elbow issues. In some cases, you could even feel like you have arthritis in your elbow when you actually have a completely different elbow condition.
1. Tennis or golfer’s elbow
Repetitive elbow movements can cause parts of the elbow joint to wear out, and this is consistent with arthritis. However, these movements can also cause tennis or golfer’s elbow, and these conditions can make it feel like you have arthritis in the elbow in question.

Tennis and golfer’s elbow involve overstretched or torn tendons on the inside or outside of the elbow joint, respectively. These conditions are two common sports injuries that affect the elbow, but they can also be caused by repetitive motions you do at work or at home, such as typing or weightlifting. When you have one of these injuries, common symptoms you’ll notice are elbow pain, stiffness in the joint and swelling. Since these symptoms are a match for those of arthritis, you might think you have arthritis if you actually have tennis or golfer’s elbow.
1. Bursitis in the elbow
Another condition that might feel like elbow arthritis is bursitis. Bursae are thin, fluid-filled sacs that provide cushioning between muscles and bones. When these sacs become irritated and inflamed, the condition is called bursitis. The elbow contains a bursa called the olecranon bursa, located at the bony tip of your elbow.

Repetitive motions and impacts on this part of your elbow can lead to elbow bursitis, and this condition closely mimics many of the symptoms of elbow arthritis. For example, elbow bursitis causes achy feelings and stiffness in the elbow joint, and the pain of this condition often gets worse with movement or pressure. Elbow bursitis can also cause the elbow to appear swollen. The combination of these symptoms may encourage your belief that you have elbow arthritis when you don’t.

Excel Sports & Physical Therapy can help confirm what is causing your elbow symptoms

It’s easy to feel like you have elbow arthritis when another issue is causing your symptoms. This is why we begin every patient’s treatment process with a free screening. These screenings allow our team to determine precisely what’s causing your symptoms. We can build you a more effective treatment plan for your elbow issue, and we’ll pick the most helpful therapy methods for your needs, such as:
Take a positive step toward treating your elbow issue. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
November 4, 2019
What does rheumatoid arthritis in the elbow feel like?
Like all the other joints in your body, the elbow is likely to be affected by arthritis. However, unlike many joints, the elbows are more likely to be affected by rheumatoid arthritis. This type of arthritis is when the immune system mistakenly attacks the joints. Typically, rheumatoid arthritis occurs in all your joints at the same time, and this means both of your elbows could be affected. This form of arthritis can also cause you to feel several unpleasant sensations in your elbow joint. Here are three common feelings that rheumatoid arthritis can cause in the elbow:
1. Swollen
One sensation that rheumatoid arthritis can cause in the elbow is the feeling that your elbow is swollen. When rheumatoid arthritis attacks the joints, its attacks are focused on the lining of the joints. These attacks tend to cause the soft tissue in the joint to become inflamed. Your body responds to this inflammation by sending fluid into the elbow, and this excess fluid is what makes your elbow feel swollen.
1. Stiff
Rheumatoid arthritis can make your elbow feel like it’s much stiffer than normal. In part, this stiffness is a natural result of the swelling this condition causes. As fluid builds up in the joint, it restricts the movements of ligaments, muscles and bones in the knee, and these restrictions make the knee feel stiff and hard to move. Also, elbow stiffness from rheumatoid arthritis can be related to your decisions to move this joint less. People usually decide to move their elbow less with this condition in a mistaken belief that less movement will cause less pain. However, a lack of movement actually causes the joint to become stiffer, and it can also lead to more pain.
1. Painful
This type of arthritis also tends to make the elbow feel more painful. The swelling that rheumatoid arthritis causes is part of the reason for this feeling, and this is because it increases the irritation of soft tissue in the elbow joint. In turn, this can lead to inflammation and pain. Stiff muscles can also lead to rheumatoid arthritis pain in your elbow. Stiffness is connected to increased pain because stiff muscles can place greater stress on joints, and this increased joint stress can lead to more pain.

Border Therapy Services can help you treat rheumatoid arthritis in your elbows

At Border Therapy Services, we have lots of experience treating both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. We know what having rheumatoid arthritis in your elbow can feel like, and these feelings are usually not good. We’ll help you get started with your elbow arthritis treatment with one of our free screenings. Then, our team will create a personalized treatment plan for you, and you plan could include therapy methods like:
- Aquatic therapy
- Therapeutic exercises
- Manual therapy
- Functional dry needling
Take the next step to get our help with your elbow arthritis. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
November 4, 2019
Why does my wrist hurt when I bend it or put pressure on it?
You use your wrists to do many routine tasks every day, so when this joint hurts, it can make your day much more difficult. Wrist pain can slow down your typing and cause other work-related issues. It can also make it more painful to work out or play sports that you enjoy. If your wrist hurts when you bend it or put pressure on it, you might have one of three wrist problems.
1. Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a wrist problem that can cause your wrist to hurt when it’s bent or placed under pressure. The carpal tunnel is a narrow passage through the wrist, and it’s through this passage that the median nerve enters your hand. The ligaments that help flex your fingers also run through the carpal tunnel. Repetitive workplace tasks like typing can irritate one or more of these ligaments, and this irritation can turn into inflammation. An inflamed ligament can rub against the median nerve. Bending the wrist or putting pressure on it can increase the likelihood of the ligament rubbing on this nerve, and this is why you may feel more pain when doing these actions.
1. Osteoarthritis
Another issue that can cause your wrist to hurt when you bend it or put pressure on it is osteoarthritis. This type of arthritis typically comes from age-related wear and tear on cartilage in the wrist joint. The wearing can also be accelerated by wrist injuries you’ve had or by performing repetitive wrist movements frequently.

As the cartilage in the wrist wears away, it reduces the cushioning between the bones of your wrist. This is a problem because cartilage is what keeps wrist bones apart when you bend your wrist or place pressure on it. When the cartilage is worn away, these actions can cause wrist bones to rub together, leading to a lot of pain.
1. Wrist sprain
Wrist sprains can also lead to pain when bending or putting pressure on the wrist. This type of injury is commonly caused by several factors. Impacts to the wrist while playing sports can be a factor that leads to a wrist sprain, and these impacts are more likely in high-contact sports like football and rugby. Falls are another factor that commonly cause wrist sprains. In both cases, the ligaments in your wrist could be sprained. Since these structures are used to bend your wrist, this type of movement can increase pain when the ligaments are injured. Placing pressure on the wrist also places more stress on the injured ligaments and can increase your pain.

Find help for pressure or movement-related wrist pain at Border Therapy Services

Are you looking for a treatment option that can help reduce pain from bending or placing pressure on your wrist? Border Therapy Services offers physical therapy that can help. Our team will do a free screening to find out the source of your pain. Then, we’ll build you an individualized therapy plan, and this plan may include helpful therapy techniques such as:
Don’t wait to get our help with your wrist pain. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
November 3, 2019
Three tennis elbow from typing treatments in Ellisville, MO
Most people in Ellisville, Missouri, have probably heard the term “tennis elbow,” but they may not know that this condition is when tendons on the outside of the elbow are injured or overstretched. Based on the name, you may also think that this condition is a type of sports injury. However, many people today get tennis elbow from typing and doing other repetitive computer tasks like moving a computer mouse. If you’ve developed this issue from movements you do at work, there are three treatment options you should consider.
1. Get a vertical mouse
Of all the repetitive movements at work that can cause tennis elbow, using a mouse is one of the worst. For one thing, using a normal computer mouse requires that you twist your forearm, and hours of being in this posture places a lot of stress on the elbow tendons. Over time, this stress can cause you to develop tennis elbow.

Using a vertical mouse can help treat this condition. A vertical mouse is much taller than a normal mouse, and its buttons are located on the side. This allows you to use the mouse by turning your hand so that your palm is facing in. The benefit of this posture is that it allows your forearm to sit naturally without the twisting that’s required to use a normal mouse. In turn, the lack of forearm twisting places less stress on the elbow tendons, which can decrease tennis elbow pain and speed up healing.
1. Use a tennis elbow strap
People with tennis elbow from computer work can also treat this condition by wearing a tennis elbow strap. These straps are typically fastened around your forearm about 1 to 2 inches below the elbow, and they’re designed to limit how much the forearm muscles can contract. This means that they help decrease the tension on the elbow tendons during repetitive forearm activity. These devices can easily be found online or at a local store, and they’re often fastened with Velcro to make them easy to put on and take off.
1. Visit a physical therapist
Physical therapy can be very helpful for patients with tennis elbow from typing and other office tasks. Excel Sports & Physical Therapy in Ellisville can build you an individualized treatment plan for your tennis elbow. Your plan will be designed to include multiple therapy techniques, and these methods may include things like:
Take the next step to treat the pain and other symptoms of your tennis elbow. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
October 8, 2019