Treating Your Tennis Elbow: What You Should Know

When you go to the doctor after experiencing frequent and continuous pain in your elbow, you find that you have tennis elbow (tendonitis in your elbow). While you feel relieved to know and understand where your discomfort is stemming from, you may not know what to do now. After all, you have never before had to deal with such an injury or condition, and you do not want it to continue to disrupt your regular daily life. Luckily, there are a variety of treatment options available to you for your tennis elbow ranging from conservative to invasive, and even alternative medical options. All you need to do is get to know those options and get started with treatment sooner rather than later. 

Conservative Treatments

Before you go to extremes to correct your tennis elbow, you will likely want to give conservative treatment methods a try. If you are like most people, before you even head to the doctor's office, you tried icing your elbow and taking over-the-counter pain medications to treat your pain and joint stiffness. These are common conventional treatment options that you can continue using after your diagnosis.

Additionally, corticosteroid and/or pain-killer injections are an option you can try if your tennis elbow continues to bother you. Corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory agents that can reduce swelling within your elbow joint and in the tendons themselves. Injecting these medications along with pain-killers directly into the elbow ensure that the medication takes effect quickly and works more effectively in that region. 

Invasive Treatments

If your tennis elbow does not respond to conservative treatment options or does not do enough to ease your pain and restore your range of motion, you may need more invasive medical interventions. This usually involves surgery on your elbow.

Your doctor will make an incision in your arm and remove the damaged area of your tendon that is causing you trouble. The remaining tendon tissue is then repaired and reattached to ensure that you maintain function in the joint and arm. 

This surgery can be done through a traditional open incision or may be performed arthroscopically using extremely small tools and incisions. The choice of procedure will depend on the extent of the damage and the preference of the surgeon to achieve the desired end result. 

Alternative Treatments

If you are a fan of alternative medicine to treat your injuries and illnesses, there are options available to treat your tennis elbow. Acupuncture is one such treatment method. 

The tiny needles that are inserted into energy points throughout your body in acupuncture treatments are designed to stimulate the flow of energy throughout your body. When your energy flows properly, your body is able to properly nourish and heal itself, which can help to undo some of the damage done by your tennis elbow. 

Additional alternative treatments include the use of electrical currents to stimulate energy and healing, and the use of herbs and supplements to supply your body with natural anti-inflammatory agents. These alternative treatments can be used alone or to complement standard medical treatments. 

When you get diagnosed with tennis elbow, you immediately start looking for solutions to your pain and discomfort. Luckily, there are several options available. All that's left for you to do is choose and start your treatment plan immediately. Talk to your Hand Rehabilitation Specialists for more information.