Elbow Injuries

Tennis elbow: Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is a painful condition that occurs when tendons in your elbow are overloaded, usually by repetitive motions of the wrist and arm. Despite its name, athletes aren’t the only people who develop tennis elbow.

Recent studies show that tennis elbow is often due to damage to a specific forearm muscle. The ECRB muscle helps stabilize the wrist when the elbow is straight. This occurs during a tennis groundstroke, for example. When the ECRB is weakened from overuse, microscopic tears form in the tendon where it attaches to the lateral epicondyle. This leads to inflammation and pain.

All racket sports such as Tennis, badminton, squash, and all people who require repetitive motion of wrist and elbow.

Symptoms: Pain is the primary symptom. It usually occurs on the outside of the elbow and sometimes in the forearm and wrist. swelling or tenderness at lateral epicondyle. Weak grip strength.

Golfer’s elbow: Golfer’s elbow is a condition that causes pain where the tendons of your forearm muscles attach to the bony bump on the inside of your elbow. The pain might spread into your forearm and wrist.

Causes:

Racket sports. Improper technique with tennis strokes, especially the backhand, can cause injury to the tendon. Excessive use of topspin and using a racket that’s too small or heavy also can lead to injury.

Throwing sports. Improper pitching technique in baseball or softball can be another culprit. Football, archery and javelin throwing also can cause golfer’s elbow.

Weight training. Lifting weights using improper technique, such as curling the wrists during a biceps exercise, can overload the elbow muscles and tendons.

Forceful, repetitive occupational movements. These occur in fields such as construction, plumbing and carpentry

Symptoms:

• Pain and tenderness. Usually felt on the inner side of your elbow, the pain sometimes extends along the inner side of your forearm. Pain typically worsens with certain movements.
• Your elbow may feel stiff, and making a fist might hurt.
• You may have weakness in your hands and wrists.
• Numbness or tingling. These sensations might radiate into one or more fingers — usually the ring and little fingers.

The pain of a golfer’s elbow can come on suddenly or gradually. The pain might worsen with certain movements, such as swinging a golf club.

Thrower’s elbow: sprain or injury to the medial ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) of the medial elbow, which is easily susceptible to injury. As the injury is commonly seen in javelin throwers.

The pain begins when the elbow is subjected to a valgus force, which is bigger than the tensile properties of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). UCL stretching is provoked by poor technique of throwing the javelin. Poor technique consists of throwing with insufficient shoulder abduction (90° – 100°), where the elbow is too low resulting in a valgus force on the joint. Since the UCL is the principal structure opposing this motion, it will be the primary site of injury. Athletes participating in throwing sports, or overhead sports in general, are at higher risk of being diagnosed with this injury. 

Symptoms: First sign of injury is sharp pain while throwing the javelin and aching pain at the medial elbow thereafter that very soon begins to interfere with the performance of the athlete.

1. Swelling around the elbow joint, especially the medial aspect of the elbow joint
2. Reduced range of motion at the elbow joint
3. Tenderness along the medial aspect of the elbow
4. Medial elbow pain
5. Decreased power during throwing activities

Ulnar nerve irritation: Ulnar neuritis at the elbow is a common entity affecting the athlete especially those involved in overhand sports, such as Throwing sports. Inflammation of the ulnar nerve is a component of the disorders that affect the medial side of the elbow in athletics owing to the large tensile forces encountered.