5 Tips to Make Your Elbow Pain Go Away…and Stay Away

1. If you are experiencing pain in your elbow, it is important to start with an accurate diagnosis from a soft tissue specialist.

Two of the most common causes of elbow pain are adhesion and tendon degeneration:

• Adhesions are the most common cause of pain and stiffness in the elbow and they form from overuse. Learn more about adhesion here. 

• Tendon degeneration also occurs from overuse. This is when the tendons of the muscles in your forearm that attach to your elbow degenerate and can result in chronic pain. This can be reversed with the correct treatment and management. But it is important to get the proper treatment as soon as possible as there is a window of opportunity to fix this.

* If you have been labeled with tennis elbow or golfers elbow, you likely have undiagnosed tendon degeneration in your arm that needs specific diagnosis, treatment and management. Schedule a consultation with Dr. Phipps to get started.

2. Avoid ineffective pain treatment methods. 

• Stretching, ice, tape, straps, cupping and/or adjustments will not fix adhesion or degenerated tendons. Receiving treatment from a soft tissue specialist is the fastest way to heal elbow pain.

3. Manage the load on your elbow.

• You may need to temporarily reduce activities that make your elbow hurt. Therefore, reducing the stress on the muscle. This needs to be done in conjunction with soft tissue treatment to the muscles and tendons otherwise it is likely your pain will come back.

4. Stop covering up the pain with medication.

• Anti-inflammatories, pain creams, cortisone shots and other types of pain management will not do anything to fix adhesion, or tendon degeneration. In fact, pain medication will make tendon degeneration and adhesion worse and slow down the recovery process.

5. Try the elbow mobility self-assessment (see demonstration image below).

• Place your arm against the wall with your elbow at 90°. Use your other had to pull your fingers and wrist into extension. Your fingers should extend about 65° with ease and very little pulling/stretching in your forearm. If you fail this test, you likely have adhesion in the muscles that cause elbow pain.