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LATERAL EPICONDILITIS (TENNIS ELBOW)
What is tennis elbow?
Lateral epicondylitis is often known as tennis elbow. It is a painful condition on the outside of the elbow, caused by the strain on the attachment of the tendon to the bone of the muscles that lift the wrist up.
Why does it occur?
Overuse: Working or not working can cause this. The activity creates stress at the tendon attachment site. Activities that cause stress at the tendon attachment site increase injury on the tendon. These stresses can be repetitive holding, gripping activities, chopping, painting, and dressing.
Trauma: Direct contact with the elbow can result in swelling and edema on the tendon that causes degeneration. Injury can also occur with a sudden unexpected movement, force or activity.
Who is it most common in?
Although it is called 'Tennis Elbow', it is most commonly seen in people who use their wrists a lot. Housewives, motorcyclists, cooks, drivers, computer users are at risk.
What Kind of Complaints Does It Cause?
The most important finding is pain in the elbow region, sometimes radiating to the forearm. Baen starts slowly, sometimes suddenly. When the pain is very intense, the patient may not even be able to hold a glass, turn a key and pull the quilt over. Making a fist and grasping movements can trigger pain.
How is the diagnosis made?
Diagnosis can be made easily by clinical examination. Imaging techniques are rarely used.
What are the Treatment Methods?
1-Activity regulation: The activities that cause this situation should be restricted. Resting the wrist is important. Restriction of strenuous activities is recommended rather than complete rest.
2-Ice application: In general, it is recommended to apply cold for 20 minutes, 2 times a day.
3-Drug therapy: Anti-inflammatory therapy helps to reduce pain.
4-Splint: Hand-wrist rest splint helps healing by restricting hand and finger grip movements.
5-Kinesiology Taping: It is a technique with good results in tennis elbow.
6-Cortisone injection: Steroid injection should not be repeated too often. Although a single injection is usually sufficient, the risk of recurrence increases up to 50%, especially if the hand cannot be rested. Cortisone may cause skin discoloration in the area where it is applied. Caution should be exercised in patients with diabetes and blood pressure.
7-Physical therapy: Classical physical therapy methods should definitely be tried in resistant patients.
8-Exercises: Wrist stretching and eccentric exercises can be given.
9- In recent years, PRP method, which gives successful results even in resistant cases, has started to be used more and more in the treatment of tennis elbow. In PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma: Platelet Rich Plasma) method, the patient's blood is taken through a special system and the platelet cells of the blood are separated in isolation. About 1-2 cc of PRP is obtained from approximately 10-20 cc of blood. PRP is usually done twice a month apart in tennis elbow. Its effect is not as fast as cortisone, but the chance of success is the same as cortisone, and the risk of recurrence of the disease is 5 times lower than cortisone. It may cause pain for a few days after it is done. Although it is a simple disease, sometimes extremely resistant cases of tennis elbow can be treated with PRP very effectively. The absence of side effects of the method also facilitates its use.
