Pain on the outside of the elbow can make gripping, lifting and racquet sports frustrating. At Prime Sports Performance & Therapy in Jupiter, Florida, tennis elbow rehabilitation focuses on the demands placed on your forearm and the strength needed to manage them. Treatment may include exercise, manual therapy and practical changes to aggravating activities.
Who can benefit from tennis elbow therapy?
Tennis elbow, also called lateral epicondylitis, affects the tendon region on the outside of the elbow. You do not have to play tennis to develop it. Repeated gripping and wrist activity at work, at home or during training may be relevant.
- Outer elbow pain when gripping a racquet, tool or weight.
- Discomfort lifting or carrying everyday objects.
- Reduced tolerance for repeated forearm activity.
- Symptoms that settle with rest but recur when activity resumes.
Elbow pain can have more than one cause. Numbness, marked weakness or symptoms after a significant injury warrant assessment rather than self-diagnosing tennis elbow.
What does an elbow assessment involve?
Your therapist considers where the pain occurs, how it began and which grips or movements bring it on. Evaluation may include elbow and wrist movement, forearm strength and the way you perform a relevant task. Training volume, work demands and previous treatment provide useful context.
The aim is to understand your current capacity and the demands you need to return to. A recreational tennis player and someone using hand tools throughout a workday may need different progressions.
How your treatment plan may help
Adjust repeated loading
Activity guidance may address the amount, frequency or type of gripping and lifting you perform. The goal is to find manageable demands while rehabilitation progresses, rather than repeatedly provoking symptoms without a plan.
Develop forearm strength
Exercises can build tolerance for wrist and forearm loading. Resistance and repetition are chosen around your symptoms and abilities and reviewed as your response becomes clearer.
Address movement restrictions
Manual therapy may complement exercise when appropriate. Your program can also consider limitations elsewhere in the arm that affect the activities you want to resume.
Rehabilitation for sport and everyday use
Prime’s physical therapy services connect treatment with practical goals. When sport is the priority, progression can include the repeated demands of practice. For more background, read what tennis elbow is and how it is treated.
Common questions about tennis elbow
How is it different from golfer’s elbow?
Tennis elbow typically affects the outside of the elbow. Golfer’s elbow involves the inside. The location helps guide assessment but does not replace an examination.
Do I need to stop playing tennis completely?
That depends on your symptoms and current tolerance. Discuss practice frequency, strokes and other arm activity so changes can be made around your actual demands.
Why does pain return after rest?
Rest may reduce symptoms without rebuilding tolerance for the activity that brings them on. An assessment can help identify what needs to change as you resume loading.
Where can I book an elbow assessment?
Contact Prime in Jupiter. Our clinic is at 550 Heritage Drive, Suite 204, Jupiter, FL 33458.