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 injury. People whose jobs require repetitive motions that can lead to tennis elbow include plumbers, painters, carpenters, and butchers.
Tennis elbow is an overuse and muscle strain injury. The cause is repeated overuse of the forearm muscles that you use to straighten and raise your hand and wrist. The repeated motions and stress to the tissue may result in a series of tiny tears in the tendons that attach the forearm muscles to the bony prominence at the outside of your elbow. As the name suggests, playing tennis — especially repeated use of the backhand stroke with poor technique — is one possible cause of tennis elbow.
There are many other common arm motions can cause tennis elbow, as well:
Tennis elbow often gets better on its own with rest. But if over-the-counter pain medications and other self-care measures aren’t helping, your doctor may suggest physical therapy. Severe cases of tennis elbow may require surgery.
If your symptoms haven’t improved, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove damaged tissue.
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