Tennis elbow & golfers elbow....is there even a difference?

Repetitive arm movements, such as digging, weeding, pruning, serving or striking a golf ball can leave you more susceptible to these types of injury.

Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis): is the more common of the two injuries, especially for people in trades, painters and manual therapists and affects the outer elbow.The pain is mainly due to repetitive wrist extension and gripping and involves the extensor muscles and tendon.

Golfer's Elbow (Medial Epicondylitis): on the other hand, Joke!!) affects the inner elbow and is due to repetitive wrist flexion and forearm rotation, involving the flexor-pronator tendon.

Both conditions are primarily caused by overuse and repetitive stress on the forearm muscles and tendons, with insufficient recovery time between repetitive activities exacerbating tendon strain.

Also, if you have weak or unbalanced muscles in the forearm, wrist, and hand this can increase susceptibility to both conditions. Similarly, a sudden increase in activity level increasing the intensity or duration of the physical activity without proper conditioning may also lead to tendon injuries.
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Understanding tennis elbow and golfer's elbow may help in both prevention and treatment of the injury. Watching players receiving treatment during matches at Wimbledon showcases the importance of injury prevention and treatment for athletes, but the same applies for all you weekend warriors! Whether it be power washing the patio, cleaning the windows, assembling flat pack furniture or hedge trimming, anyone involved in repetitive arm activities can provoke this painful condition!

Radial Shockwave Therapy
If you happen to suffer from either of the above, you may find that treatment with Shockwave may help. ​

As one of the first practices in the Southwest to offer Shockwave therapy over 10 years ago, our clinic is familiar with the assessment and treatment of both of these elbow conditions.
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Shockwave therapy is a non-surgical treatment and works by delivering impulses of energy (compressed air waves) targeted to specific damaged tissues within the abnormal tendon, ligament or muscle. This increases the blood flow within the affected area, stimulating cell regeneration and healing, and decreasing local factors which can cause pain. It is a little bit like a “control Alt Delete” to kick start tissue repair. You might need as little as 3 sessions (max 6) to recover. Sessions should be done with 5–10-day intervals, so we tend to do it once/week - this way you will not lose “traction” in the repair process.

Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy treatment is a highly effective treatment for all of the conditions listed BELOW.

• Plantar Fasciitis
• Shoulder Tendonitis
• Tennis and Golfers Elbow
• Achilles Tendinopathy
• Trochanteric Bursitis
• Patella Tendinopathy (Jumpers Knee)
• Medial Tibial Periostitis (shin splints)