Not Just Tennis Elbow

How many of you have helped set up a wedding or other event and moved a lot of folding chairs in doing so?  If you've done that, you might know what I'm talking about. 

Here's the scenario:  Most people will pick up two chairs at a time, holding them from the top.  There are usually a lot of chairs to set up for a wedding or some kind of event.  That means a lot of lifting.

OK, if you've done that, do you remember waking up on Sunday or Monday morning with the outside of your elbow really hurting? If this is the scenario (or something like it) and that's where you hurt, what you've developed is lateral epicondylitis, sometimes known as "Tennis Elbow." 

Do this:  with your arm in front of you, bend your wrist backwards.  That is called wrist extension.

Now think about what you're doing when you pick up all those folding chairs--you're extending your wrist against resistance.  Maybe you're not actually moving your wrist backwards but you are resisting wrist extension.

The muscles that extend the wrist are mostly in the forearm and, more specifically, attach to the outside of the elbow.

And that's where the problem ends up.

Lateral epicondylitis is usually due to repeated trauma, putting too much stress on your elbow too many times.  Like carrying those folding chairs.

It got the Tennis Elbow name because a lot of tennis players (particularly beginners) develop it.  Most of the time, if tennis is the culprit, it is usually from hitting a backhand with bad form.

If you think about it, the mechanism is the same as lifting all those folding chairs.

The backhand in tennis is essentially a wrist extension activity.  If the problem in is poor form, the solution can often be a session or two with a good instructor.

In doing so, you fix the cause of the problem.  You remove the trauma.

That happens to be the best solution regardless of how you developed lateral epicondylitis--you've got to fix the cause.  In the case of carrying all those folding chairs, you've probably learned your lesson.

But there are a lot of other things that are similar that can contribute to lateral epidondylitis.  Picking up a suitcase or briefcase.  Lifting anything by a handle.  Once started, anything you grasp can hurt. 

And once you get a raging case of lateral epicondylitis, it can be hard to get rid of.  It seems like everything you do, every time you even clench your fist, you aggravate it.

Sometimes it requires medical intervention.  But even then, if you don't do something about what caused it in the first place and what is keeping it aggravated, you won't stay better.

Most of the time, that part is pretty simple--any time you pick something up, lift with you palm facing upward.  That avoids stress on those wrist extensors and allows everything to heal up.

Decide what you are doing that is contributing to the problem and fix it.  Do that consistently enough and you should be fine.