Tennis elbow (or lateral epicondylitis) is a pain or tenderness on the outside of the elbow. You don’t actually have to play tennis to develop this injury.  It is often caused by strenuous overuse of the elbow joint causing pain around the forearm muscle and tendons.

 

In a lot of cases one particular muscle, extensor carpi radialis brevis is involved.  Overloading the tendon from jobs that involve repetition or twisting actions around the elbow can cause stress to the tendon, such as turning screwdrivers or painting, plumbing and even using a mouse on the computer.

 

Key points:

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• Pain on the outside of your upper forearm, just below the bend of your elbow 

• Difficulty lifting or bending your arm 

• Weakness when gripping small objects, such as a pen 

• Painful when twisting your arm, such as turning a door handle or opening a jar 

• 1 to 3% of population suffer from it 

• Peak age 40 – 50 years

• No surgery needed in 90% of cases