Tennis and golf season is upon us which means those sleeping injuries re-awaken after a winter of rest. One of the most pervasive and lingering aches is tennis elbow or golfers’ elbow. These are felt in the outer (in the case of tennis elbow) or inner (in the case of golfers’ elbow) elbow joint and affect just about everything you do that requires gripping. The medical terms are lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) or medial epicondylitis (golfers’ elbow) which basically mean that something is irritated on the outer or inner elbow. These terms don’t actually explain what is irritated or why. There are many approaches to dealing with these injuries including forearm cuffs, painful trigger point release, or even surgery. However fixing the underlying roots of the problem resolves pain quickly and permanently.

Know Your Anatomy

The first place to start is the shoulder. Problems here affect how tennis elbow or golfers’ elbow develop. The most common issue is that the shoulder blades sit too low on the trunk and too far out to the side (I’ve mentioned this in previous posts). This sets up a domino effect whereby the upper arm bone to rotates inward which then causes the forearm to rotate as well. This is when tennis elbow or golfers’ elbow emerges.

This commonly happens in people who spend a lot of time at a computer. But, frankly, I see it in athletes or blue-collar workers as well. The muscles of the shoulder and forearm then adapt to this posture causing deep forearm rotator muscles to become lengthened or weakened while others become shortened (Figure 1.).

Figure 1. Deep Forearm Rotators (Copyright Boone Publishing. 2010)

Treatment is usually delivered to the muscles lying on top of these deep rotators. Mostly because it is in these muscles most people feel pain. These superficial muscles are merely reacting to deeper problems in the muscles lying against the elbow bones (pictured). Treatment of the superficial muscles requires multiple visits for painful therapy which delivers marginal results at best. The real problem is that the shoulder blade is not resting or moving correctly which sets up the elbow joint for problems which then leads to tennis elbow or golfers’ elbow.

The Fix

The solution? There’s good and bad news: The good news is that fixing tennis elbow or golfers’ elbow can happen quickly. The bad news is it’s not simple. You must first correct the shoulder blade issue which is feeding the recurring elbow pain. Then address the deep forearm rotators that have altered to accommodate the shoulder and arm position as well. Doing one without other can’t correct the problem for the reasons mentioned above.

However, I’ve made it as simple as possible in my new book, Fixing You: Shoulder & Elbow Pain. In it I present the problem and solution so anyone can understand the roots of their pain and fix them. So, if you’re tired of wearing that forearm strap, endless visits to a therapist for treatment, or icing your elbows after work or a game of tennis or golf, then do yourself a favor and get to the root of the problem. It’s time to fix your elbow pain!

Rick Olderman is a sports and orthopedic physical therapist, personal trainer, Pilates instructor and speaker. He is the author of Fixing You: Back Pain, available at www.FixingYou.net. Email Rick at Rick@FixingYou.net or call 303-477-4212.

I have been writing a book detailing some very powerful self-treatment techniques I use to treat patients with chronic pain. It’s been an interesting venture because, in the process of writing the book, I now understand how my subconscious or intuition has been working to guide my treatments. This understanding, in turn, has helped guide my treatments.

Each chapter of the book addressed a different area of the body. For instance neck pain & headaches, shoulder pain, elbow pain, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, foot & ankle pain and back pain & sciatica during pregnancy. The feedback I’ve received is that the information was too technical for laypeople (who happen to be my audience). In the process of breaking the information down even more, each chapter has expanded to become its own book.

The title of the series will be Fixing You. The first book out will be Fixing You: Back Pain and will be followed by seven other books all to be published this year. It will be a busy year for me! My sincerest hope is that these books help the thousands of people out there living with chronic pain. So often with just a little attention to the right areas, pain will vanish. I hope the Fixing You series can guide people to pain-free lives.