Elbow and Arm Pain

Elbow pain is extremely common in athletes and people who tend to do repetitive work with their hands, such as carpenters and office workers. As such, this pain can be very debilitating due to the fact that we use our hands for many everyday activities, such as self-grooming, grasping objects, and opening car doors. Some elbow pain can even, in fact, come from a source in the shoulder or neck. A chiropractor can diagnose the cause of elbow and arm pain by taking a detailed and focused history and physical exam, and come up with a treatment plan that will address the neuromusculoskeletal causes of the pain. These include conditions such as tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, olecranon bursitis, capsular sprain, tendonitis, peripheral nerve entrapments of the median, radial, or ulnar nerves.

Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is a condition that is extremely common in individuals that do a lot repetitive activities with their hands and wrists, such as carpenters, computer workers, althletes, and mechanics, just to name a few. It involves pain and inflammation on the lateral side of the elbow joint, causing the person to often experience pain with grasping objects in their hands. It is generally considered an 'overuse' or 'repetitive trauma' condition.

Golfer's elbow, or medial epicondylitis, is characterized by pain and inflammation on the inside part of the elbow joint. Like tennis elbow, it is predominately an overuse injury of the tendons of the anterior forearm. These tendons come together in a common tendinous sheath which is inserted into the medial epicondyle of the humerus at the elbow joint. Irritation can occur in response to minor injury, but sometimes there is no obvious reason as to why these tendons become inflammed and a source of pain.

Both Golfer's elbow and tennis elbow respond excellently to chiropractic care, including a regime of shockwave therapy, which has unprecedented results and in some cases, complete 100% resolution, without drugs or surgery.