THE ELBOW

Elbow trauma is a common occurrence in young people who participate in an active sporting lifestyle, as well as during everyday life, as the result of accidental injury. A broad spectrum of injury patterns can occur. These may be minor, in which case simple pain relief and physiotherapy can be of great benefit, or they can be major and require surgery to get the best result.

Golfers elbow is a condition that causes pain where the tendons of your forearm muscles attach to the bony protrusion on the inside of your elbow. These muscles bend your wrist and fingers. Repetitive forceful gripping or heavy lifting cause an irritation of the tendon attachment to the bony prominence.

Tennis elbow is a common condition that generally occurs in middle age and is characterised by pain on the outside of the elbow. The condition is aggravated by contraction of the muscles that straighten (extend) the wrist and fingers such as reaching for a carton of milk in the fridge, picking up a cup of coffee or typing. The pain can be severe and tends to vary in rough proportion to activity. ​