Our hands are as useful as they are partly because of the design of the elbow, not only does the elbow bend like a hinge but it can also rotate 180 degrees from the bent position, the screw driver would be quite a useless invention if the elbow was unable to do this!

Two  common conditions of the elbow are Tennis Elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and Golfers Elbow (medial epicondylitis). Tennis Elbow (TE) is mainly a problem brought on by the over use of the muscles on the top side of your forearm (the wrist extensors), tennis is not the only activity that can give you TE but it is a very common cause of it due to the playing backhand strokes repeatedly. This can overuse and inflame the wrist extensor muscles, the main muscles used with this stroke.

Golfers Elbow (GE) on the other hand is chiefly brought on by overuse of the muscles on the underside of your forearm (the wrist flexors). Like tennis causing TE, GE has causes other than playing golf too much, but is commonly caused by playing golf because of how the wrists are cocked forward alot particularly with executing approach shots.

Both of these conditions can be very painful and debilitating and can take some time to recover from. Anti inflammatories and pain killers can mask the symptoms but rest, soft tissue treatment (ie massage) and rehabilatative exercise are usually the most effective ways of remedying the problem, therapies such as acupuncture, massage and osteopathy have given relief to many with these conditions. Improving one’s technique at playing these games can be a good way of avoiding these injuries too.

Any activity that emphasises the repeated use of your wrist muscles can give you TE or GE, playing musical instruments, typing, using hand tools, riding motorbikes and jet skis, gardening and massaging can cause elbow stiffness. You can also develop other wrist conditions such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome through the repeated strenuous use of forearm muscles.

As the old saying goes “An ounce of  prevention is worth a pound of cure”, Regular stretching and  massage can help you avoid avoid getting TE and GE, it is worth a try.  Consulting an occupational therapist can help you find ways of modifying the way you do things at work to lessen stressful  impacts on your elbow joints. The longer muscular problems are ignored the more likely they will eventually lead to cartilage, tendon or ligament problems which are much harder to fix.

Exercising with free weights, whether they are specifically arm exercises or not can really tighten your elbows, which are not only constantly bending under load but also supinating (palm up) and pronating (palm down) under load too which can strain the ligament sheet between the bones of your forearm. If you like using free weights you should become very diligent about Self Massaging the muscles of your forearm and your triceps.