Elbow Injuries 3 Most Common

It’s not uncommon to suffer an elbow injury at some point in your life.  There are many different types of elbow injuries and it’s important that you learn which one you are suffering from if you ever want to fully recover and get back to your favorite activities again.

Instead of addressing all of the elbow injuries, this article will teach you about the three most commonly reported elbow injuries.  There is a good chance that you are suffering from one of the three.

The three most common types of elbow injuries are elbow bursitis, golfers elbow and tennis elbow.

Let’s first take a look at elbow bursitis.  Elbow bursitis is inflammation of the bursa sac.  Bursa sacs are located around many of our joints and are responsible for joint lubrication.  The bursa sac of the elbow is called the olecranon bursa and it’s located on the back of the elbow.

So how do you get elbow bursitis?  The olecranon bursa becomes inflamed and swollen from intense pressure on the sac or blunt force trauma, such as a fall or “bump” where your elbow comes into contact with a hard surface.  A tell tale sign of elbow bursitis is that your elbow will be swollen, tender to the touch, hot and red in color.  If you do have elbow bursitis, it can be cleared up fairly quickly with antibiotics.

The next most common type of elbow injury is golfers elbow.  For those suffering from golfers elbow they describe it as pain and inflammation that affects the inside of the elbow.  The medical name for golfers elbow is medial epicondylitis.  Now you may be thinking, “I don’t play golf, so it’s impossible that I have golfers elbow”.  You don’t have to play golf to suffer a golfers elbow injury.

Any type of activity that involves repeated and forceful bending of the fingers and wrist can lead to and cause golfers elbow.  For example, when a baseball player swings at the ball, just before the bat makes contact with the ball, his/her fingers grip down tightly on the bat and the swinging motion requires bending of the wrist.

Overtime, this repetitive movement and action causes small, micro tears of the flexor tendon and inflammation of the muscle tissues in the forearm that lead to the elbow.   Golfers elbow is not a condition or injury that usually occurs overnight.  It is a direct result of repetitive actions that cause extreme wear and tear on forearm muscles and tendons to the point that they actually “break”, “rip” and “tear”.

The third, and definitely “hands-down” the most common type of elbow injury is tennis elbow.  Tennis elbow is known in the medical community as lateral epicondylitis.  Tennis elbow is commonly described as pain and inflammation on the outside of the elbow.  To be more specific, the exact location of the injury is where the extensor tendon attaches to the lateral epicondyle of your arm bone.

The actual process of causing a tennis elbow injury is just about identical to that of golfers elbow.  The only difference being the location of the injury and where you experience pain.  Golfers elbow is on the inside and tennis elbow on the outside of the elbow.

Some common signs and symptoms of an elbow injury such as tennis elbow can include:

• Pain that sometimes spreads or radiates from the elbow down through the forearm and into the wrist
• An increase in elbow pain when you grip objects such as a coffee mug, turn a doorknob or simply shake someone’s hand
• A decrease in grip strength and you notice you fumble and drop things easily
• Elbow pain that increases when you extend or flex your wrist
• Twisting actions such as using a screwdriver or twisting the lid off a jar causes elbow pain
• A burning sensation, elbow tenderness or pain on the outside of your elbow
• Difficulty in extending or straightening your arm fully, especially in the morning

If you can relate to any of the above statements, then there is strong possibility that you are suffering from tennis elbow, the most common of all elbow injuries.

But don’t worry, you don’t have to waste hundreds of dollars on doctors, physio, elbow braces, cortisone shots, or even think about invasive surgery to completely recover from a tennis elbow injury.

All it really takes to completely eliminate your tennis elbow pain once and for all are 5 simple, easy-to-follow techniques that you can do from the comfort of home while sitting in your comfy chair watching your favorite television show – without any special exercise equipment or gadgets!