Elbow Pain

Why am I experiencing elbow pain?

Elbow pain can be a right nuisance. It can prevent you from doing what you want to do, whether that be your general daily activities, work, exercise, or sports, which can be highly frustrating.

Elbow pain can come on gradually, often due to repetitive movements of your elbow, wrist, hand and fingers, working at a computer or laptop all day, playing racquet sports, golf, or other activities that involve gripping objects repetitively.

Elbow pain can also come on after a specific incident, such as gripping or lifting a heavy object, twisting your elbow awkwardly, reaching for something too quickly, or throwing something.

The most common sources of elbow pain are either tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, bursitis, wear and tear of the elbow joint, a muscular strain, a ligament sprain, a tendinopathy, or a fracture.

Tennis elbow is a repetitive strain injury to the muscles and tendons that attach to the outside part of your elbow.

Golfer’s elbow is a repetitive strain injury to the muscles and tendons that attach to the inside part of your elbow.

Bursitis is where the bursa, a fluid sac within your elbow which is supposed to stop friction, becomes inflamed.

Wear and tear of the elbow joint is a natural process that happens as you age. There are 4 stages of wear and tear. The first stage is where the cartilage in your elbow starts to thin. The second stage is where the joint space in the elbow begins to narrow, and the cartilage begins to break down. The third stage is where the joint space becomes even narrower, and gaps in the cartilage can appear. The final stage is where the joint space is greatly reduced, the loss of cartilage reaches beyond 60%, and large bony spurs form.

A muscular strain happens when a muscle is overstretched. Minor injuries may only overstretch a muscle, while more severe injuries may involve partial or complete tears in the muscle.

A ligament sprain happens when a ligament is overstretched. Minor injuries may only overstretch a ligament, while more severe injuries may involve partial or complete tears in the ligament.

A tendinopathy is where the tendons attaching to your elbow become overloaded, resulting in certain changes to the tendon, including swelling, stiffness, inflammation, micro-tears and a reduced blood supply.

A fracture is where you break a bone in your elbow. This can typically affect either your humerus, radius, or ulnar bone.

Due to the complex structure of the elbow, elbow pain can often radiate into the lower arm, present with clicking or locking, and it can even lead to pins and needles, numbness, or weakness, running down your forearm into your wrist, hand and fingers.

As I’m sure you’re beginning to realise, there are such a wide range of potential causes of your elbow pain.

Is there anything that can be done to make my elbow pain better?

You might have tried resting your elbow, stretching, hot or cold packs, taking painkillers, or seeing your GP, yet your elbow pain simply won’t go away.

But rest assured, there is a solution. Physiotherapy is a safe and effective solution for elbow pain. Our experts have helped countless amounts of people to overcome their elbow pain and get back to living a pain free lifestyle.

Your therapist will first need to undertake an assessment, to effectively diagnose and help you to understand why you’re experiencing elbow pain.

Your therapist will then put a comprehensive treatment plan in place to help you to overcome your elbow pain and fully achieve your goals, supporting you at every step along the way.

This treatment plan will comprise an array of treatments, including expert ergonomic, postural, and sleeping advice, hands on therapy, and exercises to do at home, all tailored towards your specific elbow pain.

How long is it going to take for my elbow to get better?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick magical fix for elbow pain.

A typical recovery journey for elbow pain will last around 3-6 months.

If you wish to get rid of your elbow pain for good, there are 8 key stepping stones that make up your recovery journey.

It’s important that each stepping stone is ticked off, to allow you to not only fully recover from your elbow pain, but to prevent recurrence of your elbow pain in the future.

For the vast majority of clients who present to us with elbow pain, we find that it typically takes around 6-8 appointments to tick off all of these stepping stones. Some injuries require a little less, others a little more.

You might only have to tick off a few of the stepping stones, which would lead to a shorter recovery journey, but if you need to tick them all off, this will require a longer recovery journey.

How much will it cost?

Your initial appointment with us will cost £79. Each follow up treatment will cost £59. If you wish to see a Senior Therapist, the appointments will cost £89 and £69 respectively.

How do I start my recovery journey?

To begin recovering from your elbow pain, give us a call on 02381300260 and ask to book in for a Physiotherapy Initial Appointment.

Alternatively, you can book online, by clicking on the book now button below. On our online booking page, the appointment you need to select is the ‘Physiotherapy – Initial Appointment’.