By Alexander Germanis
One of the many sayings for which Benjamin Franklin is known is, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Anyone in the medical profession tends to stand by that statement. So many ailments can be avoided through preventative actions. Although lateral epicondylitis, better known in laymen’s terms as tennis elbow, can have myriad causes, there are probably as many ways to potentially prevent its occurrence.
Tennis elbow, as described earlier in this series, is most notable as an achy pain originating on or near the bump on the outside of the elbow; the pain usually extends down the arm, but typically not all the way to the wrist.
As Dr. Jerome Oakey, a hand and wrist surgeon, operating out of McLean County Orthopedics described last month, there are many suggested treatments for tennis elbow and few physicians can agree on which, if any, are truly effective. Avoiding the malady altogether, then, is a prescription to which Dr. Oakey will sign his name.
One possible cause of tennis elbow is through, as the doctor describes it, “A misuse of a small muscle, which is not designed to do these activities in the repetitive fashion that we ask it to do.” That muscle, a slender toothpaste tube-sized bundle of striated tissue, is sometimes doing the work meant to be performed by a much larger, basketball-sized core muscle.
“One of the things we see in people with tennis elbow is weak cores,” Doctor Oakey explains. “So, one of the things we’ll often begin with, in terms of moving on to treatment, is a core strengthening program. The idea is to engage your core when you’re doing those daily activities. So, when you’re lifting things, instead of lifting by curling them back, use your hand to scoop it up. That does not engage the muscles that cock your wrist back and, therefore, helps rest those muscles.”
Becoming more popular among office workers interested in an ergonomic working environment, is sitting on an exercise ball in place of an office chair for short periods during the workday. “That would be one of those things where you would be engaging your core necessarily because you don’t have anything to lean back on,” Dr. Oakey says. “So, that could be something that could prevent it from occurring.”
Prevention can be a more enticing concept when one can perform it in one’s sleep. “Wearing a wrist brace will hold your wrist in a neutral position at night, helping to relax the tendon when you’re sleeping,” the doctor suggests. Although, “It can be too cumbersome to wear during the day,” he says, wearing it only to bed means it has a “very minimal intrusion on your day-to-day life.”
For a daytime preventative measure, however, there is the counterforce strap. The doctor describes it thusly, “It’s basically a band that goes around the forearm muscles; often a small pad goes over the belly muscle/tendon unit that’s involved.” This strap is most effective when worn during activities, such as golf or tennis, which might aggravate the symptoms of tennis elbow.
But wearing it constantly, Dr. Oakey believes, may not be particularly effective. “It has not been shown or proven to be any better than using the wrist brace [at night],” he says. “But it’s certainly something that’s really simple and people can try on their own, in addition to ice and anti-inflammatories, etc.”
As always, however, properly diagnosing an ailment is the first step toward its proper treatment or toward its future prevention. With as clouded an origin as tennis elbow has, it is no wonder there may be other maladies masquerading as this particular condition. “Arthritis of the elbow joint itself,” Dr. Oakey says, is a common one. “And also there’s a nerve, the radial nerve, that runs behind the arm, curves around the front of the elbow, and then runs underneath a muscle; and that nerve can be pinched. It’s a very uncommon cause, but that nerve can be another pain generator.”
Regardless, should the symptoms of tennis elbow present themselves, it is always better to follow Mr. Franklin’s advice and seek out a physician before a “pound of cure” becomes necessary.
If you missed the previous articles on Tennis Elbow, you may read it online at www.HealthyCellsBN.com, or contact Cheryl at 309-664-2524 ceash7@gmail.com.
For more information, you may contact Dr. Oakey at McLean County Orthopedics, 309-663-6461, or www.mcleancountyorthopedics.com. The practice treats all types of orthopedic conditions, and offers a comprehensive range of services. Their office is located at 2502 E. Empire in Bloomington.
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