Physical Therapy for Tennis Elbow
Lateral Epicondylitis, or more commonly known as tennis elbow, is an irritation of the outside of your elbow. Pain in this area oftentimes can not only impact your ability to lift and carry objects but also impact your ability to perform daily activities like grabbing a coffee cup or opening a door. While common treatments include rest, ice, and wearing a brace, dry needling may also be an effective treatment for pain associated with tennis elbow.
How Does Tennis Elbow Happen?
While the name may lead you to believe that tennis elbow only happens when you play tennis, it is actually much more common in non-tennis players. Any individual who performs repetitive, swinging motions like turning wrenches or paint for instance, can be at an increased risk of developing tennis elbow. Additionally, any athlete who performs repetitive swinging/throwing motions are at risk for tennis elbow, including golfers, baseball players, volleyball players, and more. These repetitive movements result in irritation of the tendons that anchor on the outside part of the elbow, resulting in the aching, sometimes radiating pain that is commonplace with tennis elbow.
What is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a minimally invasion treatment that offers various benefits for helping recovery from rotator cuff injuries. It targets trigger points, or tense areas in muscles, tendons, or ligaments. Additionally, dry needling can improve circulation which is key for tissue healing, according to the Mayo Clinic. Dry needling has the added advantage of stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting overall relaxation. All of these benefits can not only improve comfort and decrease pain but also shorten recovery time and get you back to doing what you love faster.
Benefits of Dry Needling for Tennis Elbow
Dry needling can be a powerful tool in recovering from a tennis elbow. When incorporated into a Functional physical therapy program that includes stretching and strengthening exercises, research by Saylor Pavkovich et al has shown that dry needling can be a practical, non-invasive, and drug-free solution for managing pain and accelerating recovery time in patients.
As stated, the muscles that attach to the elbow can get tight and irritated, causing pain where they attach to the bone. Using dry needling to treat the trigger points in these muscles will help the muscles relax and can decrease pain.
Most of the time, patients with tennis elbow will see a reduction in pain after the first dry needling treatment.
In addition to utilizing dry needling, it is important to take a comprehensive approach to recovery which also includes exercises and stretches.
Exercises to Compliment Dry Needling for Tennis Elbow
In a sitting or standing position, extend affected arm out in front of you and flex your wrist. Using your other hand apply gentle overpressure to the flexed hand. You should feel a stretching in the back of your forearm and in your elbow. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.
Wrist Lowering: your arm on the edge of a table, hold a dumbbell and extend your wrist slowly up and then back down into a neutral position. Repeat exercise 8-10 times or until fatigued.
Sit with your arm on a table holding a ball in your hand. While gradually extending your arm squeeze the ball with gradually increasing pressure for 10 seconds then relax. Repeat exercise 2-3 times or until fatigued.
If these exercises increase your pain, you may need to decrease the amount of weight you are using or the amount of force you are using to squeeze the ball.
While these exercises are a good starting point and can help with some pain you may be experiencing, it is important to have a customized plan of care to achieve long-term relief.
Additional Note on braces and straps
While all of the above exercises and dry needling are effective treatment strategies for tennis elbow, you may also hear about or be recommended braces or straps to help with your pain. A study performed in 2013 shows that in the short-term proximal forearm straps, or tennis elbow bands, can be effective at decreasing pain in the elbow by decreasing loading forces on the muscles in the lateral elbow.
As a general rule of thumb, braces and supportive devices like this should only be used immediately after injury or in the case of medical need. Prolonged brace use can decrease the strength of muscles and connective tissue over time, leading to greater weakness in the long run. For personalized treatment, consider physical therapy Durham NC to ensure a tailored rehabilitation program for optimal recovery.
Contact us today to see if we’ll be a good fit to help relieve your elbow pain!
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