Health blog Category: Hand/Wrist/Elbow
Treating Tendonitis
A tendon is a thick cord like structure that connects muscle to bone. All throughout our body, we have muscles that are attached to bones by tendons, which is why so many people suffer from tendonitis somewhere in their body.
Tendonitis can be summarized as inflammation or irritation of the tendon. It is a result of small micro-tears in the soft tissue. These micro-tears most commonly result from repetitive motions in the same joint over time which puts stress on the tendons.
Read full blogWhat Activities Cause Elbow Injuries?
Elbow injuries are a common thing we see in the clinic. It can be caused by many activities but most of the time it is from doing repetitive movements or by suddenly stressing the elbow joint. Often, elbow pain is ignored with the thought that it will just go away with time. However, this will cause the pain and injury to flare up and could prolong your recovery time.
There are many injuries that could be causing you to feel pain in your elbow.
Read full blogGrip Strength and Rock Climbing
What is Grip Strength?
The ability of your hand to hold an item. It is the force created by the muscles of the arm including the fingers, hand, forearm and upper arm.
Why is it important?
Grip is relevant to activities that are performed everyday, including but not limited to holding utensils/pen, turning a key, opening a jar, holding your cell phone, rock climbing, etc
How is grip related to the forearm?
Read full blogLateral Epicondylitis or ‘Tennis Elbow’
Lateral Epicondylitis or Tennis Elbow is a commonly seen injury in physical therapy. This injury impacts the outside or lateral part of the elbow and can be very painful for those suffering from it. This injury can impact all ages and all activity levels, not only athletes.
Causes:
Lateral Epicondylitis is an overuse injury. It is caused by performing repetitive actions or vigorous actions that cause an inflammation of the muscle tendons on the outside of the elbow.
Read full blogCommon Elbow Injuries
The most common injuries of the elbow are the result of overuse or injury resulting in inflammation or a condition known as tendonitis.
Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow are both overuse injuries that are caused by any activity that requires repetitive motion of the arm and wrist. The difference between the two conditions lies in where the elbow is inflamed.
Common symptoms of Tennis Elbow/Lateral Epicondylitis include:
- Pain that radiates from the outside of your elbow and down your forearm and wrist
- Tenderness on the outside of your elbow (May be constant or present with activity)
- Weakness in your forearm or a weak grip
- Pain when you extend your wrist
- Pain when reaching, lifting or when gripping or twitting things or if you play tennis, especially with backhand strokes
* Repetitive motions using forehand/backhand are also common in cooks, painters, carpenters, plumbers or computer/mouse work.
Read full blogEveryday Tasks and Why They are Causing Discomfort
Golfer’s elbow is also known as medial epicondylitis which involves an injury on the inside of the elbow caused by excessive and repeated stress placed on the tendon. The muscles that bend your wrist travel up and attach to the inside of the elbow with a tendon. A tendon attaches muscles to bone and are easily aggravated by overuse of the muscles over several days.
Who experiences golfer’s elbow?
You don’t have to be a golfer to feel the effects of this issue. It is common with anyone who performs repetitive movements such as:
- Lifting
- Throwing
- Jobs (Examples: construction or plumbing)
- Racket sports and of course golf
What are some of the symptoms that you may have if you have Golfer’s Elbow?
Read full blogEveryday Tasks and Why They are Causing Discomfort
Golfer’s elbow is also known as medial epicondylitis which involves an injury on the inside of the elbow caused by excessive and repeated stress placed on the tendon. The muscles that bend your wrist travel up and attach to the inside of the elbow with a tendon. A tendon attaches muscles to bone and are easily aggravated by overuse of the muscles over several days.
Who experiences golfer’s elbow?
You don’t have to be a golfer to feel the effects of this issue. It is common with anyone who performs repetitive movements such as:
- Lifting
- Throwing
- Jobs (Examples: construction or plumbing)
- Racket sports and of course golf
What are some of the symptoms that you may have if you have Golfer’s Elbow?
Read full blogWrist and Forearm Pain
Wrist/Forearm pain is generally caused be some kind of damage to:
- The bones
- Muscles
- Tendons
- Other soft tissues of the forearm and wrist.
This is caused by repetitive movements/overuse, falls landing on an outstretched arm or sports related injuries.
Wrist pain can also be accompanied by stiffness, swelling or redness around the wrist, difficulty making a fist or gripping/grasping objects, numbness or tingling in the hands and clicking sound with wrist movements.
Utilizing Dumbbells can Cause a Bicep Strain
With everyone doing at home workouts it’s important to be careful especially if you are just starting to do this for the first time. The bicep is that muscle that people are always striving to make big in the upper arm.
A common issue that occurs when utilizing dumbbells is a bicep strain. 
The bicep’s job is to bend the elbow when we are speaking in this sense.
Non-Invasive Treatment for that Elbow Issue
Tennis elbow affects the outside of the elbow and doesn’t necessarily involve playing tennis! Treatment should be started immediately for this condition to prevent it from getting worse.
Many people have jobs that require a lot of repetitive elbow movements such as:
- Plumbers
- Mechanics
- Jobs that involve a lot of lifting can get this injury.
What are the symptoms of tennis elbow?
- Pain on the outside of the elbow is the primary complaint, but also pain in the forearm and wrist
- Tenderness to touch along the muscles along the forearm especially near the outside of the elbow where these muscles insert.
