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Anyone for Tennis Elbow 7-Jan-2004 At 4:41:08 PM Julian

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hi there.

tennis elbow is actually two conditions- lateral epicondylitis and lateral epicondylosis. the first is inflammatory, the other is not. without going into too much detail, if you have had it for more than a few weeks then the former has, at the very least, begun to morph into the latter (though they can co-exist happily!). as such anti-inflams of any kind will have little or no effect. cortisone is effectivly the mother load of anti-inflams, though ineffective none the less. Gp's dont actually know that much musculoskeletal pathology; they have enough to remember already! poor buggers. pity your Gp didnt refer you to somebody who did know and save you having some nasty drugs.

manual therapy can be effective, though not by itself. the problem is that the tendon where the extensors insert into your elbow (this assumes that you are not confusing tennis elbow with golfers elbow) is weeker than the muscle pulling on it. so you must strengthen the tendon without strengthening the muscle. an eccentric exercise program coupled with some stretches (less important than most think) and some altered climbing habits (you dont necessarily need to stop) will usually see you right.

i am not too sure where you live but if you need somebody in melbourne i can help you out. otherwise if you let me know your location i can probably get details of somebody close to you who i know to be good.

goodluck

julian saunders