Tennis Elbow Treatment

Diagnosis

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Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis is easy to diagnose with clinical examination alone. However, an X-ray would help to rule out any underlying bone condition contributing to the problem.

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Treatment

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Exercise based treatment. Tennis Elbow responds well to simple stretching exercise based treatments. Home based or physiotherapy guided exercise regimes work well for majority of patients. Wearing a tennis elbow band in addition, particularly for the hand work may help in preventing further irritation of the tennis elbow.

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Steroid Injection

 

Steroid injection is a safe and effective treatment for the tennis elbow. However, there is a risk of recurrence with the injection alone. Post injection stretches can minimize the risk of recurrence.

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PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) Injection

 

PRP Injection is a safe and effective treatment for tennis elbow. The whole procedure of drawing blood, time to centrifuge and then injection is around 40 minutes of time in the out patients. For the PRP to be effective and average of 4 to 6 weeks of time is required. In some, more than one PRP injection may be required to cure the condition completely.

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Tennis Elbow Release Surgery

 

In patients with no improvement with all other conservative measures, surgery is considered. This is performed either as an open surgery or arthroscopically (Keyhole). The incision for open surgery is around 3cm long. The tendon is released and debrided (the frail tissue removed). Small puncture holes are made in the bone underneath so that there is some bleeding to that area and healthy tissue can grow to that area.

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Rehabilitation

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Post-surgery, the bulky dressing is removed after 4 days. Early mobilization is allowed. Gentle passive stretches for the elbow are started as early as 2 weeks. Strengthening exercises are embarked upon after 4 weeks. One is expected to return to full activity by around 6 weeks post-surgery.

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