Is your elbow painful, sore and tender to touch? Do you find it difficult to perform simple tasks, such as shaking hands or opening the door? If your answer is yes, you could be suffering from tennis elbow.
Inflammation of the tendons and muscles attached to the elbow occur due to repetitive turning or twisting of the arm. This condition is medically known as lateral epicondylitis. You will know it better as tennis elbow. While this can be a painful injury to have, it can be treated quite effectively. However, if you do not address the problem, you will be in pain for years and keep injuring the same tendons and muscles, thereby prolonging your agony.
How do you know you are suffering from tennis elbow? Well, take a look at these symptoms. If you suffer from them, you definitely have tennis elbow.
Even if you do not play tennis, you can still get tennis elbow. Sports like badminton, kayaking, baseball, canoeing and fly fishing, and using a screwdriver or hammer excessively can result in tennis elbow. Even using a roller brush to paint your ceiling can cause this injury.
Well, you have two options. You can go to an orthopedic doctor and get cortisone injections or you can opt for home remedies. Remember, home remedies for tennis elbow are always preferable, as they use natural products and do not have any side effects.
Thankfully, there are several home remedies that not only hastens recovery from tennis elbow, but also helps alleviate the pain that comes with this condition. So, without much ado, here are the top 25 home remedies for tennis elbow that you can use to treat your tennis elbow.
Perhaps the most important part of healing tennis elbow is to allow it to rest, so that the healing process can occur seamlessly. This means avoiding any repetitive movement that could further injure the tendons and muscles. You should still do daily living functions to prevent the muscles from weakening. Otherwise, try and minimize use of that arm as far as possible.
Tennis elbow means swelling and pain. You can get relief from both by applying an ice pack to your elbow. Do not use the ice pack for more than 15 minutes at a time. However, you can apply the pack every 2 to 3 hours to ease the pain and reduce the inflammation. Remember, once the swelling goes down due to the ice pack, your arm will begin healing.
The first thing that you should do on sustaining a tennis elbow injury is to apply a compress. It will not only hasten the healing process, but also help reduce the swelling. Wrap your elbow in a bandage. Make sure it is not too tight, as it will inhibit blood circulation. Blood circulation to the area is necessary, as it carries vital nutrients to the injured part to speed up the healing.
Omega-3 essential fatty acids help make your muscles and bones stronger. The acids also reduce inflammation. So look to eat foods that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. You can add Edamame cheese, wild rice, walnuts, flaxseed, beans, tuna and salmon to your daily diet until your elbow heals completely.
You can massage your injured elbow yourself rather than spending money going to a physiotherapist. There are two types of massage, namely trigger point massage and friction massage, which are primarily used to heal tennis elbow. The former has to be performed by a professional in order to be effective. However, you can do the friction massage yourself. Just use your thumb and gently rub the sore elbow back and forth. Massage the area that is most painful.
When you have tennis elbow, you have to immobilize it to help healing. The sling will prevent you from using your arm unnecessary. If you continue to use your arm after the injury, it will exacerbate it. However, do not keep your arm the whole day in the sling. Remove it frequently and stretch the arm. This will prevent your arm muscles from atrophying.
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