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Im an Osteopath and I regularly get patients coming in to see me with elbow pain. The most common cause of a sore elbow is either tennis elbow or golfers elbow - both painful and annoying conditions that can put a dampener on your work or exercising and cause ongoing pain and frustration.
Both of these conditions are actually a form of #tendonitis - an inflammatory conditions that affects tendons subjected to an increase in workload. The can come on suddenly after an unusual activity, or gradually over time with sustained use.
Contrary to their popular names( #tenniselbow & #golferselbow ), these conditions are much more common in office workers using the computer for sustained periods or manual workers doing repetitive activates with their forearms (building activities, painting and gardening are common examples I see in clinic), They can also come on with sports like racket sports or golf - hence their name.
So How Do You Fix It?
Its important to state that this can be a tricky condition, and all good rehabilitation programs should start with an assessment by a qualified professional- like an osteopath. That way we can grade the severity of the issue and give you a better prognosis.
But the gold standard treatment program involved symptom management, harm minimisation and most importantly, a good, graded strengthening program. Once you've taken care of the first two, you will need to strengthen the forearm- including both the wrist and the elbow. There are loads of ways to do this, but I find this exercise one of the most effective.
Try this at your gym:
(Check out my youtube channel for more videos on helping yourself to stay pain-free)
Follow the advice on the video carefully. If you have a severe case of epicondylitis (the medical name for golfers and tennis elbow) this might be too much and it might make you sore. If this happens to you you will need to seek out a professional like myself for a graded plan.
But if you get it right and your elbow pain is not aggravated after the exercise, you're on your way to stronger forearms, wrists and elbows.
Happy lifting!