Elbow Injury

When injuring your elbow, you are likely to experience mobility issues as well as elbow pain. Don’t expect your elbow to heal on its own. You need to rely on an experienced, talented team of sports pain relief specialists in NYC for treatment, whether the damage was caused by an accident or a repetitive motion disorder.

Your elbow is made up of many small, interconnected parts that come into play in your life every single day. Your elbow joint is made up of ligaments, cartilage, bone, and fluid, all of which are vulnerable to damage and overuse. If you’re like most people, you take your elbows for granted. However, elbow tendon injury treatment is not limited to athletes and physically active workers.

• Tennis elbow injuries cause lateral epicondylitis, which is characterized by tiny tears in the ligament that links your forearm muscles to the bone on the outside of your elbow. It’s a muscle strain injury caused by repetitive motion. Tennis elbow pain usually results in weakness, making it difficult to hold a cup or turn a doorknob.

Tennis elbow treatment is not limited to athletes. Occupations that may lead to an injury require you to contract your forearm and raise your arm over your head repeatedly.
Tennis elbow can be caused by the following jobs:

• Painters
• Plumbers
• Cooks
• Construction workers
• Computer operators

• Golf elbow is similar to tennis elbow, except it occurs in the middle of your elbow, making it a medial epicondylitis disorder. Tennis players can develop a golfer’s elbow as well since they clench their fingers when holding the racquet.

A golf elbow is caused by repeated stress on your fingers, which travels up to your elbows. And like in tennis elbow, other sports and activities can lead to the need for golfer’s elbow treatment.
Sports that can cause golf elbow include:

• Weightlifting
• Football, archery, baseball and other throwing sports
• Racquet sports, especially when your equipment is too heavy and requires a tighter grip
• Jobs that require raking, painting, chopping wood or hammering

Elbow Injury Symptoms

Elbow injuries can be serious and minor. The symptoms typically include:

• Pain
• Swelling
• Tingling
• Numbness
• Weakness
• Decreased range of motion
• A “tight sensation” in the area of your elbow

If you have any of the symptoms listed above, you may have an injury that requires medical attention. An injured elbow has the potential for serious complications. If you only experience mild swelling and no bruising or loss of feeling, it is strongly advised that you consult a doctor before seeking emergency medical care.
Immediate medical attention is recommended when:

• You have swelling at or near the elbow
• Your normal elbow motion becomes limited
• You have severe pain in your elbow, wrist or hand
• You are bleeding around the elbow area
• You notice any discoloration of the elbow or areas near the elbow
• You have any numbness or tingling of any part of your arm
• You feel popping or clicking as you move your elbow, hand, or wrist

Treatment highly depends on the type and severity of the condition. Different types of injuries require different treatments. Do not attempt any treatment without first consulting a elbow pain specialist.

Diagnosing an Elbow Injury in New York

Unless a bone is protruding through your skin, proper diagnostics require you to effectively explain your elbow pain before your sports injury doctor can develop a proper elbow tendon injury treatment plan. He needs to know when the pain first started, how often it appears, what makes it hurt worse, and what gives you elbow pain relief.

Additional tests that help confirm the injury include:

• Arthrography is a test that allows your doctor to see soft tissue damage to your tendons, cartilage, and ligaments. To detect disease, the test may involve injecting contrast dye into your bloodstream or directly into your elbow joint. Once the contrast is in your body, the medical team reads the results using fluoroscopic x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or computed tomography (CT) scans.
• Bone x-rays need a tiny dose of ionizing radiation to make images of your bones. Called radiography, the process is effective for diagnosing fractures from falls and accidents, as well as a dislocated elbow. Radiography is the quickest technique for your sports doctor at sports medicine clinic Midtown NYC to assess injuries, elbow breaks, stress fractures, and elbow joint abnormalities that may have led to your injury.

Elbow Tendon Injury Treatment

When you injure your elbow, you usually injure the tendons and ligaments. When you have a tear or a pulled tendon in your elbow, it might take up to two or three months to heal.
And that’s only after a rigorous round of self-care elbow tendon injury treatment techniques that include:

• Rest and avoid the sport or activity that caused the elbow injury
• Icing the elbow for 10-minute intervals several times a day
• Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications, such as ibuprofen
• Range-of-motion exercises to alleviate repetitive motion disorder pain
• Strengthening exercises to build muscle in supporting areas like your shoulder and forearm to prevent future elbow damage

More aggressive treatment may be warranted after a couple of months with little or no pain relief. Treatment for an injured elbow may include a cast or taping to immobilize the joint as it heals.
Other treatments may involve:

• Steroid injections
• Electrotherapy
• Distal bicep surgery
• Elbow arthroplasty
• Elbow replacement

Febin Melepura, MD is a top rated, best in class interventional pain management doctor. He is a nationally recognized pain relief specialist and is among the top pain care doctors in New York City and the country. He is an award winning expert and contributor to a prominent media outlets.

Dr. Febin Melepura has been recognized for his thoughtful, thorough, modern approach to treating chronic pain and, among other accolades, has been named a “top pain management doctor in New York”, and one of “America’s Top Doctors™” for an advanced sports injury treatments.