Tennis elbow, anyone got tips?

I had tennis elbow in both arms years ago. My GPs advice of 'rest and painkillers' wasn't that helpful. One day I was buying trainers for my son and asked the young shop assistant (he was only there for a week on work experience) to tie up the laces as I couldn't easily make the pincer movement with my fingers. He asked if I had tennis elbow and sold me a strap to support the muscle just below the elbow. I went back next day to get one for the other arm. I needed them for over a year but at least I could function and the pain was tolerable without needing painkillers.

i bought a brace on Amazon. It has a strap below the elbow and one that goes above, and it has magnets in. Fairly still so it holds my arm in a certain way but I can still bend it. It seemed to work.

also at the time I was still working and using a mouse a lot which I think caused it. Our IT head suggested a track pad instead of the mouse. It looks like the square you get on a laptop, plugs is like a mouse, you run your finger left to move left etc so your arm isn’t really moving. Combined with a mouse mat with a wrist support that helped and I still use it now.

Antje77 said:

Not likely diabetes related, but this being a common thing I wouldn't mind hearing what helped you.

I've had a few over the years, and this one started two days ago and is now at the 'I WON'T LET YOU FORGET YOUR ARM IS SORE NO MATTER IF YOU MOVE OR SIT STILL' phase, including swollen fingers.
Sometimes I've visited a GP with it in the past, and sometimes I didn't.
Different GP's over the years have given me completely opposite advice to deal with it, ranging from absolute rest in a sling to move as much as possible as long as the pain isn't excruciating. Not very helpful, and it sounds like they don't know what's best either.

So if you found anything that helped for you, I'd be happy to hear it!

Right now it's a painful struggle to even put my phone to my Libre to read it, or pick my nose. (Still trying to decide which is more annoying. Thankfully I use DiaBox with my Libre.)

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I had 2 years of awful tennis elbow several years ago. NSAIDs and rest, physion, a brace, steroid injections,............ nothing shifted it.

A cocktail party was my gateway to resolving it. I know, I would be weird, but I was standing, chatting to a guest, when the Chiro joined the group, eventually asking me if I was having issues with my arm. Apparently my posture and movement was a flag for him. He gave me his card, quipping that he had decent success rates with elbows, and to consider visiting him.

My knee jerk reaction was he was networking well but he was right about the arm.

One treatment fixed it, then a couple of reviews every few months, to ensure no going back. My issue transpired to really be in my shoulder and less in my neck, with the elbow pain referred.

I used to wake in the morning and wonder how I could get up, shower, dress and function without moving my arm, because it just hurt so much.

I don't know how these things work in your part of the world, but keep that in the back of your mind. You could probably see one, without hosting a cocktail party first.

I have experienced tennis elbow.
I tried exercises prescribed by a physio and a strap which holds the tendons in my arm in place. Sadly, neither helped.
In the end, the physio tried out their new machine which was like a little hammer that repeatedly knocked my elbow the about a minute. It was unpleasant at the time and sore immediately afterwards. However, stimulating blood flow in the area encouraged healing and after 3 weeks of hammering sessions (once a week), I was able to carry my shopping home again.
I was lucky to be able to get these physio sessions on the NHS especially as I had the opportunity to self refer. I quickly learnt they were looking for key ways that it affected my life to prioritise. Being unable to drive far was the motivation my physio needed. Not sure what he thought a few weeks later when he realised I don’t drive often and would run to the hospital clinic. Yes, I would sit in the waiting room dressed in running gear amongst other patients on crutches which certainly made me stand out.

Sorry, that was a long winded way to recommend physio and request more than some exercises (although they may require you to do some for a few weeks to prove you need more).

Cortisone injections are sometimes offered but my physio was against them because he felt they did not cure anything. They just made it bearable for a while. And, it raise BG.

Just a thought...maybe acupuncture could help? Not had it for tennis elbow, but have had it for tendon and ligament pain in my knee and wrist. Worked wonders for those injuries.

A previous GP, famous for misdiagnoses, told me I had carpel tunnel when I actually have cubital tunnel syndrome - ie in my elbow. My little and my ring fingers go numb or tingly when I have my elbow bent for too long, such as holding my phone in with that arm.
I try to relax it by hanging the arm down from the side of my bed before sleep.

TriciaWs said:

A previous GP, famous for misdiagnoses, told me I had carpel tunnel when I actually have cubital tunnel syndrome - ie in my elbow. My little and my ring fingers go numb or tingly when I have my elbow bent for too long, such as holding my phone in with that arm.
I try to relax it by hanging the arm down from the side of my bed before sleep.

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Many thanks for that - you have now solved a long time mystery for me - as sometimes but not all of the time, some mornings I wake up with numb ring fingers and pinky but never my thumb and again what I couldn't work out was it was only some mornings - I have even at times thought if it had been something I had eaten that was doing this ... and a few seconds later after a few wiggles all is back to normal

Antje77 said:

Not likely diabetes related, but this being a common thing I wouldn't mind hearing what helped you.

I've had a few over the years, and this one started two days ago and is now at the 'I WON'T LET YOU FORGET YOUR ARM IS SORE NO MATTER IF YOU MOVE OR SIT STILL' phase, including swollen fingers.
Sometimes I've visited a GP with it in the past, and sometimes I didn't.
Different GP's over the years have given me completely opposite advice to deal with it, ranging from absolute rest in a sling to move as much as possible as long as the pain isn't excruciating. Not very helpful, and it sounds like they don't know what's best either.

So if you found anything that helped for you, I'd be happy to hear it!

Right now it's a painful struggle to even put my phone to my Libre to read it, or pick my nose. (Still trying to decide which is more annoying. Thankfully I use DiaBox with my Libre.)

Click to expand...

I sympathise totally as I had this a few years back and remember I couldn't even hold a cup of tea without it being agony - it lasted for a few months from what I can remember and like you I was really losing my patience with it - I basically rested it as much as I could as in not carrying shopping bags for a while and got this from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bionix-Tennis-Elbow-Support-Compression/ - I don't know if it helped or not but it did get a lot better after using this but as I say it was months before I even purchased this so can't be sure if it had just run it course or not but worth a try, it seems to get good review though. Take care

I too have used the forearm brace, and found massaging/rubbing all around the area helps.
I also was given exercises to raise and lower a tin can about 400g weight. Google them.
But best of all was to avoid what causes it or exacerbates it, in my case the computer mouse and the angle of my work chair to my keyboard

Antje77 said:

Over the past two days the elbow has improved a lot, thankfully.
Gently moving it in the swimming pool yesterday seems to have done it a lot of good, and today I had a little try out driving to see if I could move gears, and I could without too much pain. Very happy I don't have to bother my neighbour to drive me to a (unrelated) hospital appointment tomorrow, I can get there without using 5th gear (ouch!), and for backing up out of the parking lot I can reach over and use the other hand.

But now something very odd is going on, not something I've experienced before after the worst of a tennis elbow. The muscle coming from the sore part of the elbow aches as if I've overdone a workout, and so does my wrist. Not very badly but it feels all stiff.
And the arm right below the elbow where the sore muscle is now feels hot to the touch. I don't think that's to be expected with a tennis elbow that's on the mend, right?
It's not bothering me too much because I'm so happy I can carefully use my hand again, but it doesn't seem right.

Anyone had this happen as well?
Yes, I'll call my GP tomorrow but I'm still curious to experiences as well.

Another and probably unrelated thing is my BG. You're supposed to go up or need more insulin with any inflammation going on, but I'm needing less, and even had my first nighttime low in years.

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Get ye to the GP. The hotness might "just" be the inflammation showing itself differently, but you need to ensure you haven't developed a bizarre infection or whatever.

Elbows hurt when off form!

Antje77 said:

Not likely diabetes related, but this being a common thing I wouldn't mind hearing what helped you.

I've had a few over the years, and this one started two days ago and is now at the 'I WON'T LET YOU FORGET YOUR ARM IS SORE NO MATTER IF YOU MOVE OR SIT STILL' phase, including swollen fingers.
Sometimes I've visited a GP with it in the past, and sometimes I didn't.
Different GP's over the years have given me completely opposite advice to deal with it, ranging from absolute rest in a sling to move as much as possible as long as the pain isn't excruciating. Not very helpful, and it sounds like they don't know what's best either.

So if you found anything that helped for you, I'd be happy to hear it!

Right now it's a painful struggle to even put my phone to my Libre to read it, or pick my nose. (Still trying to decide which is more annoying. Thankfully I use DiaBox with my Libre.)

Click to expand...

Hello
I had “tennis elbow”, although I don’t play tennis. I was told by an orthopaedic surgeon that it’s very common in Type 1 diabetics. I had a cortisone injection into elbow which relieved the pain for about three months, but sadly the pain returned. I had another two cortisone injections but the pain always returned. I ended up having surgery. It was the best thing I did. I now have no pain. The cortisone injections caused my bsls to rise so much which is the norm.
I’d advise you to go and see an Orphopaedic Surgeon ASAP. A simple xray will show if the tendon is torn. If it is, surgery is the best option and recovery is quick so long as you do the exercises after.
Good luck and I hope you find help soon. I remember the pain was horrible.

Had several bouts of tennis elbow, nothing seemed to work, then an old gentleman at physiotherapy recommended I build a pulley from some old line pullies, new ones bought from screwfix. Works a treat have not suffered for a few years now.