The most common injuries to the elbow are called tennis elbow and golfers elbow. They are also medically known as lateral or medial epicondylitis because the tendons are attached to small bumps on the inner side and outer side of the elbow known as epicondyles.

These injuries earned their names because they have plagued some fine tennis players and golfers, but the vast majority of people who have tennis or golfers elbow have never picked up a racket or golf club. The involved muscles are used to grip and lift objects, open doors, paint a wall, work at a computer, screw and unscrew jar lids and turn a screwdriver. Most people with these injuries experience pain with activities such as simply shaking hands, washing dishes, wringing a cloth or lifting a teapot.

When a person has tennis or golfers elbow it means that there is a slight tear or inflammation of a particular muscle tendon unit, often where it connects to the bone at a small area called the teno-periosteal junction. Two closely associated muscle tendon units that often get injured in tennis elbow are at the outside elbow. They are called the extensor carpi radialis brevis and extensor carpi radialis longus. When a person has golfers elbow the muscle tendon unit involved is called the flexor carpi radialis.

Both of these injuries require some treatment along with exercise programs to strengthen the tendons and their associated muscles.

© copyright Ben Benjamin 2001