What is lateral epicondylitis? Lateral epicondylitis is inflammation of the attachment sight of the ligament on the lateral or outside of your elbow. This most commonly occurs from repetitive stress involved with that specific area. Such as gripping and twisting or squeezing with your hand and wrist on the effected side. We see this a lot with our athletes, mechanics, desk workers, and students.
How do we treat lateral epicondylitis? There are many techniques that we utilize to achieve great success when it comes to tennis elbow. Keep in mind that with lateral epicondylitis the ligament is inflamed and there may be scar tissue involve. Scar tissue is fibrotic tissue that will hinder a soft tissues flexibility. Therefore, in order to effectively treat the ligament that is inflamed we have to aggressively strip the tissue to allow it to heal stronger. Think of it like when you work out and are sore the next day. Essentially you are creating microscopic or very small tears in the muscle fibers so they will heal back bigger and stronger. This is why you are sore the next day. This premise is similar to how we treat tennis elbow. These techniques are ART and Graston respectively.
If you are or know someone experiencing lateral epicondylitis, call 630-857-3704, or click HERE to make an appointment to see if one of our skilled chiropractors can help.
