Elbow physical therapy, physiotherapy: Focus Fizikal, Belgrade✓

Elbow pain can significantly affect daily activities and reduce an individual's quality of life. Carrying out daily activities can be significantly more difficult if an elbow injury occurs. The elbow can become dysfunctional due to injury, wear and tear, or disease. Elbow pain most often occurs in athletes, but also in people who repeat one and the same action with their hand for a long period of time, which constantly engages the elbow joint.

Elbow pain can be caused by bending, lifting the arm, or grasping and holding light objects, even such as a cup of coffee. The pain usually starts gradually and gets worse later. Depending on the severity of the elbow injury, the pain may be mild and may last during certain physical activity. Elbow pain can also be constant and extremely strong, so that it prevents any physical activity.

Tennis elbow rarely causes joint swelling, so in the case of elbow swelling, diseases such as arthritis or gout are most often suspected. Tennis elbow should be distinguished from the so-called golfer's elbow or medial epicondylitis, in which there is damage to the tendons of the muscles located on the inside of the forearm and responsible for bending the hand and fingers. The grip of their tendon is located on the inner side of the humerus (medial epicondyle). This condition is much rarer, and unlike tennis elbow, the pain occurs on the inside of the elbow.

The most common symptoms that clearly indicate problems with the patient's elbow are:

• Pain on the outer side of the forearm below the elbow joint, sometimes extending down the arm to the hand;
• Pain in one point on the elbow that occurs with movement or from the outside (tennis elbow from the outside or golfer's elbow from the inside);
• Elbow stiffness and sensitivity to touch in the elbow area;
• Reduced blood supply to the elbow;
• Pain in the area of ​​the forearm that is difficult to completely correct;
• Throwing injuries, so-called "Pitcher's elbow", these types of injuries are caused by overuse of the elbow in baseball;
• Dislocated elbow - one of the bones that make up the elbow is deformed during impact, and one of the most common causes is when we extend our arm at the time of a fall;
• Elbow fractures – a broken elbow swells quickly, movement becomes limited, and every movement causes piercing pain. It is important to keep the arm still and go to the hospital immediately so that the elbow can be mobilized;
• Elbow contusion – the pain is probably caused by a fall or blow. Symptoms are: bruising, sensitivity to touch, swelling;
• Loss of cartilage over time (Osteoarthritis). When there is no cartilage, the bones rub against each other and cause pain and stiffness. The risk of disease is higher during aging;
• Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the joints and creates quite sharp pain. The pain is present not only when you are active, but also when you are at rest. It is often a chronic condition;
• Elbow joint infections: cellulitis, abscess formation or other infection;

• Sports activities
• Prolonged pressure on the elbow
• Elbow nerve entrapment
• Excessive strain on the elbow

Elbow pain usually comes from strained or inflamed soft tissues such as tendons. Long-term pain in the elbow can also cause arthritis. There are many causes of elbow pain, but most are due to overuse or strain on the joint, usually from work, but also from athletes or accidents.

Tennis elbow most often occurs in athletes - tennis players, but also in e.g. typists, plumbers, carpenters, etc., in people who often use one hand.

Elbow bursitis

Pain in the elbow may be the result of irritation of the mucous membrane that protects the elbow from its back side. This can occur due to elbow injury or long-term pressure on the elbow. Swelling and pain at the back of the elbow may occur as a result of inflammation of the mucous membrane

Tennis or golfer's elbow

Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is inflammation of the tendons of the muscles that extend the hand. It occurs after excessive use of the hand, i.e. elbow. The patient feels pain in the outer part of the elbow. Inflammation of the tendon on the medial side of the elbow is called golfer's elbow. Both injuries occur as a result of different types of overload (tennis, golf, working at the computer, etc.).

Elbow nerve entrapment

If cubital tunnel syndrome is indicated in a patient (one of the main nerves in the hand - n. ulnaris), in that case the nerve of the elbow is pinched, which passes along the inner side through the tissue called the cubital tissue. In such diseases, the patient feels tingling or numbness in the hand and fingers.

Physical therapy can help heal elbow pain. It works locally with the aim of reducing inflammation and swelling on the elbow. After a detailed examination by a physiatrist and a diagnosis, targeted physical therapy begins.

Physical therapy affects the reduction of pain in the elbow, as well as the reduction of swelling, which affects the restoration of elbow mobility.

The most common physical therapy techniques used in elbow treatment are:

• Laser therapy
• Electrotherapy
• Shockwave therapy

The specified physical therapy therapy increases blood circulation and reduces inflammatory processes in the elbow. After the first phase of physical therapy, if the pain in the elbow decreases, exercises are performed to strengthen the muscles that atrophy due to disuse of the elbow.

Therapies have a cumulative effect and patients feel better after each therapy.