Introduction
Tennis elbow, also known as tennis elbow or in specialist circles as epicondylitis radialis humeri, is a painful inflammation at the tendon attachment point of the extensor muscles for the hands and fingers. Although the name might suggest it, it is not a disease that affects only tennis players. Rather, it is generally caused by overstrain caused by working uniformly, for example on the computer, which leads to tiny tears in the tendons of the muscles.
These small injuries then trigger an inflammation of the periosteum and thus lead to the typical symptoms of tennis elbow. Patients report pain in the outer elbow, which radiates into the forearm and often occurs when the musculature is strained, for example when stretching the fingers. In order to be able to diagnose tennis elbow, the doctor first takes a medical history, i.e. a conversation with the patient, during which he asks about the exact nature of the complaints, sports activities, previous illnesses and the professional situation. Based on the information obtained in this way, a physical examination then follows.
Physical examination
During the inspection, the doctor first looks at the arm and especially the elbow. In doing so, he pays attention to abnormalities such as swelling or redness. As a rule, there are no external peculiarities except for a possible relieving posture.
Then the elbow is scanned. Patients often express a stabbing pain at the tendon attachment of the muscles at the bone of the outer elbow. The doctor checks the mobility and movement-dependent pain by first passively changing the position of the patient’s arm and wrist.
Then the patient actively performs the movements. There is usually no restriction of movement in tennis elbow, but patients often complain of weakness in the wrist even during simple movements. In order to be able to distinguish tennis elbow from golf elbow, the doctor pays close attention to the type and location of the pain. With tennis elbow, the pain occurs at the outer elbow when the elbow is stretched and the hand is passively bent or the fingers are to be stretched against a resistance. On the other hand, with the golfer’s elbow, pain occurs at the inner elbow when the wrist is bent or when lifting a heavy object.
