Duration of a tennis elbow

How long the symptoms of tennis elbow persist cannot always be said in general terms, this depends on a number of factors that influence the course of the disease. In addition to the correct, accompanying therapy, the consistent immobilization of the elbow and the protection of the elbow are significantly responsible for healing. Nevertheless, tennis elbow is often a persistent complaint that can last for several weeks despite therapy.

These should then be treated symptomatically with cooling, painkillers and a possibly performed injection of cortisone and local anesthetic. The immobilization can either be carried out independently or with a bandage, tape or even a plaster cast. If the symptoms persist for more than six months, the condition is called chronic tennis elbow, and under certain circumstances a surgical therapy procedure may be considered.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to quantify the exact duration of tennis elbow. A tennis elbow that exists for a few weeks can usually be healed in 2 weeks. Chronic tennis elbow can take months to heal and become painless and fully resilient again.

Accordingly, the duration of a sick leave is also difficult to predict. Someone who works in an office usually benefits from a week’s relief. For craftsmen, a sick note can last several weeks.

The same applies to an operation. For an office worker, the ability to work with minimally invasive technology is achieved in 14 days. Someone who has to lift heavily every working day can be absent for many weeks in an open surgery.

Healing of chronic tennis elbow

The healing of chronic tennis elbow is much more difficult than that of acute tennis elbow.In general, the treatment measures are inevitably more invasive and radical. Often, at this stage, the only way to help is surgery, in which the affected tendon is severed (tenotomy) and the symptoms are resolved. A further measure in addition to surgery is the injection of botolinum toxin into the affected muscle. This drug, also known as “Botox”, switches off the nerve innervation of the muscle, paralysing it so that it can recover and regenerate at rest. Symptomatically accompanying warmth should be applied in the chronic stage, in contrast to the acute inflammatory stage, in which only cold relieves the symptoms.