Test for tennis elbow
If tennis elbow is suspected, various clinical tests can be carried out to confirm. These include, for example, the so-called stool test: the patient is asked to lift a chair with an outstretched arm and forearm turned inwards. Another test is the Bowden test, in which the patient is asked to compress a blood pressure cuff with a certain pressure specified by the doctor.
In the Thomson test, the patient should extend the closed fist against the resistance of the examiner’s hand, i.e. bend it backwards. There is also the Mill test, the movement stress test and the Cozen test. If pain at the elbow occurs during these tests, the suspicion of tennis elbow is confirmed. Often the doctor also examines the patient’s cervical spine, shoulder and hand to rule out any other possible causes for the existing pain.
Neurological examination
In addition to the motor function, i.e. the mobility, the blood circulation and the sensitivity of the arm are also tested, since both a circulatory disorder and a defective innervation, in this case an overreaction of nerves, can lead to pain. The doctor also examines whether a nerve is pinched or squeezed and thus causes the pain. Often the symptoms of tennis elbow are so typical that the diagnosis can already be made by anamnesis and physical examination. In exceptional cases, for example, if other causes are possible as triggers for the pain, further examinations with the aid of apparatus may be necessary. In addition to the tests that are easy to carry out in practice, laboratory tests and imaging procedures are then used.
Blood count
By means of a blood test, the doctor checks whether there are any signs of inflammation.These so-called inflammation parameters include the blood sedimentation rate, which is increased in the presence of inflammation, the C-reactive protein, or CRP for short, a so-called acute phase protein that is produced by the liver during inflammatory processes, and the blood count, which is conspicuous in inflammatory processes by an increased number of leukocytes. Although these laboratory tests are relatively unspecific, i.e. the doctor cannot draw any conclusions from them as to where the inflammation takes place in the body, in connection with the previous medical history and physical examination, a positive blood test can help to diagnose tennis elbow.
