What can be the late effects?

The treatment sequence must be followed exactly during the healing phase of the capsule tear at the elbow. At the beginning, the elbow must not be put under any strain, as otherwise the acute injury may worsen. After a few weeks, light physiotherapy must begin in order to restore movement, build up the muscles, but not yet put too much strain on the joint.

If the therapy is carried out incorrectly or does not bring the desired success, a rupture of the capsule can, under certain circumstances, lead to severe late effects. In many cases, limited movement of the elbow joint remains even after a long time. However, restricted degrees of movement, but also pain when the arm is bent or stretched strongly, can be a long-term consequence.

A dreaded complication of the capsule tear is arthrosis in the elbow. As a consequence of the injury, the joint cartilage can wear out over years and decades. This is often accompanied by pain and functional limitations in the joint.

What are the causes?

In most cases, the cause of the capsule rupture is a higher level of violence. This means not only bruises and blows, but also tensile and compressive loads on the elbow joint. These can occur in sports but also in everyday life, and more rarely through falls.

Although the capsule is taut and has connective tissue and muscular strength, it is also under great tension. With sufficient force, the tear can quickly enlarge and expand on its own due to the tension of the connective tissue structures. In addition to the effect of force on the elbow capsule, connective tissue weaknesses or previous damage can also be involved in the capsule tear. Connective tissue weaknesses can have many causes and can be caused by long periods of inactivity, pre-existing conditions or even hereditary.

Associated symptoms

The capsule tear at the elbow is in most cases a very painful affair. In the acute phase as well as in the following weeks of protracted rehabilitation, the intensive, stabbing pain is the main focus. This leads therefore also to a restriction of the function of the elbow joint, which in some cases can remain for a longer period of time.

After the rupture of the capsule, swelling of the joint occurs due to the leakage of joint fluid and due to minor bleeding. Overheating and redness may also be visible from the outside. These develop into blue, green and yellowish haematomas after a few days.

Not infrequently, elbow dislocation is an accompanying symptom of capsule rupture. Due to the force applied during the injury, bones involved in the elbow joint are dislocated, which leads to malpositions and a severely restricted function of the joint. Pain is the leading symptom of the torn capsule at the elbow.

Already at the moment of the injury there is a strong, stabbing pain. Many pain-sensitive structures are involved in a capsule tear. On the one hand, this affects the bones and joint surfaces themselves, but also the sensitive capsule structures, muscles, ligaments and surrounding vascular and nerve tracts.

In addition, smaller tears of the blood vessels often occur, which in turn causes pain. The pain can take on a throbbing and dull character. Due to the swelling, it can persist throughout the entire healing phase of the joint capsule and even beyond.

Consequential diseases can cause chronic pain even long after a rupture of the capsule. The swelling occurs within a few minutes and hours after the injury and can persist for weeks. The swelling is the discharge of the joint fluid and minor bruising.

A rupture of the capsule almost always results in injury to smaller blood vessels, which cause the hematoma.The swelling can increase the pain enormously and greatly restrict movement in the elbow. The healing time also depends on the extent of the swelling and can be significantly prolonged by the swelling. The most important immediate measures to reduce the swelling are compression, cooling and elevation of the elbow. If there is a lot of blood accumulation in the joint, a puncture may also be performed therapeutically under certain circumstances. In this case, large parts of the bruise can be suctioned off with a needle.