Elbow pain can include the joint itself, the muscles of the forearm, and even the nerves that cross the elbow joint.  Chronic injuries (injuries that are older than 3 weeks) may feel better after applying heat to the muscles of the elbow itself or its surrounding areas.  If your injury has occurred in the past two weeks, applying an ice pack would be beneficial as it will reduce inflammation. In addition, more and more research has been performed on the benefits of CBD ointments (https://fusionpta.com/product/cbd-cream-level-5/ ) and lotions. These products also address inflammatory issues such as tennis elbow, golfers’ elbow, or tendonitis which are all common elbow diagnoses. Repetitive motions are also known to make recovery difficult.

If your hobbies or job include repetitive wrist or elbow motions for prolonged periods of time, it would be wise to take a break until symptoms decrease.  If these methods do not help, Luckily for you, Fusion Rehab and Wellness is equipped to help you return to your regular life without giving these tasks a second thought.

Absolutely! Lateral Epicondylitis, or tennis elbow, is one of the most common injuries to the elbow, effecting up to 3 out of every 1000 people annually.  It is usually caused by a repetitive stress to the wrist extensors, typically in the absence of equal stress to the wrist flexors (located on the inside of the elbow).  Physical Therapy has been shown to be excellent for treatment of tennis elbow, with one specific exercise, called the Tyler Twist, that has been proven to be superior to other treatments of this condition.

Although inflammatory issues are common due to their mechanism of injury often being repetitive motions, Fusion Rehab and Wellness has a wide spectrum of patients with elbow problems. In fact, I’ve had the pleasure of working with one patient who unfortunately had suffered a fall in which she broke the bone of her upper arm. The far end of this bone makes up part of her elbow joint. Her doctor had ordered her to wear a sling for 6 weeks and refrain from moving her entire shoulder to allow the bone to heal. Over time, her bone has healed, however because she was restricted in motion, she lost significant extension in her elbow, leaving her unable to straighten her arm out completely. She often voiced she was upset she was unable to style her hair or carry grocery bags. Through physical therapy intervention, she is on her way to achieving full movement now and can even shampoo her hair and carry her grocery bags!

If you’re like the patient above and have an elbow issue but aren’t seeing any improvements, or maybe you’re even feeling worse with time, we highly recommend you pick up the phone and schedule a discovery visit. During your visit, your physical therapist will explore and explain the root cause of your elbow pain and determine if physical therapy is the right intervention for you. They can also teach you how to manage pain further before you even come in for your first appointment.

Commonly, we see that patients attempt to “push through the pain” or continue with their life as previously. The body has a routine it uses to aid with the healing process, though at times it may become stuck or spend too long in certain phases of healing, like the inflammatory phase that occurs immediately after injury. We offer treatments such as ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and effleurage to help with that inflammation. Fusion may also utilize manual therapy techniques such as soft tissue massage, joint mobilizations, and functional dry needling to help improve your pain and mobility. Additionally, our therapists utilize other methods such as cupping, blood flow restriction, and kinesiotaping to get you through your tough times. If you schedule an appointment with us, we’d be more than happy to apply any of the interventions mentioned above so you can rest assured we will do our all to make sure you return to a pain free and capable life.  Below is a comment left on our Google review page about a patient’s experience with me and our clinic.