You don’t have to play tennis to get tennis elbow. It’s a common name for a condition, lateral epicondylitis, or more broadly, tendinopathy, that shows up in anyone whose forearm tendons get repeatedly strained. A racquet sport, a manual labor job, or just an unusually demanding week of yard work can all trigger it. The pain typically centers on the outside of the elbow and gets worse with gripping motions.
What's Actually Happening in Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow is tendon damage from repetitive strain, not inflammation in the way people often assume. That distinction matters for treatment, because approaches aimed purely at reducing inflammation don’t always address the underlying tendon damage causing the pain.
Mild cases often improve with rest and activity modification. More persistent cases, especially ones that have been going on for months, often need a more targeted approach.
Signs You're Dealing With Tennis Elbow
The most telling sign is pain concentrated specifically on the outside of the elbow, often radiating slightly down the forearm, that gets noticeably worse with:
- Shaking hands
- Lifting a coffee mug
- Turning a doorknob
- Gripping a tool or racquet
Weakness in grip strength frequently accompanies the pain, even when the pain itself feels manageable. Symptoms typically build gradually rather than appearing after a single incident, which is part of why people often wait longer than they should before getting it evaluated.
Everyday Adjustments That Support Recovery
Alongside formal treatment, a few daily habits tend to make a real difference:
- Modifying grip technique on tools, racquets, or equipment tied to the strain
- Taking short breaks during repetitive tasks rather than pushing through discomfort
- Modifying sleep position, avoiding sleeping with the arm fully bent
- Avoiding the temptation to test the elbow’s limits too early in recovery
Treatment Options We Offer
The initial goals of treatment are to reduce pain and restore comfortable range of motion. Early care may include dry needling, Active Release Techniques (ART), Graston Technique, blood flow restriction training, shockwave therapy, laser therapy, and other forms of manual therapy based on the patient’s needs and tolerance.
Thoracic mobility, shoulder range of motion, and shoulder strength are also important components of treatment, since restrictions or weakness in these areas can affect movement mechanics and increase stress on the involved tendon.
As pain and mobility improve, treatment progresses toward targeted strengthening, improved biomechanics, and gradually increasing the tendon’s resilience and ability to tolerate load. Manual therapy and therapeutic exercise are often performed during the same visit, allowing treatment to address pain and movement restrictions while also building the strength and control needed for long-term recovery.
For cases that do not respond adequately after a reasonable trial of conservative care, PRP therapy may become an appropriate next-step option.
Tennis elbow is one of the conditions our regenerative medicine program is built around, alongside rotator cuff and knee injuries. PRP therapy uses concentrated platelets from your own blood, processed by Greyledge and injected directly into the damaged tendon tissue by Dr. Justin Merkow, MD, to support the healing process at the site of injury. The procedure takes place at our Lakewood location.
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Why This Condition Often Needs More Than Rest
A lot of people try to wait tennis elbow out, and for milder cases, that sometimes works. But chronic tendon damage doesn’t always resolve just because the aggravating activity stops. If you’ve already tried resting it, modifying how you use your arm, and it’s still bothering you weeks or months later, that’s usually the signal that a more targeted treatment approach is worth considering.
Determining the Right Approach for You
Your evaluation includes understanding how long you’ve had symptoms, what’s aggravating them, and what you’ve already tried. If your case is early and mild, we’ll typically recommend physical therapy first. If it’s more chronic or hasn’t responded to that approach, we’ll walk through whether targeted strength and conditioning, shockwave, dry needling, or PRP therapy makes sense, along with a realistic sense of the timeline for improvement. Tendon healing takes weeks, not days, regardless of the treatment used.
Why an Accurate Diagnosis Matters So Much Here
Outer elbow pain usually means tennis elbow, but not always. Nerve irritation and referred pain from the neck or shoulder can mimic similar symptoms. Treating the wrong source delays real recovery even when the treatment itself is reasonable, which is why our evaluation confirms what’s actually happening before we recommend a path forward.
Why Accelerate Health for Tennis Elbow Care
Because your chiropractor, physical therapist, and our regenerative medicine program are part of the same practice, there’s no gap between “PT isn’t working” and “let’s talk about other options.” That conversation happens naturally as part of your ongoing care.
What We'd Tell a Family Member
If someone we knew had elbow pain like this, we’d tell them not to just push through it indefinitely. Chronic tendon damage tends to respond better to treatment started sooner rather than later, even though tennis elbow rarely feels urgent at the moment.
Tracking Your Recovery Over Time
Tennis elbow recovery gets tracked through grip strength testing and how the elbow holds up during specific activities, not just whether it hurts at rest. These markers help confirm real progress rather than relying on a subjective sense of feeling better.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The name refers to the type of injury, not the cause. It’s common in anyone whose forearm tendons get repeatedly strained.
Tennis elbow, lateral epicondylitis, and tendinopathy of the outer elbow all refer to the same underlying issue, described at different levels of specificity.
This varies by case, but if symptoms haven’t meaningfully improved after several weeks of appropriate physical therapy, that’s usually a reasonable point to discuss other options.
There’s some discomfort with the injection, but most patients tolerate it well.
It can, particularly if the activity that caused it in the first place isn’t modified. We’ll talk through activity adjustments alongside treatment.
It’s less common than single-arm cases, but it happens, especially with repetitive occupational strain.
That’s a common and legitimate concern. We’ll talk through modifications, bracing options, or workflow adjustments that can reduce strain.
Book Your Elbow Evaluation
That kind of ongoing tracking helps us catch a stalled recovery early, rather than letting weeks pass on a plan that isn’t producing results. If elbow pain has been steadily limiting your grip strength or getting in the way of work or activities you enjoy, it’s worth having your case evaluated properly.