Tennis elbow occurs as a result of small tears in the tendon which then become inflamed. Excessive, or repeated, use of the muscles that straighten your wrist can injure the tendons in your arm and elbow. If these injuries are not allowed to heal fully, they can tear again, leading to the formation of rough tissue.
A protein called collagen leaks out from around the injured areas, causing inflammation. The inflamed tendon can cut off blood flow and pinch the radial nerve, which is one of the major nerves that control the muscles in your arm and hand. This causes pain when you use your arm.
Tennis elbow commonly occurs after doing an activity where the forearm muscles are heavily used, without having used them much before. However, even if you use your forearm muscles frequently, it is still possible for you to develop the condition.
Activities that can cause tennis elbow
The tendons in your elbow can be injured by overuse of the forearm muscles in repeated actions such as:
- using scissors, or shears,
- gardening,
- sports that involve lots of throwing,
- swimming,
- manual work that involves repetitive turning, or lifting of the wrist,
- typing, and
- racquet sports.
Your risk of getting tennis elbow is increased if you play racquet sports, such as tennis, or squash, regularly, or if you play after not playing for a long time. The condition can also occur if you use a lot of backhand, or if your backhand technique is not very good.
Tennis elbow can also occur if you play golf frequently, and golfers can also sometimes get golfer’s elbow which affects the inside of the arm.
