What does epicondilytis mean?

It is also known as tennis elbow. It is the inflammation of the tendons and muscles of the forearm which is inserted at lateral humeral epicondyle level.

There are occupations which are prone to suffer from epicondilytis due to repetitions of a movement specifically (charwomen, painters, mechanics, workmen or people who spend many hours with computers using the  mouse).

What symptons does it have?

• Pain in the external part of the elbow at epicondyle level.
• Difficulty with some movements such as the extension of the wrist and the supination of the forearm.
• Disminishing strength in the arm that make diary activities impossible to accomplish.
• If pain remains the same several months, it may become chronic. The response to the treatment is quite slow

Treatment?

Initial treatment is always conservative. It has three main components:  protection, reduction of the inflammation and reinforcement of muscles and tendons.

It is suggested diminishing the activities that cause pain, applying local cold on the affected part and streching forearm musculature. Ocassionally  the patient can take oral antiinflammatory pills or have local infiltrations with corticoids or growth factors at epicondylic musculature insertion level.

If all these methods fail, it is highly recommended a surgical intervention by means of opened techniques or arthroscopy under local or regional anesthesia.