Elbow Pain Treatment in St. Catharines
Understanding Elbow Pain and Your Treatment Options
Elbow pain can affect much more than your elbow. Reaching, lifting, gripping, typing, playing sports, working with your hands, or even carrying groceries can become uncomfortable when the tissues around the elbow are irritated or overloaded.
Elbow pain can develop suddenly following an injury, or gradually from repetitive activities such as lifting, racquet sports, throwing, working with tools, or prolonged computer use.
At BodyLab Recovery Science in St. Catharines, we take a multidisciplinary approach to elbow pain. Our chiropractic, physiotherapy, massage therapy, and acupuncture practitioners can each contribute a different perspective to your care.
The goal isn't simply to make your elbow feel better temporarily. Treatment should help you understand what may be contributing to your symptoms, restore function, and gradually build your capacity to return to the activities you need and enjoy.
What Causes Elbow Pain?
The elbow is a complex joint where the upper arm meets the forearm. Several muscles and tendons cross the elbow and control movements of the wrist and hand.
Elbow pain can be associated with:
- Repetitive gripping
- Repetitive wrist movements
- Lifting
- Throwing
- Racquet sports
- Workplace activities
- Sudden increases in activity
- Direct injuries
- Tendon overload
- Joint stiffness
- Muscle weakness
- Nerve irritation
- Previous injuries
- Problems involving the neck, shoulder, wrist, or hand
Importantly, pain around the elbow does not always mean there is damage to the elbow joint itself. A comprehensive assessment can help determine which structures may be contributing to your symptoms.
Common Causes of Elbow Pain
Tennis Elbow
Despite its name, tennis elbow doesn't only affect tennis players.
Tennis elbow, clinically referred to as lateral elbow tendinopathy, typically causes pain around the outside of the elbow. It commonly involves the tendons of the wrist extensor muscles.
You may notice pain with:
- Gripping
- Lifting
- Shaking hands
- Using tools
- Opening jars
- Typing or using a mouse
- Playing racquet sports
- Picking up objects
Research supports exercise-based rehabilitation as an important component of treatment for lateral elbow tendinopathy. Systematic reviews have found benefits from strengthening programs, including eccentric loading, while manual therapy may also provide benefits when incorporated into a broader rehabilitation program.
Golfer's Elbow
Golfer's elbow, or medial elbow tendinopathy, causes pain around the inside of the elbow.
Despite its name, it can affect anyone who repeatedly loads the muscles responsible for wrist and finger flexion and forearm rotation.
Activities that may aggravate symptoms include:
- Golf
- Throwing
- Weightlifting
- Repetitive gripping
- Manual labour
- Racquet sports
- Repetitive wrist movements
Exercise-based rehabilitation, including progressive loading, may help improve pain and function.
Elbow Tendinopathy
Tendinopathy refers to a problem involving a tendon and its ability to tolerate load. It is often associated with repetitive or excessive loading rather than one single traumatic event.
Elbow tendinopathy can occur when the demands placed on a tendon exceed its current capacity.
Treatment often focuses on gradually improving the tendon and surrounding muscles' ability to tolerate load rather than simply avoiding all activity.
Research examining non-operative treatment for lateral elbow tendinopathy has found exercise therapy to be one of the more consistently supported approaches for reducing pain.
Elbow Pain After an Injury
Elbow pain can also occur after:
- Falls
- Sports injuries
- Direct impacts
- Sudden pulling forces
- Lifting injuries
- Repetitive strain
- Dislocations
- Fractures
Following an injury, the appropriate treatment depends on the severity and type of injury.
Some injuries require medical imaging or assessment before rehabilitation begins. If you cannot move your elbow normally, cannot bear weight through the arm, have significant swelling or deformity, or experienced a major traumatic injury, medical assessment may be appropriate.
Once serious injury has been ruled out, rehabilitation can focus on restoring mobility, strength, coordination, and function.
Elbow Pain & Nerve Irritation
Not all elbow pain comes from muscles or tendons.
Nerves travel through the neck, shoulder, arm, and elbow. Irritation or compression of a nerve can sometimes cause:
- Tingling
- Numbness
- Burning
- Weakness
- Pain extending into the forearm or hand
Symptoms involving numbness, tingling, or significant weakness deserve a more comprehensive assessment to determine where the symptoms may be originating.
This is another reason why looking beyond the painful spot can be important.
How Physiotherapy Can Help Elbow Pain
Physiotherapy is particularly useful when elbow pain is affecting strength, movement, or your ability to return to work, exercise, or sport.
For conditions such as tennis elbow and golfer's elbow, treatment often focuses on progressively loading the affected muscles and tendons rather than simply resting the arm.
Our physiotherapist Kristina Jerry may use:
- Progressive strengthening for the wrist, forearm, and grip
- Mobility exercises
- Functional and sport-specific rehabilitation
- Activity and training modifications
- Acupuncture & Electroacupuncture
- Shockwave
- Manual therapy when appropriate
- Taping as an adjunct to treatment
The goal is to gradually increase your elbow's ability to handle the demands you place on it.
How Chiropractic Care Can Help Elbow Pain
Chiropractic care can be helpful when elbow symptoms are accompanied by joint restrictions or movement problems elsewhere in the upper body.
Your chiropractor may look beyond the painful elbow to consider the neck, shoulder, upper back, wrist, and surrounding joints.
Depending on your assessment, care may include:
- Joint mobilization or manipulation when appropriate
- Soft-tissue techniques
- Dr. Sarah Hopkins offers acupuncture
- Shockwave
- Movement assessment
- Exercise recommendations
- Addressing contributing restrictions in the upper extremity
This can be particularly useful when elbow symptoms are part of a larger movement problem rather than an isolated issue.
How Massage Therapy Can Help Elbow Pain
Massage therapy can complement active rehabilitation when muscle tension or soft-tissue discomfort is contributing to your elbow symptoms.
Your RMT may focus on the forearm, upper arm, shoulder, and surrounding musculature to help reduce muscular tension and improve comfort.
Massage can be especially useful for people whose elbow pain is aggravated by repetitive gripping, computer work, manual labour, lifting, or sport.
For tendon-related conditions, massage is best viewed as a supportive treatment alongside progressive rehabilitation, rather than a replacement for strengthening and load management.
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Elbow Pain
One of the advantages of a multidisciplinary clinic is that you don't necessarily have to choose between different types of care.
Your treatment may involve more than one practitioner depending on your needs.
For example, someone with tennis elbow may benefit from:
Physiotherapy
Progressive strengthening and rehabilitation to improve tendon and muscle capacity.
Chiropractic Care
Assessment and treatment of relevant mobility restrictions throughout the elbow, wrist, shoulder, neck, or upper back.
Massage Therapy
Soft-tissue treatment to help manage muscular tension and improve comfort.
Acupuncture
An additional option that may be incorporated into an individualized pain-management plan.
Dr. Sarah Hopkins & our physiotherapist Kristina Jerry offer acupuncture.
The specific combination depends on your symptoms, assessment findings, goals, and response to treatment.
Why Your Elbow Pain May Not Be "Just Your Elbow"
Your arm is a connected system.
The muscles that move your wrist and hand cross the elbow. Your shoulder influences how your arm moves. Your neck supplies the nerves that travel into the arm.
That means your practitioner may assess areas away from your elbow when determining what could be contributing to your symptoms.
This doesn't mean that every elbow problem comes from the neck or shoulder. Rather, a complete assessment helps determine whether these areas are relevant in your individual case.
Elbow Pain Treatment in St. Catharines
If you're experiencing elbow pain, you don't necessarily need to figure out which practitioner you should see first.
At BodyLab Recovery Science in St. Catharines, our multidisciplinary team can help determine an appropriate starting point based on your symptoms and goals.
Our physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and acupuncture practitioners each bring a different perspective to musculoskeletal care.
Whether you're dealing with tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, an overuse injury, stiffness, a sports injury, or unexplained elbow pain, our goal is to help you understand your symptoms and develop an appropriate plan to get you moving again.
