Occupations can have a strong impact on one’s health. Those with repeated movements, restricted motions and people whose job involves the same type of action over a long period of time can develop certain conditions based on their condition. These kinds of disorders are usually termed Occupational Hazards.
Based on the kind of occupation a person has, one must always look out for any pain or any difficulty one might have in their body as it could turn out to be an occupational hazard.
Any one of the best orthopaedics hospital in Bangalore can help in identifying these symptoms and helping the patient with the right diagnosis and treatment. Of all the occupational disorders or hazards, Tennis elbow seems to be one of the most common with patients suffering from swelling of the elbow muscles.
What is Tennis Elbow?
Tennis elbow is a disorder where the muscles connecting to the outer bone of the elbow are weakened by the repetitive use of it. Due to continuous strain on the muscles, there can be tiny tears in the muscles that can cause inflammation and muscle weakness in the area.
Without treatment, the pain can spread to the forearm and the wrist as well and cause major inconvenience and restriction to work and to carry out day-to-day functions such as carrying or even handling things.
Causes of tennis elbow are major because of any occupation or habit that involves the use of the elbow and muscles in a particular fashion for a continuous period of time over an extended time. This is due to the overuse of those muscles causing pain and inflammation in the area.
Some of the jobs that cause Tennis Elbow are:
- Playing Tennis, especially backhanded shots
- Plumbers
- Painters
- Screwdriving
- Butchers
- Carpenters
The above jobs and many such similar jobs have the same tendency to have repeated actions over a long period of time causing pain in the area. The disorder majorly affects people in a certain 30 to 50 age group who are employed with such jobs or have a racket-based sports career.
Treatment of Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow is the kind of disorder that can only be treated with plenty of rest and some pain medication. The aim of the treatment would be to ease the muscles and give them plenty of recovery time with minimal usage so that the muscles can become stronger over time and regain activity. Some of the most common treatment methods are mentioned below:
- Pain Medication
The first step of treatment is self-care measures and the patient is advised to take plenty of rest with pain medicines to help heal the muscles.
- Physical Therapy
If pain medication does not work, a physical therapist can help with basic stretches and other treatments such as heat therapy to help relax and heal the muscle.
- Injections
In this more advanced method, platelet-rich plasma or botox is introduced into the painful tendon to relieve the pain.
- Ultrasonic Tenotomy
This is a more invasive procedure that requires the patient to visit one of the best orthopedic hospitals in Bangalore. An expert will introduce a special needle into the target tendon under ultrasonic energy which helps in liquifying and removing the damaged tendon.
- Surgery
The last resort would be surgery to remove all of the damaged tissues and with plenty of rest afterward to heal the hand and restore functionality.
