VV8.21

When Your Elbows Hurt
By: Kyo Mitchell / A Healthier You
As many people retire, they partake in physical
activities, such as golf, tennis or pickleball
to keep themselves in shape and healthy. As
enjoyable as these activities may be, they can sometimes lead to injuries
- including elbow pain.
Tendonitis is a common injury to the elbow for individuals who play
golf or some form of game involving a racquet. Tendinosis basically
translates to pain of the tendon.
Tendons are the means by which muscles attach to bones. To
understand their structure better, think of tendons as a big rope made
up of smaller strings. The rope itself is fairly strong but the individual
strings are much more vulnerable.
When a person returns a tennis serve or drives a golf ball, the impact
trauma of these motions is felt at the tendons crossing the elbow. Small
fibers within the tendon begin to become damaged. The tendon as
a whole is still intact but some of its fibers are now damaged. This is
tendinosis.
One of the symptoms an individual experiences with tendonitis
is pain. This is a protective measure by the body. Pain will dissuade
an individual from using that body part, keeping them from further
damaging the tendon while the body attempts to heal it. Healing,
however, takes time.
Unlike muscle tissue which has a rich supply of internal blood
vessels, tendons, ligaments and certain other body structures have no
direct blood supply. All materials needed for tendon repair must reach
the damaged tissue via diffusion. This characteristic means that it will
take them much longer to heal.
While there are certain medical procedures and aids which can
decrease healing time, activities which may further damage the tendon
should be avoided until it has had time to heal.
Dr. Kyo Mitchell served as faculty at Bastyr University in Seattle
and Wongu University in Las Vegas for over a decade. Dr. Mitchell
practices in Summerlin and can be reached at 702-481-6216 or
rkyomitchell@gmail.com.
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August 2021