If you walk into a doctor’s office complaining of tennis elbow, two things will likely happen… You’ll get a steroid shot. Which can be very painful. And you’ll walk out with a prescription for physical therapy.
But a new study out of Norway finds these standard treatments don’t work.1 Even worse? Steroid shots, while bringing short-term relief, actually make matters worse in the long run. They seem to delay tendon repair. This means a longer recovery.
Tennis elbow is the common term for elbow pain caused when you overuse arm, forearm, and hand muscles. It strikes not only tennis players, but golfers, baseball players, bowlers, and gardeners.
People who work in professions requiring repetitive motions are prone to tennis elbow, too. These include landscapers, house cleaners, carpenters, mechanics, and assembly-line workers.2
How can you tell if you have tennis elbow?
Try this simple trick… If you have elbow pain, check to see if it gets worse when you shake someone’s hand or squeeze an object. If so, you likely have tennis elbow.
What should you do next?
It turns out, the best treatment is no treatment. But you likely won’t hear this from doctors… They’d rather keep doling out useless—and harmful—treatments to turn a profit.
First, stop doing whatever caused the pain in the first place. When the discomfort subsides, go back to the activity gradually. Start with 5 minutes, building slowly. If your pain recurs, back off until it again subsides. When you resume, take care not to overdo it.
If you’re like the vast majority of sufferers, you’ll soon be back in the game. That’s because most cases of tennis elbow heal within a year–with or without treatment.3
While you’re recovering, try rubbing some capsaicin gel or cream on your elbow. It’s a potent painkiller made from the same compound that gives hot peppers their kick. You can find it online and in many vitamin stores.
What natural solutions help you speed up recovery from tennis elbow? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.
In Good Health,
Angela Salerno
Publisher, INH Health Watch
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References:
1http://consumer.healthday.com/bone-and-joint-information-4/bone-joint-and-tendon-news-72/tennis-elbow-usually-heals-without-therapy-study-finds-703713.html
2http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/tennis-elbow
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