Elbow Pain Q & A What causes elbow pain?

Elbow pain doesn’t have to disrupt your day-to-day activities and impair your quality of life. If you’re suffering from elbow pain, schedule a visit with Bart Rask, MD. Dr. Rask is a highly skilled and board-certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in treating elbow injuries at Hillsboro Orthopedic Group. To get started, schedule a visit to the state-of-the-art clinic in Hillsboro, Oregon, today by calling the office.

Elbow pain can develop for many reasons, but it’s commonly seen in people who engage in physical activities requiring repetitive motions that can lead to injury from overuse. Golfers, baseball pitchers, tennis players, and boxers are all susceptible to developing chronic elbow pain because of the constant repetitive elbow motions that their sports require.

Elbow pain typically involves complications with any of the following:

• Arm muscles
• Tendons 
• Bursae
• Elbow ligaments
• Bones in your arm

There are particular disorders that also commonly lead to elbow pain, including:

• Medial epicondylitis (golfer’s elbow or little leaguer’s elbow)
• Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)
• Olecranon bursitis (student’s elbow)
• Osteoarthritis
• Fracture or dislocation of your elbow
• Ligament strains and sprains
• Osteochondritis dissecans

Chronic elbow pain can happen to anyone and frequently requires medical treatment.

To prevent elbow pain due to overuse and injury, you should:

• Use elbow paddings
• Make sure your form is proper in sports
• Stretch and warm-up before physical activities
• Make sure that the grip on your sports equipment is the right size
• Check the tension on your tennis racquet

You can also mitigate the risk of elbow pain by taking consistent breaks when you’re engaged in a task that involves repetitive motion. Taking breaks gives your body time to heal and recover, which makes you less likely to develop chronic pain.

Dr. Rask maintains a special clinical interest in treating elbow pain and is highly skilled in a variety of procedures, both surgical and nonsurgical.

Your particular treatment is largely dependent on the nature of your injury, so Dr. Rask makes sure to properly diagnose your condition before developing your treatment plan. Your diagnosis might involve:

• Intake of your medical history and a physical exam
• X-rays, CT scan, and MRI
• Electromyography (EMG)
• Biopsy of your bursa fluid

Once Dr. Rask has a better idea of what’s causing your elbow pain, he’ll go over all of your treatment options and get to work at alleviating your pain.

Find relief today and schedule your visit with Hillsboro Orthopedic Group by calling the office.