Tennis elbow is a term that confuses many. You don’t need to be actively involved in sports to experience the pain in this area. Repetitive action is the cause. While many tennis players will suffer from the condition, so can anyone and it’s certainly painful and debilitating. We often forget just how much we use the elbow joints and as such, this condition can easily impact work and restricts general daily tasks.

So, if you are suffering pain in the elbow area, then, you should seek medical advice.  Any movement that places the tendons and muscles under pressure can lead to tennis elbow. If you are constantly gripping and squeezing in a repetitive way, this can contribute to the pain experienced and it’s easy to see how overuse of this joint could occur.

Often symptoms that are common with joint injuries, but which are not associated with tennis elbow include:

• Bruising
• Swelling
• Clicking noises when the joint is moved

The main symptoms experienced will be a tenderness on the bony part of the elbow exterior. This will feel worse if you are lifting or gripping. The arm will feel weaker than normal and even simple tasks like holding a cup can become very painful.

Treatments

Tennis elbow, although initially considered to be an inflammation problem is a degenerative condition. The body will try and heal this type of degenerative problem but often, requires assistance. Resting the joint bits of help but this may not be enough. Pain medication and heat treatments are usually the first port of call and if this fails, then cortisone can be injected. Unfortunately, tennis elbow can take a long time to clear up and this can add frustration to a painful daily routine.

With the incredible breakthroughs in stem cell research, this kind of treatment is now available to the general public at trusted medical centers. Stem cell treatments could be the solution for a long-term chronic elbow condition. It is often referred to as regenerative medicine as it uses the cells from your own body to start the healing process and means, there is less chance of cell rejection occurring.

The process of obtaining these cells is actually a simple one and there are two clear ways in which this is done. A blood sample can be taken, or some bone marrow cells are removed, usually from the hip. The whole procedure is quick and as near to painless as possible. The area is, of course, numbed.

The cells, once they have been prepared, are then injected back into the body in a very targeted way, with the use of live X-rays to act as a guide. This treatment pinpoints the exact place that requires attention, and this has catapulted the success rate of this type of procedure. Stem cell treatment is becoming a very successful way of treating this condition. It might even make you even want to take up tennis afterward.