Elbow Pain
The elbow joint is actually a much more complicated joint than most people think. It is an area where 3 bones come together, 16 muscles either attach or cross, and 3 nerves run through. This provides quite a few opportunities for something to cause pain or discomfort at one point or another. The classic causes of pain in the elbow are "tennis elbow" (lateral epicondylitis) and "golfer's elbow" (medial epicondylitis). These are conditions where you have pain on the outside or inside of your elbow, respectively. Like many other issues of the arm that don't involve a specific injury, overuse is the primary cause of these two areas of pain. Unlike what the terms tennis and golfer's elbow sound like, these two sports are not the only way to get these conditions. You get them generally from repetative use involving lifting, grasping, holding, etc... Luckily, this area of pain can be treated by a Physical Therapist, focusing on activity modification and appropriate prescription of exercise and activity.