PROFESSIONS SERIES: THE TRADIE’S ELBOW

Are you a tradie? Do you have a sore forearm or elbow? Have you ignored it for 6 months, just hoping that it will go away?

I thought so.

Elbow pain is something that tends to plague tradies, especially those who regularly use tools that screw, drill, sand, whack, plane – you get my drift. The constant gripping, twisting and vibrating that comes with using heavy tools all day, every day can have an effect on your muscles and tendons of your forearm, which can end up causing elbow pain. The most common issue is called lateral epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow. It’s a condition where your forearm tendons insert tug relentlessly on the bony insertion point around your elbow and cause this insertion and/or the tendons to become irritated, inflamed, damaged or just downright sore.

Many GPs will refer you straight to the radiology guys for a cortisone injection, which can be good for short term (days to weeks) relief, but tends not to work in the long-term (as the underlying issues are generally not solved by anti-inflammatories). There is nothing wrong with having this treatment per-se, as long as there is some proactive action taken alongside the cortisone. There are a number of hands on interventions that may help this issue, which a physiotherapist can provide, along with exercises to help support and relieve these poor tendons that you have disregarded for so long!