Elbow Anatomy
Ever bumped your funny bone? Hitting the funny bone is the most common, minor elbow injury. The sensation isn’t very funny, but it passes quickly.
Other common elbow injuries include elbow dislocation, elbow fracture, tendinitis and tennis elbow.
Causes
Injuries occur from a variety of reasons, but some of the most common are:
- Pushing your limits or repetitive action during sports
- Work-related injuries
- Falling
- and while working on home projects
Treatment
Injuries to the elbow are often results from overuse or repetitive use. There’s no certain way to treat elbow injuries like tennis elbow, but using platelet rich plasma and physical therapy is an option. Also, arthroscopy has a good response rate.
Arthroscopy is a surgical technique in which the physician inserts a needle-shaped fiber optic telescope, or arthroscope, in the joint through an incision approximately 1/8 inch long. Utilizing instruments as small as 1/10 inch, corrective surgery is performed. Normally done as an outpatient procedure, arthroscopy causes less trauma to the tissues than traditional, more invasive surgeries.
Preparing for a doctors appointment
You should prepare for your doctors visit. The more your doctor knows, the better help he or she will be able to give.
- What are your main symptoms and how long have you had them?
- How did the injury occur? And when?
- How was it treated? Did you try at-home treatments and did it help?
- Have you ever injured your elbow before? Has it caused problems before?
- Does any specific activity make the injury hurt more?
- What prescription and nonprescription medicines have you tried?
- Do you have any health risks or preexisting problems?
- Does anyone in your family have preexisting joint problems?
If you’ve injured your elbow, make sure you see your doctor before it gets worse. Not addressing the problem could make the injury worsen.
