Elbow Pain Specialist

What can cause elbow pain?

Your elbow joint forms where the bottom of your humerus (upper arm bone) meets the top of your ulna and radius, the bones in your forearm. The joint enables you to bend or twist your arm so you can use your hands to perform complex tasks.

Knocking your elbow is a well-known source of intense but brief pain. Sudden pain can also affect your elbow due to an acute injury like a fracture, dislocation, or torn ulnar collateral ligament. Because of the lack of fat and muscle around this joint, even leaning on your elbow for too long can be painful.

Chronic elbow pain is often due to arthritis, which in most people, is likely to be the wear-and-tear form, osteoarthritis. Olecranon bursitis is also a common cause of elbow pain, where the small fluid sacs that protect your joints become inflamed.

Two common overuse injuries often cause elbow pain. Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and golfer's elbow (medial epicondylitis) result when inflammation develops in the tendons attaching the elbow joint to the muscles in your forearm.

How is elbow pain treated?

Treating elbow pain successfully depends on correctly identifying the cause. Somers Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Group has state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities on-site to ensure your provider has all the information they need to treat your elbow pain.

For chronic conditions like arthritis, bursitis, and epicondylitis, treatments such as activity modification, rest, hot and cold treatments, and physical therapy are often the best approach. 

If these conservative approaches aren't producing results, Somers Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Group also offers joint steroid injections and regenerative medicine therapies such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, stem cell injections, and extracorporeal shockwave treatment (ESWT).

Would I need surgery for my elbow pain?

If you have a fracture, you might need surgery to realign the bones, followed by a period of immobilization in a splint or cast. Your provider may also recommend surgery if your broken elbow interferes with the function of your triceps muscle in the upper arm.

Sometimes, torn ligaments in the elbow are treated with surgery to repair or reconstruct them.  If conservative treatments have not relieved your pain associated with chronic epicondylitis and bursitis, these can also be treated with surgery.

Find out what's causing your elbow pain and get the treatment you need by calling Somers Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Group or requesting an appointment online today.