Click here for details on common causes of elbow pain or tell me:
Is the pain at one point on the inside or outside of the elbow? 

If you have a pain or tender area at the side of your elbow this could be an epicondylitis. 

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When the symptoms are on the outside of the elbow this is called tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis. When they are on the inside they are known as golfer’s elbow or medial epicondylitis. You don’t have to be a regular golfer or tennis player to suffer from these symptoms, rather they are overuse conditions that occur in those of us who perform heavy lifting or repetitive gripping in our day to day lives. 

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Tennis elbow is felt on the outside of the elbow and you will be tender there too. The pain is made worse by gripping and may often lead to a weak grip as a result. 

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Golfer’s elbow is felt on the inside of the elbow, and also may be associated with weak grip. It may also cause numbness in your little finger. 

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It occurs when the tendon origins of your extensor tendons (those that straighten your wrist or fingers – Tennis elbow) or flexor tendons (those that close your fist – golfer’s) suffer repetitive micro tears at their origins due to repetitive activities. This sets up a cycle of inflammation that can be very painful and disruptive. 

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This will always get better eventually but to help your recovery I will start with a course of splinting and physiotherapy. We could supplement this with a steroid injection or a Platelet-rich plasma injection. This second one is where we take a sample of your own blood and extract the healing factors from it which are then injected into the affected area to promote recovery. Very rarely surgery is needed.