I have never in my career seen tennis elbow in a tennis player. The proper name for this condition is lateral epicondylitis. There is also medial epicondylitis, nicknamed golfer’s elbow, and I haven’t seen that in a golfer either.
Still, it helps to have a folksy name for medical conditions when those names help people understand what it is or how it is caused.
In my case, I had it once before after a home improvement project. This time I’m pretty sure it was the combination of two thongs: First stall cleaning, putting manure, wet hay and shavings in the manure bucket with the pitchfork handle with my right hand and my left hand further down, making a backhand-like movement just like a tennis player. Second, I’ve been snow blowing. My Toro drives forward by itself but it doesn’t have a way to steer it except by holding on to the handle bars and making a twisting motion with my arms, pronation with one elbow and supination with the other, flirting with tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow on opposite arms.
Today, I also noticed for the first time that I have a swollen olecranon bursa on my left elbow, also sometimes called Popeye’s elbow or student’s elbow, supposedly caused by putting your flexed elbow on a desk or table too much. I didn’t think I did but I have it, a mild case where the fluid is not under pressure. No need for intervention. Same thing for my epicondylitis, take it a little easy for a while. I don’t dare to take ibuprofen with my acid reflux condition. Besides, I just don’t like to take pills…












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