Recently we had an office manager in her 40’s present to the clinic with a constant ache in her right forearm. The pain radiated down the outside of her elbow, into her forearm, wrist and thumb. She had been experiencing this pain for approximately three months.
The patient in question had a past history of tennis elbow which had affected her other forearm and had been rectified with treatment over 18 months ago. When the patient had first started to notice the pain, she had seen her doctor who diagnosed it as extensor tendinopathy or more commonly, ‘tennis elbow’. She was advised to manage it as previous with a forearm brace, stretches and rest from aggravating activities.
Unfortunately, following this advice had made no change to the pain levels she was experiencing, and if anything the pain was slowly progressing. At this point she came to me to see if Myotherapy could help.
After a thorough examination of the patient’s wrist movements and palpation of the areas normally involved in tennis elbow, I wasn’t convinced that she had been given the right diagnosis. She definitely had tightness in the associated musculature, but I felt there may be more going on. In the first treatment I focused on the elbow, forearm and wrist along with the neck and thoracic spine.
I also did a little work to help her posture as she was spending long hours hunched over a computer. I sent her home with some forearm strengthening exercises and general stretches to help with her posture.
Lani Guskich – Elite Myotherapist
