DiyInjuryRehab.com

Tennis elbow injections do ‘more harm than good’ – BBC News Disputed by NHS Website.

In the short term and for severe pain see your doctor or pharmacist who can give you the appropriate anti-inflammatory medicine and / or pain killers.
There are some anti-inflammatory gels and rubs that you can apply directly to the skin if you don’t want to or are unable to take oral anti-inflammatories.
You can apply Ice packs to your elbow and forearm for 15 minutes at a time.
The method I prefer for your elbow pain is to make up an Ice Block and then rub this over the affected area.

Tennis Elbow Lateral Epicondylitis Who Needs Elbow Surgery?

• most patients were between 30 and 50 years old
• no difference between male and female
• an average of 74% had their dominant arm affected
• patients had symptoms an average of 19 months before surgery

Tennis Elbow Lateral Epicondylitis Therapy – Should I have an elbow injection?
If recommended by your specialist YES -
BUT in my opinion only after

1. you can fully straighten your elbow
2. you have a good stretch in your extensor muscles
3. you have tried a few weeks of a structured rehab program

AND you still have pain!

Resting your arm will settle the pain in your elbow.
HOWEVER – if you do anything that uses your arm strongly then the problem will return!

This is because rest allows the pain to settle but the repair that takes place is not structurally as good as it could be and it easily breaks down again.

You need to stimulate repair of the degenerated tendon by doing specific exercises in a controlled fashion over the course of several weeks.

This produces an effective repair of the damaged tendon and means that you are much less likely to suffer a recurrence of the problem.