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What Causes Severe Elbow Pain?

Posted on Sat, 1 Apr 2017

Question: Having occasional pain in right elbow since last few months.
But now pain is continuous since last ten days.
Having severe pain even lifting a 2 litres water bottle or turning the knob of the door

Answered by Dr. Mahaveer Patil (46 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Seems like tennis elbow

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thank you for posting the question.
I have gone through your medical history in detail.

Such kind of pain usually occurs in case of Tennis elbow.
This is a condition in which,the outer bony part of the elbow hurts .

This bony part has a muscle attachment and inflammation of this bone-muscle area causes the pain.

This may occur due to an unknown trauma or lifting anything heavy or a sudden jerk to the elbow before.

If the pain is continuous now,then you should get an Xray / MRI of the elbow done.

Using a elbow cap and application of local gel followed by hot fomentation will help.
Take anti inflammatory analgesic tablets like ibuprofen,tramadol,paracetamol.

If the pain does not reduce,then you should consult an orthopedist. You may need to take a steroid injection spot at the painful spot.

I hope the answer was useful.

Feel free to ask me any follow up queries that you may have.

Thank you.
Best wishes.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana

Follow up: Dr. Mahaveer Patil (11 minutes later)

Thanks for the response / suggestions for the query.

First of all I will follow the recommendation of taking inflammatory tablets and applying gel along with hot fermentation. Kindly also suggest whether cold fermentation will also help?

Also, I have heard that taking steroid injection is not a permanent solution rather it will have some negative impact for the elbow.

Please suggest.

Answered by Dr. Mahaveer Patil (8 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Cold will not help

Detailed Answer:
Cold fomentation will not help as it will thicken and stagnate the inflammation inside.

Heat will liquidate the inflammation and allow it to wash away the Pain substance.

Taking steroid injection once or twice will not damage your joint.The injection is not given inside the joint but outside,in the muscle tissue.

Its well and good if only tablets reduce the pain.
We use steroid injections only for resistant cases that do not respond to oral medicines.

Thank you.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng

Follow up: Dr. Mahaveer Patil (6 minutes later)

Thanks for the detailed information.

Kindly also suggest some gel to be applied

Answered by Dr. Mahaveer Patil (2 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
diclofenac gel

Detailed Answer:
You can use diclofenac gel.
Apply on painful part. Do not rub vigorously.
15 min after application of gel,do hot fomentation.

Thank you.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng