What is tennis elbow?
Development of epicondylitis
Tennis elbow or golfer's elbow (epicondylitis) is caused by tensile forces in the hand extensor and flexor muscles and their tendons. These negative tensile forces have a permanent effect on the tendon insertions at the elbow and cause injuries in the form of micro tears.
More detailed information and supporting documents can be found further down on this page.
Development of epicondylitis
Tennis elbow or golfer's elbow (epicondylitis) is caused by tensile forces in the hand extensor and flexor muscles and their tendons. These negative tensile forces have a permanent effect on the tendon insertions at the elbow and cause injuries in the form of micro tears.
More detailed information and supporting documents can be found further down on this page.
Development of epicondylitis
Tennis elbow, golf elbow, mouse arm - these are all colloquial terms for epicondylitis. (Source: Wikipedia)
In medical terminology, the injury is also referred to as epicondylopathy, epicodylosis or epicondyalgia.
The terms tennis elbow and golfer's elbow depend on which muscle area and which tendon insertion is affected.
The outer tendon, on the radial epicondyle, is commonly referred to as tennis elbow, while the inner tendon, on the medial epicondyle, is known as golfer's elbow or golf elbow.
Incidentally, the term golf elbow results from the fact that many tennis players and golfers are confronted with this injury during their active sports career. The force of the many strokes and a possible incorrect club position contribute to the high prevalence of the injury among athletes.
A more recent term for epicondylitis is mouse arm, as more and more people are exposed to one-sided strain from working on the computer.
Just like tennis elbow and golf elbow, mouse elbow in particular is also associated with the development mechanisms of repetitive strain injury syndrome. (RSI syndrome, English for: "repetitive strain injury" - injury caused by repeated strain or stress. (Source: Wikipedia)
In principle, epicondylitis can occur during any activity that puts strain on the arm; even an incorrect sleeping posture can be the trigger. Most of the patients affected have never played tennis or golf in their lives, but still suffer from tennis or golfer's elbow.
Cause explained from a doctor's point of view
Dr. Johannes Sailer, specialist in orthopaedics and orthopaedic surgery, explains the cause of the pain in this short video.
Where does "tennis elbow" come from, why is the injury so painful and what can be done about it?
Spread and duration of the disease
There are numerous dissertations, investigations, studies etc. on the issues of prevalence and duration of the disease, but unfortunately they do not come to a uniform conclusion. The only consensus is that there are currently no up-to-date and truly valid figures.
We would therefore like to provide only a brief overview of the extensive information we have collected on the current state of knowledge, whereby we will limit ourselves to just a few sources.
Prevalence
Tennis elbow or golfer's elbow is the most common disease/injury in industrialized nations after back pain.
The prevalence (frequency of the disease per year) is estimated at between 1.5% and 6% of the general population. This means that up to 4.8 million people in Germany alone suffer from epicondylitis.
The incidence (new cases per year) is even put at 1% to 9%. It is assumed that only around 50% of those affected seek medical treatment at all or discontinue it prematurely after a few failures.
Epicondylitis occurs most frequently in the age group between 45 and 54 years and "tennis elbow", i.e. injury to the radial epicondyle, is statistically 5 times more common than "golfer's elbow", i.e. injury to the medial epicondyle.
There are also occupational groups in which this injury/illness occurs much more frequently:
There are also occupational groups in which this injury/illness occurs much more frequently:
- Forest workers: up to 29%
- Assembly automotive industry: up to 20%
- Cooks: up to 10.5%
- Plastic surgery: up to 13.1 %
Duration of illness
In general, an average duration of illness of 6 to 48 months is assumed. From a duration of 6 months, epicondylitis is already classified as chronic.
Absence from work / recurrence
According to figures from the CSST, Quebec (2009), the average absence from work is 83.7 days and the risk of recurrence is 10.6% for certain occupational groups.
As you can see, epicondylitis is widespread and does not require a short period of time to heal.
Tennis elbow? Golfer's elbow?
What exactly is it?
With every movement of the arm, fingers or wrist, tensile forces from the forearm muscles and tendons act on the tendon insertions (epicondyli) on the elbow.
Unusually high loads, strenuous or repeated movements of the arm can lead to injuries in the form of micro-tears in these tendons, which can then become inflamed. (Source: Netdoktor), (Source: Wikipedia)
The outer tendon, on the radial epicondyle, is commonly referred to as tennis elbow, while the inner tendon, on the medial epicondyle, is known as golfer's elbow or golf elbow.
Cause of epicondylitis
Just like the intensity of the pain, the trigger for epicondylitis is individual and varies. It affects active people such as craftsmen, office workers (PC work; mouse arm), warehouse workers, retail workers, housewives, athletes, hobby gardeners, etc.
Knitting, gardening or shoveling snow and similar activities can also trigger this insidious disease.
Epicondylitis is often caused by an unusual and unaccustomed activity, such as moving house, a large house cleaning job, construction work, special work at work, slipping on snow and ice and supporting yourself with your hand or many other things. Once the micro-tears have developed at the tendon insertions, they are further strained and irritated by everyday stresses such as shaking hands, moving the hand and fingers, brushing teeth, combing hair, or professional and sports-related movements.
The vicious circle begins and the tensile forces do their work.
Incidentally, both tennis elbow and golfer's elbow have the same causes, with the stressful activity being the decisive factor for the occurrence of the injury to the medial or radial epicondyle.
Effects of epicondylitis
For patients with tennis elbow or golfer's elbow, a diagnosis of epicondylitis often means a severe impact on many areas of life and a significant loss of quality of life.
Depending on the progress and severity of the injury/illness, even simple everyday activities such as lifting a coffee cup, driving a car, setting the table or shaking hands can be associated with very severe pain.
The main symptom is a stabbing pain in the elbow area which, depending on its intensity, can also radiate towards the shoulder and hand.
Depending on whether you have tennis elbow or golf elbow, these symptoms can occur on the outside or inside of the elbow due to rotational movements or similar.
Logical approach to epicondylitis
The first treatment for tennis elbow is usually a cortisone injection to combat the inflammation. However, this does not work against the physical forces. Conventional braces or supports are often prescribed for this purpose. These tennis braces, supports, splints and orthoses all work according to a compression principle. The aim is to relieve the tendons by applying pressure to the muscle bellies.
The Masalo® cuff works very successfully according to a completely different and innovative principle.
The muscles and tendons of the forearm are "attached" to the two tendon insertions on the elbow. Every movement of the fingers, muscles and arm exerts tensile forces on these two points. Overstraining causes injuries there in the form of micro-tears / micro-traumas.
You can see the effect of these tensile forces on your own arm:
If you place your arm on a table and move your fingers, you can see the movement on the outer epicondyle.
Or simply close your hand into a fist a few times and open it again. If you now hold the lower part of your forearm in the area of the tendon insertions near the elbow with your other hand, you will feel how the muscles - the tensile forces - work.
Tractive forces? Countertraction!
This is exactly what the Masalo® cuff does. The counter-traction system provides immediate and lasting relief to the affected area. The tendons are protected, pain is relieved and healing is positively supported - even though the arm continues to be used. The unique design of the Masalo® cuff means it can be worn 24 hours a day, day and night.
This new tennis elbow treatment tackles the cause directly and follows a logical principle as an alternative or additional therapy. The effect is immediately noticeable.
The Masalo® Cuff MED works with the proven Masalo® countertraction principle, which is still unique in the field of epicondylitis aids.
Over 70,000 customers have already been able to overcome their injury with the help of our Masalo® cuff.
Information on purchasing the Masalo® cuff on prescription can be found on our information page.
The comfortable forearm cuff of the Masalo® cuff is placed approximately in the middle of the forearm and fixed with the high-quality and very durable Velcro fastener.
The upper arm strap is then also fastened with a Velcro fastener and adjusted according to the activity and load.
Thanks to the unique and patented design, the upper arm strap holds with every movement. The tensile forces are reduced or completely stopped by the proven counter-traction principle, relieving the affected area. The negative tensile forces are redirected harmlessly to the upper arm strap.
This gives the affected tendons a chance to heal, although the arm can still be used and loaded.
The Masalo® cuff can be worn preventively and provide immediate relief for acute and chronic epicondylitis.
The cuff can and should initially be worn 24 hours a day, if possible, so that the tendons are permanently relieved - even at night - and sleep is not disturbed by uncontrolled movements.
In contrast to "normal" supports or epicondylitis braces, the Masalo® cuff does not impair blood circulation as it does not work with compression (pressure) and can therefore be worn permanently.
If it is worn at work or during sport, the development of strength can be promoted.
As the experiences of other sufferers show, it is even possible to be pain-free again with the Masalo cuff despite epicondylitis/epicondylopathy. sport again without pain.
When playing tennis, the experiences of other customers have shown that the racket position is improved. The stabilization of the elbow leads to greater hitting power. Those affected have also benefited from the cuff in other sports such as weight training, javelin throwing, handball and volleyball.
Show sources of this page
Uni Regensburg:
https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/30983/1/Thesis.pdf
ASU - Case-control study:
https://www.asu-arbeitsmedizin.com/Archiv/ASU-Heftarchiv/article-709667-110576/fall-kontrolle-studie-zur-bestimmung-von-risikofaktoren-der-lateralen-epikondylitis-.html
BARMER GEK Report on remedies and aids 2012:
https://www.pflegegesellschaft-rlp.de/fileadmin/pflegesellschaft/Dokumente/Dokumente_2012/BARMER_GEK_Heil-und-Hilfsmittel-2012_-_September_2012.pdf