Pitched elbow

 

Have you heard the term Golfer’s elbow?

Are you familiar with the term Pitcher’s elbow?

If you want to know what causes the pain on the inside of the elbow and who gets it, what are the symptoms of Pitcher’s elbow? What is the cause of Pitcher’s elbow?

What are the ways to treat Pitcher’s elbow?

In the following, we want to know about the diagnosis and possible treatments for Pitcher’s elbow, so stay tuned.

 

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Introduction

The elbow joint is the junction of the arm and forearm. In other words, the humerus and the two bones that make up our forearm are placed next to each other in this joint.

The elbow is made up of a number of ligaments, tendon and bursa and is also an important passageway for arteries and nerves.

Pitcher’s Elbow and golfers’ elbow, in medical parlance, is called Medial epicondyle apophysitis. It is a disorder of the elbow that causes problems inside the elbow joint. It is more common, for example, in people who play baseball or golfers, and is seen in sports and physical activities in which certain movements are frequently performed by the upper body. People whose work involves throwing objects or using axes and saws a lot also experience this disorder.

To get acquainted with this disease, first it is better to know more about the anatomy of the elbow.

 

Anatomy of the elbow

The elbow joint is made up of the junction of the radial and ulna bones (two forearm bones) at the bottom and the humerus or humerus at the top.

In addition to the bones, tendon cartilage, ligaments, and bursae (small sacs containing fluid) are involved in the construction of the elbow.

There is a bony protrusion on the inside of our elbow, this is called the Medial epicondylitis, and it is felt under the hand when we touch the skin of this inner part of the elbows.

This bulge is the junction of important soft tissues, that is, the common tendon of the flexor muscles of the wrist (the common tendon of the wrist flexors), which is located on the front of the forearm, attaches to this Medial epicondylitis.

Tendons in medicine are very strong tissues that attach muscles to their bones. When certain proteins called collagen form filaments and these collagen fibers come together, tendons are formed.

In other words, the harmonious coexistence of these collagen fibers makes the tendon very strong and can withstand tensile forces.

 

Why does golfers’ elbow disease occur in golf players and baseball players?

It is said that the main reason for this disorder is that the person uses the flexor muscles of the wrist too much and due to the excessive use of the flexor muscles of the wrist, excessive tension is applied to their joint tendon. As we said, the intersection of these tendons is actually on the inside of the elbow joint at the site of the Medial epicondylitis.

 

What activities cause golfers’ elbow or Medial epicondyle apophysitis disorder of the elbow?

Repetitive activities such as gardening, shoveling, work such as axing, sawing, can cause this disease, and sometimes in swimming, this complication is seen.

People whose wrist flexor joint tends to be stretched and used too much, the area where the wrist flexor joint tendon connects to the medial epicondyle of the elbow is damaged, and the collagen tissues at the joint become inflamed.

As a result of the activity of the immune system in response to the above injury, a group of immune cells, meaning, inflammatory cells, accumulate in the area exposed to excessive stimulation. These cells actually damage the tendon junction so that the body can regenerate it.

In fact, Inflammation is the beginning of repairing your damaged area.

When an inflammatory condition develops, fibroblasts interfere with the uniform fibers of the tendon collagen, disrupting the uniformity of the fibers.

Natural fibers are cut and replaced by abnormal fibers that grow in an uncoordinated direction.

 

Symptoms and manifestation

The most important symptom of this disorder is that there is pain on the protrusion of the Medial epicondyle of the elbow. The pain is concentrated in the inside of the elbow and spreads to the inside of your forearm, and when you fold your wrist and press your fingers into the palm of your hand, the pain intensifies.

Patients say that their ability to folding their wrist has decreased since they had this problem.

 

Let’s see how this disease is diagnosed.

When you see a doctor with the symptoms mentioned above, he will ask you questions after taking a detailed history, including the time of onset of pain, the type and quality of pain, the history of recent trauma, and job activities and sports activities and so on.

Observing and touching the painful area of ​​the medial part of the elbow and a proper clinical examination will also be performed.

An important point for the doctor to be aware of is that sometimes the symptoms of cubital tunnel syndrome are very similar to golfers’ elbow disease.

The paraclinical methods used are:

Blood tests to look for inflammatory factors and problems with arthritis of the elbow joint, as well as plain X-rays of the elbow, MRI and sometimes ultrasound, as well as to differentiate between cubital tunnel syndrome, Electrodiagnostic muscle nerve strip (EMG-NCV) tests are also used.

 

Treatment

Therapeutic measures include the following:

In the first case, avoid movements that cause pain and aggravate the pain.

Use only non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen naproxen, which are available over-the-counter in pharmacies. Do not over use them during acute pain. If you have a history of gastrointestinal problems, gastrointestinal bleeding, and heart problems, be sure to consult your doctor before taking these medications, use special elbow and forearm braces temporarily and briefly during acute pain.

The important point to note is that these braces and bandages and elbow braces should be used excessively and for a long time because it will cause muscle weakness.

If the above measures have been taken and not received a sufficient and significant response to treatment, or the pain has not been sufficiently reduced by the above treatments, During surgery, the doctor makes small incisions at the junction of the common tendon flexor muscles of the elbow to reduce the tension on the tendon fibers and also removes abnormal extra tissue that has formed inside the tendon during the inflammatory process.