what to do with tennis elbow injury.

[matcool]

i work in royal mail prosessing at a mial centre for 24 years now, for the last year i have had a tennis elbow injury to my left arm due to the strain to my arm cutting a hedge for 4 hours last sept but also stamping flats for ten years which is a very repetative job, it did seem to get better when they put me on a letter sorting job for five weeks mainly using my right arm but after 2 weeks back at my old jod it came back, since then i have seen attos and been to a specialist but things got worse when i lifted some heavy bags tipping and felt my arm tendons go, since then i have been put on letter sorting for three months but even doing this my arm seems to be getting nowhere, i do a 6 hour shift 5 days a week as soon as i start using my arm at work it aches and the last couple of hours hurts when i get home the elbows hurt, but at the weekend when i dont work the arms feel alot better they need a recovery time off work, i have been to the doctor because now my right arm which has had to do most of the work for the last year now hurts, i have been told my left arm has tennis and golf elbow and the right arm has tennis elbow, i carnt do jobs at home or my arm hurts then pains, i do arm exercises and wear arm pads, im seeing attos again soon but im told tennis elbow has a long recovery time for people under 60 its 6 months to a year in worst cases, so what do i do, do i go sick for 6 to 12 months and risk getting injury redundancy when after a few months off the condition would be gone for good acording to the experts or take upaid special leave or sebatical and get no pay for 6 to 12 months and have to rely on my wifes salary to get by

[mazza111]

TBH I don't think tennis/golfers elbow ever gets better. Mine certainly hasn't.

There are certain things you can do to relieve it tho. First of all, make sure it is tennis elbow, GP should be able to confirm this. At first REST is the only option. Like any injury to tendons and muscles, when an injury occurs it's important to rest. Physiotherapy can help. The only thing that helped mine was steroid injections and rest for 24 hrs immediately after the injection. You may also get some relief from anti inflammatory such as diclofenac or ibuprofen along with painkillers such as paracetamol or co codamol. I have a heat rub called Icy Hot that I use on all my aches and pains, it's quite expensive but it gives a bit of relief. There is one called Deep Freeze that can be purchased in any chemist. Don't find it as good as Icy Hot, but does give a little bit of relief.