Elbow strains & sprains are both injuries that occur when you stretch or tear the soft tissues of the elbow or forearm. They are relatively common injuries among active individuals. These injuries usually produce pain and tenderness around the elbow. For the more severe injuries of this type, you will experience loss of some or all of your range of motion.
However, the good news is that, except for the most severe injuries of this type, they are usually treatable by conservative methods. Surgical interventions are usually unnecessary, except for the most severe injuries involving complete rupture of a muscle, tendon or ligament.
An elbow strain is caused by overstretching or tearing of the forearm flexor or extensor muscles. It may also be a result of similar damage to the elbow tendons (tissues that connect the forearm muscles to the bony points of the inner or outer elbow).
An elbow sprain, on the other hand, is the result of overstretching or tearing of the 3 ligaments supporting your elbow.
As with most types of soft tissue injuries, doctors tend to subdivide elbow sprains and strains into 3 categories:
For grades I and II, treatment at home using the R.I.C.E. approach is usually all that is needed to resolve the problem.
However, if you have experienced a grade III injury, you will likely require surgery to repair the damage.
The recovery period from a grade III injury is also noticeably longer. It may take as much as 3 months or more to fully recover from a grade III injury compared to a few weeks for a mild or moderate sprain or strain.
These injuries are most usually the result of a blow to the elbow that forces it to bend or twist sideways or backwards in an unnatural manner. This would be an acute type of injury. It occurs most commonly when playing contact sports such as football or basketball.
However, sprained or strained elbows are also sometimes due to overuse of the elbow muscles, tendons or ligaments over an extended period.
If you have a sprained or strained elbow, you are likely to experience the following:
To determine the nature of your elbow injury as well as assess the extent of the strain or sprain, your doctor will probably take the following steps:
As mentioned earlier, your doctor may recommend a conservative approach to treating a grade I or II strain or sprain. This will involve the following:
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With the Mueller Elastic Elbow Support, you will benefit from firm and reliable support from a lightweight and user friendly elbow sleeve.
The LP EmbioZ Arm Compression Sleeve has a Power System as well as Power Band & Square Buffer features to improve throwing, smashing and similar actions. The Power System functions to increase stability and proprioception of your elbow-wrist continuous movement and improve the accuracy of your upper extremity movements. The Power Band & Square Buffer surface designs help to enhance your sensory input and further improve your proprioception. The Power System also improves the performance of your upper extremity energy chain during flexion and extension movements. It increases the effectiveness of your energy accumulation and therefore enhances your performance of actions like throwing, shooting (in basketball, for example), hitting, smashing and bowling motions.
The Mueller Sports Medicine Hg80 Premium Tennis Elbow Support features AEGIS Anti-Microbial treatment, a latex and neoprene free durable outer layer, breathable materials, moisture management fabric and a thin design.
