Brief Medical History Overview
Age: 54, Female, Presenting Problem Since: Since late 2010, Symptom Behaviour: Worse, Symptoms Worse (24hr Behaviour): All day, Investigations: MRI of the shoulder, No Diabetes, No history of High Blood Pressure, No Medications, No Osteoporosis, No Hx of Cancer, No Unexplained Weight Loss, No Bowel/Bladder issues, Other Info: No
Recalcitrant form of tennis elbow
I am still trying to resolve a stubborn case of
tennis elbow which began in early January while trying to resolve my (still-unresolved) shoulder pain (presumably due to a torn RC). I have had several weeks of PT for tennis elbow, done stretches, tried heat, tried ice, ultrasound, massage, worn the elbow band, and avoided all my favorite activities that aggravate it ---- all to no avail. My PT and sports ortho surgeon are perplexed.
I have listened to and read about countless others who had tennis elbow but found relief by doing just one of the above measures including simple wrist extension/flexion, using the Theraband Flexbar (too painful for my elbow AND shoulder), and deep massage of the area.
My doctor wants to do an
MRI of my elbow and may recommend surgery (fortunately, he is not a big proponent of cortisone shots). I had to postpone the MRI for several weeks after coming down with Shingles, which began 2 weeks after a bad cold.
I am wondering if anyone knows why some cases of tennis elbow go unresolved using the same methods that brought relief to others. I'm starting to wonder if I have a strange immune system disorder that causes soft-tissue disfunction. I don't want to have a surgery here, a surgery there, to fix the symptoms of what might be a bigger underlying problem.
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