Sore Elbow - Darts Player (Not tennis or golfers elbow)

[BenSamson]

Hello everyone,

I have hurt my right elbow playing darts and it has lowered my performance considerably, I play at a good standard and was playing up to three hours a day until I injured my elbow about 6/7 weeks ago, the pain is underneath and throbs throughout the day and when I come to throw it becomes a sharp pain on each throw - meaning I can hardly throw at the moment, which is depressing. The area that hurts seems to be around where the protonator teres is if that helps, near to the joint/possibly in the joint itself. Any help would be greatly appreciated, please help me alleviate this problem and get me back hitting 180's!

Thank you
Ben

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[BenSamson]

Anybody?! Any exercises I could do?

[leebpt]

Hi Ben,
From what you are saying this is not a new problem and it has been getting worse so in essence you are having acute on chronic episodes of your symptoms. My first advice would be go to see a Physio and have your elbow looked at. The elbow is a difficult joint to assess and treat due to the structures eg nerves and tendons, pluss there may be an element of referred pain from the neck. If you have a muscle imbalance around the elbow and you continue to play, it may be that there is a positional fault at the joint and this will need to be rectified by a Physiotherapist. It seems to me that without an assessment then to just throw you exercises may be more of a hindrance than a help. It really needs to be looked at by a Physio, this is your sport and you seem very dedicated so it would be in your best interests to have an assessment. I would advise to limit your playing eg 1 hour per day or until symptoms appear, if this is not possible then you may be doing more harm than good.

Good Luck

Lee...

[BenSamson]

Thanks a lot for the response and info, I saw my GP last week and he has referred me to a Physiotherapist, I'm just waiting for the letter to come through the door to get an appointment, the GP seemed to think it may be one of the small muscles around the elbow or a nerve that is irritated but he wasn't much help to be honest. I have been resting it a lot and haven't played at all for 4 days, and before that I was playing at a much reduced level, hopefully this will help. You could be right with a muscle imbalance as when I used to play cricket and bowled a lot I got a muscle imbalance then with my right shoulder and back, you could actually see that my right side was much bigger from the fast bowling. Can't wait to see the Physio I'll let you know what he says, getting very fed up at not being able to play darts, especially as the new season is coming up rapidly. Thanks once again Lee.

[nmarman]

Hi Ben, firstly you can massage the forearm muscles. These connect to the elbow 'knuckles' on the inside and outside of elbow. This inflame and cause a loss of grip strength due to pain and underuse.
These conditions are known as epicondylitis these are commonly termed golfers and tennis but can be seen in trades men, darts players, horse riders even cleaners. Essentially these are the most common pains in elbow. They develop over time and are from repetitive causes.

Rest, ice and compression is essential do recovery.

A epicondylitis strap can help

[StrokeRehab]

You can try the BandIT Therapeutic Forearm Band to help with pain. I've found it to be helpful with my own elbow pain and for patients as well. A hand therapist had recommended it to me.

[BenSamson]

Hello everyone,

So I've seen the Physio twice now, the first time was just asking some basic questions and I was told to keep resting and try some glides, the second time was more thorough and was given a band to do some exercies on and was also given another specific exercise which pinpoints where the pain is. I'm going back in 3 weeks but after almost 4 months now nothing has worked, and I haven't played for 4 weeks now but the pain is still there and I know if I tried to throw it would hurt like mad. Does anyone else know of anything else I can try? Anything at all?

Please help
Thanks - Ben

[nmarman]

Hi Ben,

Ultrasound therapy works well or shockwave therapy also works. We use both at my london clinic but if your not near by I would suggest finding someone close.

Neither is likely to be available on NHS

Note: some people don't know how to use ultrasound effectively
Be sure that u feel a heat sensation.

Hope that helps

Niall Marshall Manifold d.c

[BenSamson]

Hi Ben,

Ultrasound therapy works well or shockwave therapy also works. We use both at my london clinic but if your not near by I would suggest finding someone close.

Neither is likely to be available on NHS

Note: some people don't know how to use ultrasound effectively
Be sure that u feel a heat sensation.

Hope that helps

Niall Marshall Manifold d.c

Thanks I'll look into that but I'm Liverpool so will find somewhere closer haha, what do you think of the ultrasound therapy machines that can be used at home?

[nmarman]

You would pay a lot £750 and although you could use it on your elbow.

You would have to do a course and have some knowledge of anatomy to be able to do it correctly without hurting yourself.

Better finding a practitioner yourself and getting 10 sessions while also doing your stretches and exercises from physio.

Cost will be much lower than buying a machine.

If your looking for a cheap
Solution a cortisone injection would be available from gp but is only about 50-60% successful and even then you would have to do exercise. There are also problems with tendon weakening.

Hope that helps,

[BenSamson]

You would pay a lot £750 and although you could use it on your elbow.

You would have to do a course and have some knowledge of anatomy to be able to do it correctly without hurting yourself.

Better finding a practitioner yourself and getting 10 sessions while also doing your stretches and exercises from physio.

Cost will be much lower than buying a machine.

If your looking for a cheap
Solution a cortisone injection would be available from gp but is only about 50-60% successful and even then you would have to do exercise. There are also problems with tendon weakening.

Hope that helps,

Ok great, I will find a nearby practitioner and give it a go, as I'm certainly not paying £750 haha, I will also fully discuss it with my Physio too. Just curious as to what you think of these:

1 Professional Portable 1 MHz Premium Ultrasound Therapy Kit Plantar Fasciitis | eBay

Are they useless? They seem much cheaper than what you said and I never really trust eBay anyway, not that I'm going to buy one I'd just like to know how they can be selling them and if they work.

[nmarman]

Nope not useless but you should get a 3mhz.

I would think batt would run out and it may not work very long but only based on price. Also the power won't go that high, no doubt.

Also you will pay 20% vat plus a 9% import tax. Plus shipping cost. Even then it might not be what you expect. You could end up having to send it back at a further cost.

There also be charging issues with using a diffrent electrical system in America which might mean spending & £10-20 on a transformer.

A false economy I just experienced buying LEDs from China.

There is also a peice of equpiment call a flex bar by Thera band that could help with exercises.

Good luck