Tennis elbow in both arms from typing.

Hello,

Please read this message as it took me a long time to compose in my current state. I am a 22 year old male who has been typing for most of his life, I have just completed a computer science degree and my life is literally on hold until I can use my arms again. Your support is very much appreciated.

Almost seven weeks ago I was diagnosed with tennis elbow in both arms. This was not caused by sporting activities but from typing in awkward positions for long periods of time. I have since been resting my arms and taking anti inflammatory painkillers when inflammation occurs. I have avoided typing as this pulls on the tendons which is incredibly frustrating, I am currently writing to you using speech recognition software.

Around the three week mark I started to notice the pain a lot less. I started doing appropriate exercises as recommended by a Physio, however I must have overdone this as the pain came back later on. This time the pain was mainly in the back of my elbows, this lasted another week or so but the pain has now mostly gone away and I have begun gently exercising again.

What concerns me is how sensitive my arms are, even from basic activities such as cooking I can feel my tendons warning me not to continue. The pain is not that bad but I do not want to disrupt healing. I have heard from other people who have had chronic tendonitis for years and I cannot understand how they have managed. I am in a very lucky situation because I live with people who can help me which allows me to rest my arms completely. I can't understand how others without support can manage. Even with complete rest my arms are still very sensitive, many people must not be able to do this, is this why theirs becomes chronic?

I am worried mine may have become chronic from the over exercising after four weeks. Am I being overly paranoid? The exercise was one where you are holding a weight in your hand and lifting and lowering in slow motion with the rest of your arm supported.
My other question is, how can my tendons heal faster with these exercises? Surely healing would prefer for them to have no strain at all?

Thank you very much for any help or information you can give. My arms are OK now but I still cannot type yet. I am very worried about the slow process of healing.

I posted some general information for you in your post in the General forum area. :) hope some of it helped.

Take care. :)

Hello brother :

here you can find some physical therapy and rehabilitation protocols regarding tennis elbow

all the exercises has been Illustrated in details
Physical Therapy Management for Lateral Epicondylitis of Elbow (Tennis Elbow)

HI There,

Very rarely would someone get equal tennis elbow in both arms at the same time, especially with the sensitivity and ease of aggravation that you describe. I would strongly suggest getting a thorough physio to examine your cervical (neck) spine and upper thoracic spine. You may find (and i have seen this before and successfully treated) treating your neck with manual mobilisation, deep neck flexor and postural retraining, and possibly some gentle intermittent cervical traction (applied by the physio) may help significantly. The anti-inflammatories may continue to be useful but you should seek medical advice regarding long term use.

If you have a problem in both arms at the same time with the same symptoms, triangulate and you'll most likely find the real source of the problem is central (ie, neck, posture, irritation of disc&/facets and nerve roots in your neck). You should find reasonably fast results with the right treatment plan

Hope this helps,

msk101 :)