Tennis elbow rehabilitation in Canberra.

Understanding tennis elbow.

Lateral elbow tendinopathy is a load-capacity problem of the wrist-extensor tendons where they anchor to the outside of the elbow. It's felt with gripping, lifting (especially palm-down), typing and repetitive hand work, which is why tradespeople, gardeners and desk workers see it far more often than tennis players.

Two things about the evidence are worth knowing upfront. First, exercise-based loading produces better long-term outcomes than passive care. Second, cortisone injections, despite feeling great for a few weeks, have been shown in high-quality trials to produce worse outcomes at twelve months and higher recurrence than simply leaving the tendon uninjected. We'll always give you that context before you make decisions.

How we treat it.

Management starts with de-provoking the tendon: auditing grip-heavy tasks, adjusting tool and workstation setup, and modifying rather than stopping activity. A progressive loading program then rebuilds capacity, isometrics for pain relief early, progressing to isotonic wrist-extensor and grip strengthening, then heavier functional loading matched to your work and sport.

Because the elbow rarely acts alone, we assess and load the whole chain, shoulder and scapular capacity influence how much load reaches the forearm. Workers compensation presentations include the capacity documentation and reporting your claim requires.