Tennis Elbow? But I don’t Play Tennis

What a wonderful and a complex machine we humans have. It is estimated that we have around 650 muscles in our body but some say the count goes up to 840. These muscles cover or are connected to the 206 bones. With contraction of these skeletal muscles, we are able to move our limbs. The largest of all muscles in our body is the “Gluteus Maximus” or the main extensor of the hip muscles. The smallest muscle is the “Stapedius” which is in the inner ear and stabilizes the smallest bone in the body the stapes.

The elbow is connected by a synovial joint which is located between the upper arm and the fore arm. It is a hinge that is formed due to the meeting of three different bones “the Humerus” which is in the upper arm, “the Ulna” and “the radius” in the lower arm. There are seven different muscles that help the elbow to bend, flex extend or rotate the forearm. These muscles are broadly divided into two groups the flexor and the extensor.

Tennis elbow is a kind of repetitive stress injury. It generally occurs when muscles and tendons in our arm are strained due to repetitive activity or sudden strenuous activity. It can also happen if one accidentally bangs or knocks his/her elbow. There are many activities that can cause tennis elbow, like racquet sports, throwing sports, use of shears for gardening; fine repetitive wrist movement can cause it. Dentists are more prone to Tennis Elbow due to the nature of their work.

By: Madhuchanda Saxena

Content: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tennis-elbow/symptoms-causes/syc-20351987