elbow pain or hand pain

Elbow pain or hand pain such as tennis elbow or carpal tunnel are common in people who make a lot of repetitive movements with their hands and forearms .
This could be people who spend a lot of time sitting behind a computer or laptop and typing, dentists, dental hygienists, surgeons, pianists and other musicians. Frequent use of your smartphone can also lead to complaints to the thumb, hand and wrist.
These types of complaints can cause huge problems in daily life and can also hinder you in your ability to carry out your work. Hand physiotherapy can be the solution for your complaints.

ANATOMY

The elbow is the joint between your upper arm (humerus), ulna and radius. The main movement in your elbow is bending and stretching. Your radius and ulna rotate around each other and allow you to turn your forearm. This is called supination and pronation.
The wrist is the joint between your forearm and hand. Your wrist can bend, stretch and move to the side (ulnar and radial deviation).
Your hand consists of 27 bones; 8 carpal bones, 5 metatarsals and 14 phalanges. Located in between these bones are joints, which make the hand very mobile.
There are a lot of muscles in the elbow, forearm and hand. In total about 30 muscles. In between these muscles run the nerves that innervate your hand.
So you can imagine that quite a lot can go wrong.

COMPLAINT TO THE ELBOW AND FOREARM

Common complaints of the elbow are: mouse arm, tennis elbow (epicondylitis lateralis), golfer’s elbow (epicondylitis medialis). Nowadays these complaints are called KANS, complaints to the arm neck and shoulder. Most of these complaints are caused by prolonged repetitive movements of the elbow and hand without taking rest in between movements. If you work behind a computer, that’s typing and using the mouse. The muscles that stretch and bend your fingers start in your elbow and forearm. Often these muscles are not given enough time and rest to recover from the continuous repetitive movements throughout the day. This causes them to become overloaded and hurt.
Important in this is the ‘too little rest in between’ part. Even small breaks of 10 seconds in which you shake off your hands and wrists can be enough to prevent complaints.
Especially with chronic complaints to the forearm and elbow, the underlying cause can be a nerve entrapment. This nerve entrapment can be in the elbow, but also in the neck, shoulder or wrist. Treating and resolving these nerve entrapments often provides great relief.

COMPLAINTS TO THE WRIST AND HAND

There are many bones, joints, muscles and tendons in the hand and wrist. Because we use our hands a lot, complaints are common. Therefore, wrist and hand complaints have a major influence on your daily life.
A distinction can be made between acute and chronic hand and wrist complaints.
Acute complaints arise suddenly after, for example, a fall or during sports. Even if you do too many exercises such as push ups, your wrist can start to hurt. Often these complaints go away on their own after time and/or with carefull movements.
Long-term and chronic hand and wrist complaints often start without a clear cause and gradually get worse over time. Often these complaints are caused by too much repetitive movement during work with too little rest and a (too) high workload.
Common (chronic) hand and wrist complaints are sleeping hands, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, tendon sheath inflammation in the thumb (the quervain syndrome). In both conditions, there is not only a problem in the muscles, but often also a nerve entrapment. This nerve entrapment is caused by too much tension in the muscles of the forearm, wrist and hand that pinches the nerve. With hand physiotherapy, these nerve entrapments can often be resolved within a few sessions.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING TO DO?

Move your elbow, forearm, wrist and/or hand in all directions, within the pain threshold.
Move the surrounding joints and areas, within the pain threshold. This means your neck, shoulder, upper back, elbow, forearm, wrist and / or hand.
Relax! Take more frequent breaks from the repetitive movement. Shake your hands and wrists loose. You can also do breathing exercises or stretches for your forearm and wrist.

OUR TREATMENT

Physiotherapy can provide quick relief from your complaints. Our treatment enables the muscles and joints in your elbow, forearm, wrist and / or hand to move better and quickly reduce your pain. We also provide you with exercises which help you to keep everything flexible.
If you have chronic complaints about your elbow, forearm, wrist and /or hand, book an appointment with Ramon. I am specialized in hand physiotherapy, nerve entrapments and other complaints related complaints. My treatment includes the use of Active Release Techniques (ART®). This is a technique specialized in resolving adhesions in the various tissues and “releasing” nerve stresses. You can read more about ART® on this site: Active Release Techniques

you can read even more about ART® on the home page of Active Release Techniques in America: activerelease.com

If you have any questions about complaints to your elbow, forearm, wrist and/or hand, please feel free to contact us.