Causes of tennis elbow

Tennis elbow is often an overuse injury. It occurs when the muscles and tendons in your forearm are strained due to a repetitive or strenuous activity.

Tennis elbowcan alsosometimes occur afterbanging or knocking your elbow.

If the muscles and tendons in your forearm are strained, tiny tears and inflammation can develop near the bony lump (lateral epicondyle) on the outside of your elbow.

You may get tennis elbow ifyour forearm muscles are not used to doinga certain activity, such as gardening or decorating. However,even if you use your forearm muscles frequently,you canstill injure them.

Activities that can cause tennis elbow

Youcan develop tennis elbow by doing any form of activity that involvesrepeatedly twisting your wrist and using your forearm muscles. Examples include:

• playing racquet sportssuch as tennis, badminton or squash (see below)
• throwing sportssuch as the javelin or discus
• using shears while gardening
• using a paintbrush or roller while decorating
• manual worksuch as plumbing or bricklaying
• activities that involve fine, repetitive hand and wristmovementssuch as using scissors ortyping
• other activities that involve repeatedly bending the elbowsuch as playing the violin

Playing racquet sports increases your risk of developing tennis elbow, particularly if you play for the first time in a long time. However, despite its name, onlyfive out of 100 people actuallyget tennis elbowfromplaying racquet sports.