New Parent Injuries : Tennis Elbow

I am a parent of two, one of which is about 4 months old. Not only is my son a newborn but he is a chubby one at that! The other day my wife comes to me and tells me that her elbow is really bothering her. As the good husband and PT I am, I took a look and it was very clear that she has what is called “Tennis Elbow”. Now my wife does not play tennis, but in my years as a therapist I have treated many new moms/dads with the same issue.  “Tennis Elbow” is layman’s terms for a condition call lateral epicondylitis or epicondylalgia.  This is a very long and non-interesting name for a specific condition that affects the wrist extensors (the muscles that enable you to extend your wrists). This condition received its name because it is very common among tennis players. This is due to the intense amount of repetitive eccentric torque placed on the wrist during a strong backhand. Now you may be asking, “Why are new mom’s and dad’s prone to this issue”? Well, as it turns out babies need a lot of care and attention in their first few years of life. This translates to a lot of long hours holding, rocking, feeding and carrying very heavy objects like an 45lb car seat! Not only are you required to lift these heavy things but usually it is required that you lift these things in narrow corridors such as a back seat of a car or a narrow garage.  All this leads to repetitive stress injuries to your wrist and elbows.

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00068

What do we do to prevent this?

- Modify the way you are lifting and holding the baby. Hold the baby with palms up rather than palms down or palms towards your body.

- Use baby carriers that place the babies weight on your hips and shoulders rather than your elbow.

- Hold car seat in the crook of your elbow rather than hands. Also, attempt to use stroller as much as possible.

How do you treat this?
- Physical therapy, of course is an excellent option to relieve pain and to help prevent further injury. If you continually irritate this condition it could lead to a tear of the common extensor tendon pictured above. 

- RICE, No not glutenous kind. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

- Rest is not always an option but not doing things that cause pain will go miles to your recover. Basically every time you feel sharp pain in your elbow you are re-aggravating the injury.

- Ice is extremely useful to help decrease pain and inflammation.

- Compression helps to decreases stress across those common tendons in the elbow. A tennis elbow strap should help to improve pain during everyday activities.