ELBOW PAIN RELIEF TORONTO: FIXING MORE THAN THE ELBOW

Tennis elbow and Golfer’s elbow pain is a frustrating thing to deal with! And you are going to perhaps be more frustrated when I tell you that the pain in your elbow is in all likelihood, not just, or not at all an elbow problem! 

Seriously. I have rarely encountered a case in close to a decade of practice where the pain in the elbow was the actual problem. Relief from elbow pain almost never has come from only addressing the elbow. We have helped hundreds of patients at our Yorkville office in Toronto get relief from Tennis Elbow pain and Golfer’s Elbow pain.

If you are frustrated, confused, or discouraged, let me tell you that there is a solution. Even if you feel like you have tried everything, there is a HUGE aspect of elbow pain that you and/or your team have not addressed, and it might be the BIGGEST contributor to your case.

By the time most patients present in our office, they feel like they have seen everyone and done everything to get relief from their elbow pain: medication, physio, traditional chiropractic, acupuncture,  and more.

But the one thing that all the experts have usually missed is the BRAIN!

Well more specifically, the nervous system!

HOW THE NERVES (IN THE NECK) AFFECT YOUR ELBOW PAIN

Getting relief for elbow pain always requires that your doctor checks (and fixes) your neck. Here is why:

We rarely think about it but your nervous system is the most important organ in the body. It carries signals between your brain, via nerves, to all the organs, muscles, skin, joints and just about every cell in your body. Those nerves tell those organs and cells what to do. Perhaps more importantly, those nerves also send a signal back up to the brain that tells it if those tissues got the signal if they are working properly, is there a PAIN or a problem and if so, what to do about it.

When you feel pain in your elbow, it is because a nerve in your elbow has sent (A BIG) signal to your brain that there is something wrong here and you should fix me.

Now here is the crazy thing: research has shown that most cases of elbow pain is either being caused by or contributed to a problem with the nervous system. The problem with the nervous system is usually from a problem with the neck!

BUT ISN’T MY ELBOW PAIN FROM A TENDON PROBLEM!?

Now you might be thinking or have heard, “but my doctor told me it is because of degeneration in my tendon” or “the imaging showed inflammation!” or finally “it is just because of tight muscles”.

Yes, all of these things still might be true but it does not explain why you have pain. A lot of people (research participants) have the exact same tendon changes, inflammation, and degeneration but do not have PAIN! If it was just tightness or inflammation, it should get better with medication, stretching or rest, right!?

Well here is the difference;  research shows that patients with elbow pain tend to also have changes in the way that the nerves between the neck and elbow work. Remember, an unhealthy nervous system means more pain! And in my experience, until the neck and nerves are fixed, the elbow keeps being painful.

WHY FIXING THE NECK HELPS WITH ELBOW PAIN RELIEF

I am going to spare you some of the nerdy science-speak and lingo here but if you want more details you can get it here or read this academic paper. Knowing the contents of this paper has helped me relieve the suffering of hundreds of cases of elbow pain for our patients in Toronto.

When the neck is unhealthy it places stress on the nerves that run between the elbow and the neck. Specifically, direct pressure or stress that results from shifts in the spine reduces the quality of the signal between the neck and the elbow, which results in:

• weaker arm and forearm muscles that become tighter and stiffer
• local nerves at the elbow become more sensitive to pain
• nerves in the spinal cord also become more sensitive to pain
• nerves in the elbow joint lose optimal control of the elbow joints
• the muscle of the arm and shoulder that are controlled by the same nerve as the painful elbow, also become weaker
• CRAZY: this also occurs on the other side of the body! Some studies have shown increased sensitivity to pain, poorer movement awareness, and reduced strength at the uninvolved elbow

To summarize: pain at the elbow can occur whether there is an injury at the elbow or not if the neck and nervous system are not healthy.

SO, HOW DO I FIX MY TENNIS ELBOW PAIN?

I hope that now it makes a little more sense as to why your elbow has not gotten better yet. I hope that you now understand that until the (actual) Core Problem in the neck and nervous system is resolved, the elbow is unlikely to heal completely.

Now that you are armed with the proper knowledge about how this problem arises, it makes it easier to try to fix it yourself.

If your elbow pain is just an elbow problem with no neck issues, there is a good chance that doing THESE stretches daily will help.

If your elbow is painful and it is stemming from a Core Problem in the neck and nervous system then THIS is the protocol I would use if I had to address it myself. You might find that this works if your case is simple and/or if the stress on the nervous system is largely muscular with little involvement of the spine.

In our office, we tend to see patients present after they have been to their physician, their physio and often even after a traditional chiropractor, where the approach of only focusing on the elbow has brought lacklustre results. As you can see now, the key, just like every health problem, is to address the actual underlying (CORE) problem and now just the symptoms.

When the elbow is rehabilitated properly but the nervous system continues to send that “PAIN” signal to the brain, a more comprehensive approach is needed.

Dr Alex

p.s. if you would like to review your case with me for FREE, schedule your 15-minute Complimentary Case Review HERE