Tennis elbow
What is it?
Tennis elbow is a painful condition that occurs when tendons in your elbow are overloaded, usually by repetitive motion, such as doing a backhand while playing tennis.
What are the symptoms?
The pain associated with tennis elbow may radiate from the outside of your elbow into your forearm and wrist. You may find it difficult to grip, turn or hold things.
What causes it?
The cause is repeated contraction of the forearm muscles that you use to straighten and raise your hands and wrists. The repeated motion and stress causes tiny tears in the tendons that attach the forearm muscles to the bony prominence at the outside of your elbow.
Many other arm motions can cause tennis elbow, not just playing tennis as the name suggests. These include using plumbing tools, painting, cutting up and cooking ingredients – particularly meat – and repetitive use of a computer mouse.
When to see a doctor
Talk to your doctor if self-care steps such as rest, ice and use of overthe-counter pain relievers don’t ease your elbow pain and tenderness.
What’s the treatment?
Tennis elbow often gets better on its own. If not, a physio can teach you exercises to gradually stretch and strengthen your muscles, especially the one in your forearm.
In severe cases of tennis elbow your doctor may suggest one or more of the following...
■ Injections Platelet-rich plasma or Botox inserted into the tendon.
■ Ultrasonic tenotomy Your surgeon inserts a special vibrating needle into the damaged part of the tendon. The damaged tissue liquifies and can be sucked out.
■ Surgery If your symptoms haven’t improved after six to 12 months, surgery may be considered as a last resort. Rehabilitation exercises are crucial to recovery.
Lupus isn’t that common but when it strikes it can be very serious, even life-threatening. The story of the singer and actress Selena Gomez is a case in point.
All lupus sufferers will be grateful to her because she’s increased awareness of this often neglected condition.
Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE), is a disease that causes collagen inflammation. As collagen provides the scaffolding for all our organs it can show up anywhere.
Lupus affects the skin, mainly the face, but it has much deeper implications. It can affect major organs including the kidneys, and in 2017 Gomez announced she’d had a kidney transplant because of it.
Courageously telling her story has highlighted the condition and how it can affect lives, and even shorten them.
It affects around 1 in 1,000 people in the UK and is six times more common in women than men, typically developing between the ages of 20 and 50. It’s an autoimmune disorder, which means that the body’s immune system turns on itself and starts to attack and destroy healthy cells in the body.
Lupus symptoms vary hugely
SURGERY
has revealed she suffers between sufferers because different organs can be affected in different people, ranging from mild and intermittent to severe and lifethreatening. Many feel fatigue, experience weight loss and a mildly raised temperature, while the condition tends to fluctuate between attacks though we don’t know why. Symptoms are so variable it can be painfully slow to get a diagnosis if it’s not referred to a dermatologist.
Sensitivity to sunlight is a common complaint of sufferers as is the bright red rash over the cheeks and nose known as the “butterfly rash”. Joint pains resembling rheumatoid arthritis that “flit” from joint to joint are common and are worse first thing in the morning.
If lupus progresses there may be damage to the heart, kidneys, lungs or brain. No wonder depression and anxiety are common too.
For lupus sufferers, the immune system forms a specific antibody which can be picked up through blood tests. Currently there’s no cure but it can be controlled with medication and most people lead active, normal lives. Treatment includes nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, steroids and immunosuppressants.
Quite often lupus “burns itself out” and attacks become less frequent and less severe. The good news is most severe problems develop in the first 10 years and if they haven’t by then they rarely do after that.
It affects around 1 in 1,000 people here and is more common in women