Elbow hurts

Pain in the elbow should be considered separately from pain in other joints for two reasons:

• 90% of people who have a "tennis elbow", have never been on a tennis court;
• Bone pain anywhere - the spine, thigh, legs, elbow - is not always associated with normal causes and should be carefully considered.

No matter how you call this symptom - tennis, baseball or the symptom of a "catching taxi" - this is tendonitis, an inflammation of the tendons near the elbow joint. (The same can happen with the knee joint - a defeat that was formerly called the "maid's knee.") It comes from any long-term movements, on a tennis or baseball court or when working.

However, you have the same symptoms for any of the following reasons:

• Tension , stretching or misuse of nearby muscles, tendons, or connective tissue;
• Arthritis, be it osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis;
• Acute rheumatic attack in children;
• An infection, such as tuberculosis or gonorrhea.

You can recognize these cases, not related to bursitis, because with them the elbow joint is hot, sensitive, swollen and sore, while at the "tennis elbow" this is not observed.

Here is an example of why you should never take lightly of any chronic pain in the joint. A 52-year-old healthy man who liked to play tennis had pains in his right elbow. In all other respects, he felt fine. He consulted with the orthopedist, who assigned him local injections in the "tennis elbow" and advised him to give his arm rest. The discomfort has become even greater. A few weeks later, an X-ray was taken and a tumor was detected, metastasizing it from other parts of the body to the elbow. As it turned out, the source was a malignant lung tumor, too small to cause pulmonary symptoms (such as coughing) or to be detected by chest x-ray. Despite the most vigorous antitumour treatment, the cancer spread to the brain, liver, bones, and the patient died a few weeks later. Which lesson? If you have unexplained pain in any joint or bone and the symptoms do not go away in a short time, do an x-ray examination.

Symptom: it hurts the elbow