Our Hand & Upper Limb Clinic in Ringwood East has been newly refurbished and renovated. The clinic is located at 176 Mt. Dandenong Road and open for appointments every week from Monday to Thursday.
Dane Johnson, Kate Rayner and Melanie Thomas recently attended the 2021 Australian Hand Therapy Association Conference. The hybrid conference ran between 26th – 29th of August in Perth, WA and through online channels due to state border restrictions. The diverse sessions included topics on flexor tendon injuries, orthoses and oedema management. Our therapists were eager to take home current ideas and research for clinical intervention and are ready to apply it to their practice.
Melbourne Hand Therapy would like to say a very big warm welcome to our new receptionist Sharyn who has recently joined our team. Sharyn will be working at our Bundoora (La Trobe) Clinic.
Lateral epicondylitis is the most common cause of elbow pain, mainly resulting from repetitive gripping or wrist extension during activities. It is basically a result of degeneration of the local tendon at the elbow. The extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) is the most frequently affected muscle.
In most cases, it is not necessary to have any other investigation other than a physical examination. Together with thorough history taking, some specific tests that Hand Therapists use include: Cozen’s test and the Mill’s test.
Tennis elbow is often stubborn to treat, but generally always gets better. Non-operative treatment is the priority and mainstay for most patients. The most important point is to respect pain and have a temporary break from the activity that is causing the most aggravation.
Hand therapy involves stretching and strengthening the forearm muscles, which are an important part of recovery. Specifically eccentric exercises are advised which involve stretching the musculotendinous unit with an applied load.
Counterforce braces are used to reduce the pain by pressing on the forearm extensor muscles and then inhibiting and spreading out the load on the ECRB tendon, therefore facilitating self-repair.
In the most severe cases Hand Therapists may fabricate a wrist brace to be worn during activities to limit wrist extension and thus the limiting the activity of the ECRB tendon, to give it time to heal. Our therapists can help if you are experiencing elbow pain.