Wondering what is causing the chronic pain and difficulty with mobility in your arm? You might be surprised to learn that your trouble is likely caused by an elbow injury.

The elbow is a complex mechanism comprised of cartilage, muscle, bones, tendons, and ligaments (overwhelming, we know). If you’ve suffered an injury to any of these mechanisms, the entire mobility in your arm will be affected.

Whether you know what injury you are suffering from or need help diagnosing your elbow condition, we’d encourage you to get in touch with an orthopedic specialist to learn about how you can treat your condition.

Elbow Conditions That Affect Renton Residents

Here are some of the most common elbow conditions that plague Renton residents.

Arthritis

While arthritis does have the ability to affect any joint in the body, its effects on the elbow can impact your entire arm. 

There are two kinds of arthritis that your elbow can suffer from, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Let’s break these both of these down and how they will affect you.

• Rheumatoid arthritis in the elbow: this happens when your immune system mistakenly begins attacking elbow tissue and results in painful swelling in the elbow joint.
• Osteoarthritis: a more gradually onsetting form of arthritis, this happens when your elbow cartilage breaks down — causing your bones to grind against each other.

Sports-Related Injuries

Athletes such as baseball or tennis players put themselves at risk of suffering a strain injury (from repeating actions over and over like pitching or hitting) while active sportsmen and women are at a high risk of receiving a trauma injury (due to collisions on the playing field).

Sports like baseball often are the cause of inner elbow injuries like stress fractures, flexor tendinitis, UCL injuries, and ulnar neuritis.

Distal Bicep Tendon Tear or Rupture

This injury occurs if an individual attempts to lift something that is too heavy or they straighten their elbow suddenly while flexing. 

A distal bicep tendon tear is where the main tendon that runs through your elbow is torn or ruptures. This is a painful injury and affects the mobility in your entire arm.

Elbow Fractures 

As mentioned above, there are multiple kinds of fractures that your elbow might suffer from. One is a stress fracture that happens gradually over time due to repetitive movements and the other is a trauma fracture that occurs when there is sudden force or impact.

Both kinds of fractures require care from an orthopedic specialist in order to recover from.

Tendinitis 

An overuse injury that can affect the inside or outside of your elbow, tendonitis is a painful condition that requires lots of care. 

The two types of tendinitis that people suffer from are tennis elbow and golfers elbow — and despite their names, these injuries can affect people that don’t partake in either sport.

• Tennis elbow: this injury affects tendons on the outside of the elbow
• Golfers elbow: an injury that affects tendons on the inner elbow

Growth-Plate Injuries

Growth-plate injuries among children and adolescents can lead to skeletal growth problems in the future — which are exactly as scary as they sound. 

Growth-plates are responsible for bone growth and damage to one of these plates will result in a host of complications if left untreated.

Ulnar Collateral Ligament 

A UCL injury is another type of repetitive stress injury common among athletes or others who work in industries that require them to make repetitive motions (chefs, line assembly workers, and typists are common sufferers of UCL injuries).

Ulnar Nerve Entrapment

Also known as cubital tunnel syndrome, this is a painful condition where the ulnar nerve (the dominant nerve that runs from your neck to your fingers) is compressed, irritated, or pinched somewhere along its route. 

This condition causes pain and stiffness and needs to be treated by orthopedic specialists.

Renton Treatment Options For Elbow Conditions

Thanks to Renton orthopedic doctors, there are a host of treatment options available for patients who suffer from elbow injuries. 

Here at OPA Ortho, we offer treatment options such as:

• Fracture Care
• Arthroscopic Surgery
• Injections
• Non-Surgical Treatments
• Ulnar Nerve Release or Transposition
• Loose body removal 

Schedule an Appointment With Renton Orthopedic Care Specialists

Here at OPA Ortho, we are passionate about helping Renton residents who suffer from elbow conditions find treatment and release from their pain. 

Whether you have an exact diagnosis or you need help finding out what condition you are suffering from, our team of orthopedic specialists is ready to help.

Give our Renton clinic a call today to schedule your first appointment with our orthopedic doctors.

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