Author: Lauren Stewart

Lateral epicondylitis or lateral epicondylalgia, or commonly known as Tennis Elbow is a condition where the outer part of the elbow becomes tender and sore, which can also lead into irritation, swelling, inflammation, lack of hand coordination, weak grip, as well as pain at these locations.

People who are in the age group of 35 to 65 years are generally affected with tennis elbow. These people usually feels the pain on the outside of the elbow. Yet, as the name "tennis elbow" suggest, it is not usually affected only to tennis players. In fact, in the United States itself 95% of reported cases of tennis elbow are not reported by tennis players. If we happen to have a better understanding of people who are more vulnerable to tennis elbow than we will be able to perform faster diagnosis. However, most people affected with such symptoms tends to ignore it. If proper treatment is not taken than chances are that these people may suffer from a chronic problem in the later part of their life.

People that are most vulnerable to tennis elbow are based on the type of occupation and sports that they are engaged in. They can be divided into two major group, (1) Athletes and (2) People engaged in Manual Labor.

Athletes

The reason why it is called tennis elbow is because primarily it was the tennis players who first reported with such pain. However, this doesn't mean at all that only tennis players are susceptible to affected with it, people who are engaged in other racquet sports such as badminton are equally to be affected with tennis elbow. Besides, athletes involved in other sports activities such as golfers, and those who compete in more weight oriented sports such as the shot put and the discuss throw are also most likely to get affected with tennis elbow. Overall, athletes that are vulnerable to wear and tear of the elbow, and forearm, or for those who require extensive wrist movement are susceptible to tennis elbow.

People Engaged in Manual Labor

Apart from the sports, tennis elbow also highly depends on the type of activity the person is engaged in. People who are engaged in manual labors which involves lifting of heavy weights, or requires more than a normal stress on arm, elbow and wrists, are also more likely vulnerable to tennis elbow. These people includes laborers, carpenters, plumbers, etc. In addition to this, tasks that involve long duration of elbow and wrist movements such as painting can also lead to tennis elbow.

Apart from the people who are engaged into manual labor and athletes, there are also other people such as who visits gym regularly, heavy weight lifters, etc. are also under the high risk category to be affected with tennis elbow.