Elbow Injury From Sports?
Elbow injuries often occur in young athletes as well as active adults. The injuries include traumatic injuries such as distal biceps tendon ruptures to overuse injuries, such as UCL (Tommy John) injuries and lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow).
More Resources to Get Better
Serious elbow injuries in athletes and active people
If you hurt your elbow, your ability to use your arm in sports or exercise will be limited. In this article, I discuss some of the more common acute, traumatic injuries that you can suffer.
Common elbow injuries suffered by young baseball pitchers
Elbow injuries are particularly common in youth baseball, especially for the pitchers. This article discusses some of the common elbow injuries in youth pitching.
Reasons an MRI can be important to evaluate an injury
Magnetic resonance imaging offers doctors amazing ability to diagnose a wide variety of injuries. Although you don’t need an MRI for every injury, they can help doctors and orthopedic surgeons make the diagnosis.
The Serious Injury Checklist
Do you know the one question you should ask yourself to know if you should see a doctor?
The Sports and Exercise Injury Primer
This series explains the top 20 injuries suffered by athletes and active people.
Ask Dr. Geier: Elbow and Forearm Injuries
How to get rid of pain, anxiety and frustration from your elbow injury.
Books
That’s Gotta Hurt
The Injuries That Changed Sports Forever
Through the stories of a dozen athletes whose injuries and recovery advanced the field (including Joan Benoit, Michael Jordan, Brandi Chastain, and Tommy John), Dr. Geier explains how sports medicine makes sports safer for the pros, amateurs, student-athletes, and weekend warriors alike.
Get the BookFrequently Asked Questions on Elbow Injuries
- Could I have a serious injury?
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-Could I have a serious injury?
Whether you suffer a traumatic injury in sports or exercise or your pain developed over a period of time, there are several signs and symptoms that could suggest your elbow pain could represent a serious injury. These include difficulty lifting the arm or bending your elbow, a clicking or popping sensation deep in the elbow, and pain in the elbow using the arm. Also you might have an obvious deformity around the elbow. - What are the common injuries?
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-What are the common injuries?
Some of the common traumatic injuries of the elbow include distal biceps tendon ruptures, triceps tendon ruptures, and elbow dislocations. The common overuse elbow injuries include lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), medial epicondylitis (golfer’s elbow) and issues with the ulnar nerve, including ulnar neuritis and ulnar nerve subluxation. - Should I go to a doctor or ER?
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-Should I go to a doctor or ER?
Most orthopedic injuries, especially those that occur in sports and exercise, that require urgent treatment in an emergency room result from a traumatic event. These are some of the signs and symptoms that suggest you might go to an emergency department for your injury: the bone is crooked or out of place, the injured area is very swollen, or the bone is poking through the skin. You might also have bleeding that won’t stop, have signs of a nerve injury, or your pain is unbearable. If you cannot do what you want to do as well as you want to do it, it can always be a good idea to see your doctor or an orthopedic surgeon. - Do I need x-rays or an MRI?
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-Do I need x-rays or an MRI?
X-rays only show bones, while MRIs show soft-tissue structures like muscles, tendons and ligaments. Many people – and some doctors – believe that an elbow injury is automatically a ligament or tendon injury, which wouldn’t show up on an x-ray. X-rays can be important, though, to demonstrate arthritis, fractures and other causes of elbow pain.