Your Elbow Is Talking. Are You Listening?

Whether you’re a young athlete throwing your hundredth pitch of the week or someone who has spent the last five years glued to a keyboard, elbow pain has a way of showing up uninvited and completely overstaying its welcome.

The frustrating part? Most people either push through it until it gets serious, or they rest completely and wonder why it keeps coming back. Neither approach actually fixes the problem.

The good news is that elbow pain is one of the most manageable conditions we see at Active Living Chiropractic. But to get ahead of it, you first have to understand what is actually going on.

Two Sides, Two Different Problems

Elbow pain generally falls into two camps depending on where it hurts.

Outer elbow pain is what most people know as “tennis elbow.” The tendons that control your wrist and fingers attach to the outside of your elbow, and when they get overloaded repeatedly without enough recovery time, they start to break down. Despite the name, you absolutely do not need to play tennis to develop this. It is extremely common in people who do repetitive forearm work, whether that is typing, using a mouse for hours on end, gripping tools, or really anything that asks your forearm to do the same motion over and over again.

A 2021 systematic review published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine found high-quality evidence that workers exposed to higher physical strain and sustained forearm rotation are significantly more likely to develop this condition. Your desk job is a legitimate risk factor, and your elbow has been quietly trying to tell you that for a while now.

Inner elbow pain is often called “golfer’s elbow,” though it shows up just as often in baseball players, gymnasts, rock climbers, and anyone whose sport involves a lot of gripping, throwing, or pulling. The tendons on this side control wrist flexion and forearm rotation, and they take a real beating in activities that involve repeated high-force movements.

Research published in Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy in 2024 found that elite tennis players experience significant mechanical stress on the inner elbow structures during the forehand stroke, particularly as the elbow transitions through extension before contact. Young athletes are especially vulnerable when training load, technique, or recovery are not properly managed.

The bottom line is that both conditions come from the same root issue: more stress going into the tissue than the tissue can handle at that time.

Things You Can Do Right Now at Home

You do not need to wait for an appointment to start making a difference. Here are a few things that genuinely help.

Do not stop moving completely.

Complete rest rarely fixes tendon problems. What tendons actually respond to is controlled, gradual loading. If gripping a full coffee mug hurts, start lighter and slowly build back up over days to weeks.

Stretch your forearm every single day.

For outer elbow pain, straighten your arm with your palm facing down and gently pull your wrist back toward you with your other hand until you feel a stretch along the top of your forearm. Hold for 30 seconds, a few times a day. For inner elbow pain, flip it: palm facing up, press the wrist gently downward. Simple, easy, and genuinely effective when done consistently.

Try slow, controlled wrist lowering exercises.

Using a light weight or resistance band, slowly lower your wrist from a raised position down toward the floor. Take about three to four seconds on the way down. Ten to fifteen repetitions, once or twice a day. It should feel like mild discomfort, not sharp pain. This kind of eccentric loading is one of the most well-supported approaches for tendon recovery.

Take a look at your workstation.

If desk work is your trigger, your mouse position, keyboard height, and elbow angle matter more than most people think. Your elbow should sit at roughly 90 degrees and your wrist should stay in a neutral position while you type. Small adjustments here can reduce a surprising amount of cumulative strain.

Ice after activity, not before.

If your elbow flares up after use, 10 to 15 minutes of ice can help settle it down. Avoid icing before activity since your tissues need warmth and blood flow to move well.

What We Do at the Clinic

Home care goes a long way, but the reason elbow pain keeps coming back for most people is that the actual root cause never gets addressed.

At our clinics in Beaverton and Hillsboro, we look beyond just the elbow. We assess how your wrist, shoulder, and thoracic spine are contributing to the load at your elbow. We look at grip mechanics, movement patterns, and posture to understand what is really driving the problem.

Treatment often includes hands-on soft tissue work and joint mobilization to restore movement and reduce tension. We also use cold laser therapy and therapeutic ultrasound to support tissue healing, especially in cases that have been lingering for a while.

Most importantly, we build you a plan that gives your tendons what they actually need to get stronger, not just temporarily less sore.

Let’s Figure It Out Together

Whether you are a young athlete heading into your season or someone whose elbow has been quietly nagging at you for months, you do not have to just live with it. Book your appointment at Active Living Chiropractic and let’s get to the bottom of what your elbow has been trying to tell you.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​