Vitality News Health Articles

Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is infamous for seriously debilitating the forelimb movement of millions of people. It has also been the reason why many athletes had to cut their athletic career short, some of which had just peaked in their career. The term is a misnomer though, as less than five per cent of the people diagnosed with this ailment were professional tennis players.

The easiest way to relieve tennis elbow is complete rest to the arm and the elbow. Easy it may sound but that is extremely difficult preposition for manual workers, sportsmen etc. Lots of therapeutic research has been performed by doctors the world over searching credible therapies to relieve the pain and restore the mobility in people suffering from this condition. Many alternative therapies have also been researched. On such alternative therapy for elbow pain is acupuncture.

In acupuncture it is believed that tennis elbow is caused by liver imbalances. This is a different understanding of the condition as taught to sports physiologists. The sports physiologists thought tennis elbow was caused by overexertion, resulting in shearing of tendons attaching muscles to the bone at the elbow joint.

According to accupuncturists, dehydration of the tendons can be cause by a Chi embalance in the liver, or an embalance of the fundamental life force. This may cause tennis elbow when paired with over-exertion. Acupuncture is a natural treatment for tennis elbow which relieves pain in addition to removing the imbalance in Chi which causes the condition, therefor preventing the likelihood of recurrence.

An acupuncture practitioner will perform diagnosis of the symptom and the underlying balance to being an acupuncture treatment. Acupuncturists use palpation, questioning, physical examination, auscultation and olfaction for arriving at a diagnosis. As per his or her diagnosis, he will then insert thin, rounded metallic needles at various “ashi”, or pain gates of the relevant channel to remove the imbalance by allowing free flow of “Chi”, the life energy.

Numerous research projects have been conducted to prove that the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating pain, especially conditions such as tennis elbow. There are millions of people who have successfully got rid of this painful condition using this traditional Chinese therapy.

Tennis elbow debilitates forelimb movement and has affected millions of people. Complete rest relieves this condition, but it is difficult for manual workers and sportspeople to rest for long. That’s why there is a world-wide search for natural treatment for tennis elbow. One promising alternative therapy for elbow pain is acupuncture. According to practitioners, an imbalance in the life force, Chi or Qi, as well as overexertion, leads to pain in the elbow. By inserting needles in specific points, a therapist will facilitate the free flow of Chi and relieve the condition. Numerous scientific surveys have demonstrated the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of pain and case histories have shown it has brought relief to millions of people.

- Keith Ferris