Tennis Elbow - The injury that even non-atheletes suffer from

I believe people who play tennis as a competitive or recreational sport will suffer from tennis-related injuries such as tennis elbow, wrist strains, ankle sprains etc.

We won't be touching on all the injuries today but will only touch on the first injury mention which is the tennis elbow.

Tennis Elbow, also known as Lateral Epicondylitis is a condition where the elbow region (outermost part of the elbow closer to the forearm) is painful or having soreness due to the inflammation of the tendons. This is due to the overuse or repeated use of the arm and forearm muscles leading to the occurence of the injury. This injury can happen to anyone but more commonly seen in people who engage in tennis or other racquet sports. Most of the time, it occurs on the dominant hand (frequent use) but can also occur in the non-dominant arm or even on both arms.

Causes for Tennis Elbow:

• Repetitive use or overuse of the wrist in activities (eg painting, typing etc)
• Using a poor technique when playing tennis or other racquet sports (such as a poor backhand)
• Using a improper equipment

Symptoms for Tennis Elbow:

• Pain felt around the outer area of the elbow
• Weakness experience by the forearm
• Increasing pain felt when movements done involving the wrist such as lifting, using of utensils etc.

   

Treatment for Tennis Elbow:

• Take a break and avoid activities that cause pain to be felt on the elbow
• Ice the elbow region where the pain occurs, this will reduce swelling too
• Wear a support (such as elbow guard) below the elbow to allow the tendon to heal or during training/strengthening

How to prevent Tennis Elbow:

• Adopt a proper technique while doing sports
• Strengthen the muscles around the elbow (such as forearm, upper arm etc) through push-ups, pull-ups 
• Stretching should be done to warm up the muscles before engaging in the activities
• Reduce in the amount of time spend on the activity and have longer rest time

Tennis elbow is painful and can lead to life-time damage to the arms if not treated. If the symptoms persist for long period of time, do seek help from your personal health provider, medications will be given to improve on the condition. This condition takes time to recover, prevention is always better than cure. Support Safe Sports!

Athlete's Foot - The Itch, The Pain, The Embarrassment

Do you ever wear closed-shoes for long period of time? 

Do you often keep your feet wet for a prolonged period of time? 

Do you seldom get any minor cuts or nail injuries on ur feet? 

Do you tend to sweat a lot? 

If your answer is yes for any of the above question, please continue reading, it won't take up much of your time for you to understand the high risk of you developing Athlete's Foot (a.k.a. Hong Kong's Foot) --- Tinea pedis, the fungus infection. Tinea is the same fungus that causes ringworms in human. 

Athlete's Foot
Picture Source: click here

Athlete's Foot, as the name implies, is oftenly found among athletes. The reasons are because of the long training hours of athletes, and the long hours of feet being trapped inside the sport-shoes or covered shoes which are often stuffy and humid. 

Athelete's Foot is caused by tinea fungal infection (most commonly) whereby the fungus grows on the skin in feet, especially in between toes. There are also cases where the same fungus grows on palms and between the fingers. The fungus strives in moist and warm areas, the condition is highly contagious as it can be passed from person to person simply by sharing of personal items such as towels, footwear etc. 

Symptoms 

Some common symptoms of Athlete's foot: 

• Scaling and flaking of the infected skin, not to be confused with psoriasis (skin disease).
• Redness and burning sensation on the affected skin. 
• Blisters and cracked skin, for more severe cases pus may be seen.  
• Swelling and inflammation.  

Onychomycosis
Tinea fungus spread to nails.

The infection can be spread to other parts of the body. An example is when the infections spread to the nails, resulting in the nails  becoming thickened, discolored and crumpled. 


The symptoms produce a lot of discomforts and pain, especially during training.  

Treatment and Prevention 

Anti-fungal creams can be used to control the infection. Application of the cream persistently for 1-2 weeks until the infection has completely cleared help to prevent recurrence of the infection. Some topical creams can be used to reduce itchiness on the affected areas, and thus prevent scratching and speed up recovery rate. Self-care and prevention are also important to eliminate the infection completely. 

These are some things you can do: 

• Wear clean cotton socks and shoes, keep a few pairs of clean socks with you to change them out if your feet sweat a lot. It is important to keep your feet dry. 
• Wash your feet thoroughly with soap, preferably anti-bacteria soap, and dry your feet completely. Do this twice a day and especially after training. 
• Use powder to keep your feet dry, especially in between the  toes. 
• Avoid going to common bathrooms and swimming pools if you have been infected. If you really have to go, do wear a pair of slippers. 
• Avoid sharing of towels, shoes, slippers etc with other people. 

By ensuring good personal hygiene and keeping the infected areas clean and dry at all time, the fungus will not be able to strive. 

However, if the symptoms persist after the above actions, do visit your health care provider. You might require a stronger anti-fungal medications to get rid of the stubborn fungus growing on your skin. Athlete's foot may last for a short period of time or longer depending on the severity of the infection. Often, the condition will recur even after recovery. The symptoms produce a lot of discomfort and pain, especially during training. Therefore, long term preventive measures will be required to prevent infection as well as reduce the risk of recurrence of the infection.