Experiences with surgery for Tennis Elbow?

In My Humble Opinion
1

<Not looking for medical advice…just other people’s experiences.>

I have tennis elbow. I apparently acquired this by hitting a bucket of golf balls at the driving range over a year ago. A few days after that, my elbow was very sore; it hurt to grip some things, lift some things, etc. I saw my hand/arm specialist, who diagnosed me.

When it didn’t get better on it’s own he gave me a cortisone injection. It was magical. After a few days, I was pain free. He warned me that it might be a short term solution, and that if the pain continued, I might be a candidate for surgery.

Things were good for a few months…until I went back to the driving range. Pain returned. I tried to ignore it, pretending it was getting better. One day I was out with some fiends, and ran into someone I hadn’t seen for a bit. He gave me a vigorous handshake, and I recoiled in pain. :frowning:

Second trip to the ortho, second cortisone shot. Good, but not magical. I asked my ortho if I was just delaying the inevitable by not doing surgery. He said I probably was, but didn’t push me.

I went for a second opinion - this time seeing an ortho who is the team physician for our local major league baseball team, specializing in elbows. He agreed with the diagnosis, says he doesn’t believe physical therapy would benefit me, and advised that if the pain continued, the same surgery my other doctor suggested would be appropriate. He ordered an MRI, which showed tearing in the tendon, as suspected.

My elbow is slowly getting worse. I wear a brace, but it isn’t great. I’m not ready to pull the trigger, but I’m getting closer. I’ve been resisting the urge to do things that might make it worse, but I’d prefer not to have to be careful about activities.

The surgery is basically lifting the tendon off the bone…snip off the damaged part of the tendon. Smooth out the bone. Reattach the tendon.

Recovery is roughly a week in an elbow to hand cast, followed by months of gradually lessening restrictions. I spent three months in a walking boot last year, and really don’t want to go through another period of disability. But if it’s going to give me a better long term prognosis, I’ll deal with it.

Has anyone had experience with this sort of procedure?

2

Not really the same, but as I’ve mentioned about months odd ago I came off a ladder and smashed my upper arm, the next day I had a 3-hr operation wherein they additionally broke the elbow to reset it with lots of metal.

The operation caused aching rather than the previous pain, which was no doubt suppressed by morphine — I would say the amount of injections of various drugs in hospital was more distressing than the surgery itself; after that I relied on paracetamol and still do, although cutting down slowly. There were 3 2-week thermoplastic casts that were overly rigid, and obviously the arm had to be kept high as much as possible. Just as obviously unavoidable knocks and keeping it in different positions while doing normal stuff was not good.

My main worry was getting back on the computer — it took two weeks before I could properly use the mouse as was urgent, and there was a/ stiffness and pain in the hand due to something a physiotherapist called ‘exudate’ ? this kept hand use down to 10 minute intervals, and b/ I personally found my lower arm exquisitely sensitive to roughness, say from blankets etc. once the third cast was gone, so found it needed something silk-like to rest upon.
The third cast was itself something of a nuisance, tighter and itching, and my private theory was that not only was it wrapped too tight causing pressure but that I was sensitive to the gypsum plaster ( I’ve noticed that wet cement can cause problems if builders etc. handle it ). So I wouldn’t worry about the surgery, but check how many drugs you’ll get and see if you are sensitive to any or to the cast’s ingredients beforehand.
Good luck.

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I had tennis elbow from gardening. After a year and a half of trying not to use it, it’s all better. I hear that’s pretty common.