Tennis elbow treatment in Edmonton

Tennis elbow is a load-related problem of the wrist extensor tendons where they attach outside the joint, and gripping a kettle or door handle is the giveaway. Assessment at our Edmonton clinic tests strength and screens the neck, and imaging is rarely needed.

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What is tennis elbow?

Tennis elbow, or lateral elbow tendinopathy, is a load-related problem of the wrist extensor tendons where they attach to the outside of the elbow. Gripping is the giveaway: lifting a kettle, turning a door handle or shaking hands produces a sharp, well-localised pain over the bony point on the outside of the elbow. Most people who get it have never played tennis.

Tennis Elbow Assessment And Treatment At Vertex Physiotherapy

What brings it on

It is typically a change in load rather than a single injury: a renovation weekend, a new tool, a heavier workload, a return to the gym, or a job that involves repeated gripping and wrist extension.

It is most common between about 35 and 55. Once it is established, everyday gripping keeps re-loading the tendon, which is why it often drags on without a deliberate plan.

How it is assessed

Imaging is rarely needed for a typical presentation.

  • Where exactly the pain sits, and whether pressing that point reproduces it
  • Grip strength, and how much pain comes with it
  • Resisted wrist and finger extension
  • Elbow, wrist and shoulder range, and neck screening — referred pain from the neck can mimic it
  • What you are doing daily that keeps loading the tendon

What treatment usually involves

The first step is reducing the aggravating load without stopping using the arm: changing grip size, technique or tool, spreading heavy tasks out, and sometimes a counterforce brace for the working day.

The main work is progressive loading of the wrist extensors, usually beginning with isometric holds while the tendon is irritable and moving into heavier, slower resistance work as it settles. Grip and shoulder strength are usually built alongside it.

It is a slow condition. Many cases improve substantially over several months, and a program that is followed consistently through those months matters more than what happens in any single appointment.

Questions people ask

Many cases do improve over about a year without specific treatment, but that is a long time to grip painfully, and repeated aggravation can keep resetting the clock. The point of treatment is to manage the load and rebuild the tendon rather than wait it out.

Injections reduce pain in the short term, but studies following people out to six and twelve months have found worse outcomes than exercise-based care, including higher recurrence. It is worth discussing carefully with your physician rather than treating as the default.

A counterforce brace helps some people get through a working day with less pain. It is a way of reducing load while the rehabilitation runs, not a treatment on its own.

Pain on the inside is golfer’s elbow, which involves the wrist flexor tendons instead. The principles are similar but the loading is different, so it is worth being assessed rather than assuming.

A counterforce strap can reduce pain during gripping tasks and is worth using for that. It does not change the tendon, though. Recovery comes from progressively loading the wrist extensors over several weeks, with the strap as a supporting tool.

Typically three to six months with a consistent loading program, and it often gets a little worse before it turns. Most people are back to normal use well before the tendon is fully remodelled, so the plan is built around your work and activities, not around a calendar.

No, but small changes matter: a lighter mouse grip, forearm supported, and short breaks with a specific stretch. The physiotherapist looks at how you actually sit and type, then adjusts the two or three things that are driving the load.

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Vertex Physiotherapy is at 6958 76 Ave NW #205, Edmonton, AB T6B 2R2. Call (825) 525-2852 or book online.

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Written by Vertex Physiotherapy · Reviewed by Bipin Pokhrel, Provisional Physiotherapist · Last updated September 2026