Acupuncture can prove an effective treatment for lateral epicondylitis, or tennis elbow. As an alternative to other medical treatments, acupuncture for tennis elbow can allow a patient to avoid a large number of steroid injections or surgery to repair the muscles or tendons of the wrist and forearm. Using acupuncture as a treatment promotes the flow of blood through the injured area and the natural healing of the human body.
Tennis elbow is a medical condition causing pain in the elbow joint and forearm because of overuse and over-rotation of the wrist and forearm of the human body. Non-sports related tennis elbow is commonly found in people between 35 and 50 years of age. Both men and women are affected by tennis elbow in equal numbers. The condition is often found in athletes, particularly tennis players as the rotation of the wrist and forearm is a common movement in the sport.
Acupuncture for tennis elbow can provide benefits by promoting natural healing within the injured area of the arm. Tendons and muscles in the area damaged by tennis elbow restrict the flow of blood to other muscles within the arm. While needles inserted into the skin is the most common usage in acupuncture, heat or electrical stimulation on the energy channels within the body or running over the skin of the body can also increase the blood flowing through the vessels of the arm.
Treatments include the soothing of the damaged tendons and muscles causing pain and soreness in the elbow. Acupuncture pressure points are activated throughout the upper arm and forearm that are known to cause pain in the elbow region of the arm. A patient is classed as having benefited from the acupuncture for tennis elbow treatment when he or she reports a reduction or the elimination of pain in the arm. Patients treated with acupuncture are commonly able to return to the job that they held before tennis elbow forced them to rest the affected limb. Occupations with high rates of tennis elbow include those requiring heavy lifting and carrying, such as carpentry.
Success rates of using acupuncture for tennis elbow stand at around 90 percent following the completion of a course of treatment. Using heat or electrical stimulation is effective in treating tennis elbow because of the positive response of the blood vessels within the arm to warmth, with cold commonly causing the condition to worsen. Failure rates in the use of acupuncture for tennis elbow are low, with very few patients requiring a second course of treatment to maintain the benefits obtained by treatment.