New study shows cortisone shots for tennis elbow worsens the condition. Four things you can do now to get relief.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that people who received cortisone injections for tennis elbow fared far worse than those who received physical therapy for the condition. Read the article here.

While most of us who read this may only read the headlines on this, the big message in this is that physical therapy worked better. The problem is that they do not say what was done in physical therapy to get the result. Physical therapy is referred to as if it is a therapy, however, the results you get may vary because results are practitioner dependent, meaning some are better than others and some will use more effective procedures than others.

Most of us see tendinitis in the elbow (aka tennis elbow), as a problem that affects tennis players primarily from holding the racket improperly and using the arm improperly.

The truth is that this is just a small part of why people get elbow pain from playing tennis. Since form follows function, poor function in the rest of the body will cause us to use the elbow to compensate. Most people with elbow problems have problems in the lower body, their core, their shoulder and then lastly the elbow. Most health practitioners work on or evaluate the elbow and rarely look beyond this. This can be quite frustrating for someone with chronic elbow pain because having foot problems, pelvis problems and shoulder problems may not be noticed if these areas are not symptomatic.

To solve tennis elbow reliably, you need to do the following:

1. Find a practitioner who looks at you, not just your symptoms. At Charschan Chiropractic, we call this looking outside the box where all health care practitioners have been taught to look or in other words symptoms. Unfortunately, elbow pain is just the tip of the iceberg.

2. Find someone who performs myofascial release, active release techniques, Graston or another efficient soft tissue method. This is the most effective way to resolve adhesion’s that are creating the pain and the improper movement within the back, hip, shoulder and lastly the arm.

3. Find a practitioner who understands body mechanics and if you are an athlete, your sport. If your health care practitioner plays tennis and has a working knowledge of the sport, he is most likely to understand you better.

4. Wear at least an off the shelf foot orthotic (not Dr. Scholls) when you work and play. They will help level the pelvis and improve the way the body works and believe it or not, you will have more power in the symptomatic arm just from having them in your shoes. This is a very important concept that is widely misunderstood by most people. You can understand the concept better by reading Cheating Mother Nature, what you need to know to beat chronic pain available through Amazon.com