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Reduce Pain
Manual therapy to the forearm and elbow, temporary activity changes, a counterforce strap where it helps, and laser therapy to settle the tendon.
Conditions We Treat
Tennis Elbow Treatment in Onondaga County
Getting Started
Tennis Elbow Treatment That Rebuilds the Tendon
Most people with tennis elbow have never picked up a racquet. Gripping tools, typing, lifting a coffee pot or a toddler, and a hundred small repetitive tasks can overload the tendon on the outside of the elbow until every grip stings. At AR Physical Therapy we treat tennis elbow with a proven loading program, hands-on care and deep tissue laser therapy.
Tennis elbow is a tendon overload problem, and it resolves with the right progression of load. We reduce pain so you can start that progression, then build the tendon back stronger than before.
Left alone, tennis elbow often lingers for a year or more. Treated properly, most cases resolve in a few months.
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How We Treat Tennis Elbow
Understanding Tennis Elbow
A tendon problem
with a misleading name.
with a misleading name.
Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is pain where the wrist extensor muscles attach to the bony bump on the outside of the elbow. Despite the name, it is rarely inflamed. The tendon has been overloaded beyond its capacity to recover, and its structure has changed in response; the accurate term is lateral elbow tendinopathy.
It shows up in people who grip and lift repeatedly: tradespeople, cooks, gardeners, weightlifters, keyboard workers, parents of small children and, yes, racquet sport players. It is most common between 35 and 55.
Outside of Elbow
Pain and tenderness at the bony bump, worse with gripping and lifting palm-down
Weak Grip
A grip that feels weaker than it should, shaking hands or turning a doorknob
Lingers Untreated
Often a year or more on its own; a few months with a proper loading program
What We See
Who gets
tennis elbow.
tennis elbow.
See a physical therapist when elbow pain has lasted more than a few weeks or is changing how you work or train.
Tradespeople & mechanics
Keyboard & mouse workers
Weightlifters & climbers
Racquet sport players
Cooks & gardeners
Parents lifting toddlers
Musicians
Repetitive gripping at work
How We Treat It
Reduce pain,
rebuild the tendon.
rebuild the tendon.
The program that fixes tennis elbow is simple to describe and hard to do without support. We supply the support.
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Load the Tendon
Progressive wrist extensor strengthening with an emphasis on slow eccentric work, which has the strongest evidence for restoring tendon structure and grip strength.
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Check the Whole Chain
Neck, shoulder and wrist mobility and strength, because a stiff shoulder or neck often sends extra load to the elbow.
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Retrain the Task
Grip technique, tool and keyboard setup, and lifting mechanics so the problem does not return when you go back to work.
Why Choose Us
Grip, Lift and Swing Without the Sting
Deep Tissue Laser Therapy
An ideal target
for laser.
for laser.
The extensor tendon at the elbow is close to the surface, which makes it an ideal target for laser. The LightForce Class IV laser is applied with a small contact head directly over the tendon attachment, increasing local circulation and reducing pain in a tissue that heals slowly on its own. We often add a short application at the neck, where the nerves supplying the elbow originate, to reinforce the pain-relieving effect.
Lateral elbow tendinopathy is one of the better-studied conditions for laser therapy. A 2021 review of 17 randomized trials across tendinopathies found that laser combined with exercise reduced pain and improved function more than exercise alone, with the effect depending on laser being paired with a loading program.
Laser lowers the pain that keeps you from doing the eccentric work, and the eccentric work is what rebuilds the tendon.
Recovery
What progress
looks like.
looks like.
Most patients feel a noticeable drop in pain within two to four weeks of starting loading and laser, with grip strength returning over six to twelve weeks. Long-standing cases take longer.
Daily Eccentrics
The slow lowering work is the treatment. A few minutes a day, every day.
Palm Up When You Can
Lift with your palm up where possible and take short breaks from sustained gripping.
Keep Using the Arm
Normal tasks within a tolerable level of discomfort keep the tendon adapting rather than weakening.
Why AR Physical Therapy
Elbow care that
outlasts the injection.
outlasts the injection.
Short-term fixes wear off. A tendon that has been rebuilt does not.
- Evaluation and treatment led by a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist
- Loading program with the strongest evidence for tendon recovery
- Class IV laser therapy over the tendon and its nerve supply
- Work and sport setup corrected so the problem stays gone
LightForceClass IV laser
DorsaVi3D motion capture
KeiserPneumatic resistance
KinventForce plate analysis
Questions
Common questions.
Should I wear a brace?
A counterforce strap can reduce pain during work or sport while the tendon recovers. The strap supports the tendon while the loading program does the rebuilding, and we will show you how to use it.
Will a cortisone injection fix it?
Injections often reduce pain in the short term but have been linked to worse outcomes at a year compared with physical therapy. That is a conversation for you and your physician; our job is to restore the tendon.
How long does a laser session take for the elbow?
A few minutes, delivered within your regular PT visit.
Can I keep working?
In most cases yes, with adjustments to grip, tools and lifting that we set up together.
Get Started
Get your
grip back.
grip back.
Book an evaluation and start the program that actually rebuilds the tendon.