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3d rendering of person highlighting severe elbow pain

Elbow Pain Causes and Treatment Options

Our primary goal is to address your hopes, wants, desires, and fears surrounding your pain by utilizing an advanced pain categorization system.

Our Chiropractic Treatment Approach Toward Elbow Pain

At ICT Muscle & Joint Clinic, our emphasis is on classifying pain through an intricate science-based, pain categorization system and then directing to the appropriate healthcare provider. If your elbow pain is within a category of our skillset, we start addressing the concern as soon as possible. To better help you understand your at-home exercises, we have created Video Programs. This allows you to take your health back into your own hands, being mobile with your rehab and recovery.

We work hard to educate you as a customer in understanding your pain to allow you to make the most informed decisions possible for yourself. Knowledge is power, and self-empowerment is our game.

Common Associated Costs for Elbow Care in the United States

10000 +
Ranges up to $16,000
1500 +
Ranges up to $3,000+

*It is important to note, many individuals must undergo rehabilitation services after a surgery. There is added time and expenses not calculated within cost of a surgery.

Our In-person, Telehealth, and Video Programs are designed to directly target the problem at hand with the appropriate intervention led by our pain auditing system. This can drastically decrease duration of your elbow recovery while eliminating the potential for undergoing expensive, time-consuming, invasive interventions.

Dig Deeper

Click on any item below to learn more about knee pain.

Common Elbow Centric Diagnoses for Which We Screen

These are a few common diagnoses we screen and treat for regarding elbow symptoms. This list is not exhaustive as many symptoms and concerns do not have great diagnoses.

  1. Lateral Epicondylitis
  2. Medial Epicondylitis
  3. Bicep Tendonitis
  4. Olecranon Bursitis
  5. Myalgia
  6. Myofascial Trigger Points
  7. Sprain/Strain
  8. Osteochondritis Dissecans
  9. Cervical Radiculopathy

What Causes Elbow Pain?

What causes pain and what is the source of pain are two different matters. However, these two matters, conceptually, become jumbled up into one. We should always separate these two as they are profoundly different. Causes can be infinite. The way you think, feel, move, or rest may cause the pain. Therefore “causes of pain” may be infinite. However, the source of pain may be local to the place of pain, irritating local pain fibers, or much further away, resulting in the need for further investigation and categorization of the pain if long-lasting results, or results at all, are the desired outcome.

The Mechanical (Movement Pillar) Dynamics of the Elbow

The elbow joint is considered a hinge joint and is made of three bones – humerus, radius, ulna. Surrounding all joints there must be a balance between tension and compression of the ligaments, muscles, tendons, and fascia to maintain optimal movement health.

Mechanical elbow pain is often the consequence of problems stemming from the neck and less-than-ideal scapulothoracic awareness. The elbow, like the knee, can be viewed as the middle child. It will take on stress from the area above and below – i.e. the shoulder complex and wrist/hand. This is why elbow pain is often the symptom of the scapulothoracic joint and wrist joint dysfunctions.

When a local problem is determined to be a local cause, it can be due to an imbalance of soft-tissue structures. This requires mobilization and release of tight structures in addition to strengthening weak or inhibited structure of the painful joint as well as the joints above and below.

Respecting Your Finances

By offering our various programs we can quickly assess and test what is driving your symptoms and in turn providing quick options for care. Because of this, we will not only speed up recovery, but decrease overall expenses.

Is Elbow Pain an Elbow Problem?

44 %
of elbow pain is originating within the spine

According to the Extremity Pain of Spinal Source (EXPOSS) study, 44% of elbow pain is originating within the spine.1 This means, if a healthcare provider is not assessing the spine as the source of the problem, he or she only has a starting point of a 56% chance of success. According to our academic standards, this is a failing grade. Big picture, elbow pain does not mean elbow problem and the research supports this statement.

The Extra Professional Touch to Your Elbow Pain

If there are specific services local to where you live, we will help direct you to those services if needed. By using us as your portal of entry contact to your back health, we can be a non-biased party, providing only the best science-backed information. Our emphasis is on getting you to do what you need to do to liberate you from a system – the healthcare system.

Content written by Dr. Keith Sparks, DC | Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) Practitioner, Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) Certified Exercise Trainer, Selective Functional Movement Assessment Certified (SFMA) Certified, Functional Movement Systems (FMS) Certified
Content reviewed by Dr. Rachel Sparks, DC | Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) Practitioner, Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) Certified Exercise Trainer, Functional and Kinetic Treatment with Rehabilitation (FAKTR) Certified

View Citations and References

1 Rosedale R, Rastogi R, Kidd J, Lynch G, Supp G, Robbins SM. A study exploring the prevalence of Extremity Pain of Spinal Source (EXPOSS). J Man Manip Ther. 2020;28(4):222-230. doi:10.1080/10669817.2019.1661706

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Contact Us with Further Questions

If you are in the Wichita, KS, area and are having frustrations, complications, or stagnant results with care, then contact us for in-person help with our unique healthcare approaches. If you are not within the greater Wichita, KS metro, we have created amazing Telehealth and Video Programs to provide you the same high-quality care. Contact our professional chiropractic staff at our East Wichita clinic or West Wichita clinic about possible treatments for your muscle, joint, nutrition, and health-related concerns today.