ELBOWVoltex Physical Therapy · North Austin
Tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow or wrist pain when you grip, type or lift? A Doctor of Physical Therapy at our North Austin clinic finds the cause and treats it one-on-one.
Most clients feel a difference within the first few visits.
The short answer
Tennis elbow affects about 1 to 3% of adults, and it’s just as common in lifters, desk workers and pickleball players as in tennis players. Most elbow, wrist and hand pain comes from tendons doing more than they’re ready for, or an irritated nerve.
At our North Austin clinic, physical therapy finds what’s driving your pain, calms it with hands-on care and dry needling, then rebuilds grip and forearm strength so you can train, play and type without pain.
Understand your pain
The 6 most common causes we treat at our North Austin clinic, and the signs of each one.
Feels like: pain on the outside of the elbow when you grip, lift a coffee cup, shake hands or type.
Often caused by: an overloaded tendon from gripping, racquet sports, pulling in the gym or long hours on a mouse.
Feels like: pain on the inside of the elbow with gripping, curls, pull-ups or your golf swing.
Often caused by: an overloaded flexor tendon in golfers, climbers, lifters and manual workers.
Feels like: numbness or tingling in the thumb and first fingers, often worse at night or when driving.
Often caused by: pressure on the median nerve at the wrist, often with lots of gripping or wrist bending.
Feels like: tingling in the ring and little fingers, sometimes with a weak grip.
Often caused by: pressure on the “funny bone” nerve from leaning on your elbows, cycling or keeping the elbow bent.
Feels like: pain on the thumb side of the wrist when you lift, grip or pick up a baby.
Often caused by: irritated thumb tendons from repeated thumb and wrist movements.
Feels like: deep pain on the pinky side of the wrist with push-ups, front squats or twisting.
Often caused by: load or a twist that irritates the cartilage on the outer side of the wrist.
Sound familiar?
Tingling running from the neck down the arm? See neck pain treatment in Austin. Play racquet sports? See tennis & pickleball physical therapy.
What the research says
At 1 year, people who got a cortisone shot for tennis elbow did worse than those who got a placebo shot, and 54% had it come back, compared with 12%.
Hands-on physical therapy with exercise beat wait-and-see at 6 weeks, and it outperformed cortisone after the first 6 weeks.
Tennis elbow is usually a tendon overload problem (tendinosis), not ongoing inflammation. That’s why we build the tendon up with progressive loading instead of only resting it.
Your plan at Voltex
Every visit is one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy for the full session at our North Austin clinic.
A 75-minute evaluation of your elbow, wrist, hand, neck and shoulder, plus how you grip, lift and type.
Manual therapy, nerve mobility work and dry needling to ease pain and irritation.
Progressive tendon loading and grip strength for lifting, racquet sports and work.
A home plan plus grip, technique and workstation changes that last.
