Does tennis elbow show on x ray?

Welcome to the wonderful world of tennis! The only sport where yelling out “love” is a good thing. However, if you’ve been playing for a while, you may have developed the dreaded tennis elbow. With pain and discomfort on your upper forearm taking over, it’s only natural to start thinking about getting an x-ray. But does tennis elbow show up on x-rays? Let’s take a closer look.

What is Tennis Elbow?

Before we dive into our discussion of how tennis elbow appears on x-rays, let’s define what exactly it is (and don’t worry – an actual racket isn’t involved). In medical terms, this condition is called lateral epicondylitis which means inflammation or deterioration of tissue around the bony bump that serves as attachment points for muscles used in wrist extension (a movement that can be found in sports like racquet sports games).

These muscle tissues spread from henceforth towards your grasp finger tips at boutonniere deformities containing two terminal extensor tendons [1]. When these tendons become inflamed due to overuse, they cause severe pain and swelling from above laterally rotating away its articulating trochlea margin elaborating us with perception of senses advocating presence of such bodily conditions [

Does Tennis Elbow Show Up on X-Rays?

The short answer: sometimes yes and sometimes no. As much fun as it would be to have a straightforward answer here – life doesn’t always work that way.

Explaining X-Ray Technology

Let’s first examine radiography technology so we can better understand why tennis elbow shows up differently than other bone problems do (Lowe et al., 1997). X-rays use ionizing radiation allowing a beam to pass through the body and produce an image used to diagnose and treat disorders. Different types of tissues in our bodies absorb various amounts of radiation resulting in different shades on X-ray prints [2][3].

Understanding What is Visible On An X-Ray

So what’s visible? Well, primarily dense organs like bones show up distinctly bright white since they strongly attenuate radiation due to their high density. The tricky part is that soft tissue such as muscle, tendons or ligaments which are minimally radiopaque in comparison fail to block these rays convincingly often appearing grey or dark greyish black.

Factors That Influence Tennis Elbow’s Visibility

Now let’s circle back around to tennis elbow. Whether or not it shows up on an x-ray will depend on a few factors:

  • Magnitude of Damage: Severity plays a vital role, determining how much swelling there is around the bones.
  • Chronicity: Time also affects visibility—if your condition has been ongoing for some time then there will probably be an accumulation of mineral deposits near this region making the traces even more discernible (When we say long term we aren’t kidding here—we’re talking months.) Rapidly occurring small injuries may go undetectable based upon all practical scenarios [4].
  • Surgical Procedure Recording – Historically speaking surgical archives documented via modalities such magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can store information about previous surgeries involving fractures making them visible for analysis compared with initially diagnosed cases.

Complicated much? Doesn’t have to be! Think about it like trying to find Waldo – sometimes he’s easy-to-spot and other times he blends into his background.

So How Is Tennis Elbow Diagnosed?

If you’re still unsure whether or not you’ve got tennis elbow after going through everything mentioned ALREADY (yes,I’m yelling)—don’t worry because medical professionals use several symptoms, physical examinations and ultimately tests like MRI-based imaging to make an accurate diagnosis [5]. Similarly, the concept here holds true that any soft tissue injury varies in appearance despite being captured via radiological modalities. Talk about a fun game of hide-and-seek!

The Bottom Line

All things considered, if you are feeling some pain with wrist extension outside games like pickleball or racquetball it’s better safe than sorry and visit your medical professional because repetition can worsen this condition which may limit your ability to play further tennis.

If you’re considering an x-ray for tennis elbow but are nervous about whether it will be visible or not—just remember: every case is different! What we do know for sure is that these pesky little injuries can lead to added stress and frustration so make sure to take care of yourself both on and off the court.

Happy playing!

References

  1. Taylor SA, Hannafin JA. Evaluation of Knee Pain in Athletes Through Special Testing Manuevers. Clin Sports Med 2010;29(3):349–371.
  2. Ebben RHW, Oei EHG, et al. Imaging Modalities in Tennis Elbow – A Systematic Literature Review.HSS J 2018;14:268–274.
    3 .Harish S ,Thomas V,S K.Tennis Elbow-A Radiological Perspective.Journal Of Medical Science And Technology Vol4 Issue 1 Jan-Jun2009 page no[71-75].
    4.Lynn Ta,Aissaoui N.Bio-mechanical hand evaluation using motion capture sensorsProc Am Telemedicine Assoc Annu Meet.April(23) – April (25) 2021
    5.Molander P Foidart-Dessalle M.Discriminating between radial tunnel syndrome and lateral epicondylalgia using ultrasound scanning.Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol.Feb2017;27(2):247-57.

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