Signs of Elbow Injuries

The elbow is a complex joint that when injured can affect the use of your entire arm and hand. Symptoms for elbow injuries extend beyond pain in the area. The symptoms you are experiencing can help you to determine exactly what the injury is and how to rehabilitate it. Always consult a doctor for injuries that are extremely painful or limit mobility.

Pain

• Pain is nature's natural indicator that something is wrong in your body. This may be a bruise, a cut or internal tear of some sort. When you experience pain, consider if the pain is localized to one spot or radiates from one area to another (usually down to the wrist). The elbow may not experience pain while in a resting position, but may experience pain when being moved--or pain may increase when moved.
  Pain suggests that something is certainly wrong but may not tell the entire story of an injury. Pain at the outside top part of the elbow suggests tennis elbow whereas pain on the inside lower elbow suggests golfer's elbow. If the pointed portion of your elbow experiences pain, this could be a contusion. Essentially, pain allows you to determine your next diagnostic assessment.

Swelling

• Most acute injuries such as a contusion or sprain swell instantly. Chronic injuries, including tennis elbow, golfer's elbow and chronic bursitis, may have swelling that is not as prominently recognized and therefore not extremely useful in assessment.
  If the injury is acute, meaning it happened suddenly in a collision, hyper-extension or other quick action, swelling will onset within minutes. An injury such as this may suggest a contusion to the bursa at the point of the elbow, possibly rupturing the bursa sack. It could mean that the elbow has been dislocated, sprained or there may be a possible fracture in the joint. Taking a look at the elbow form will be the next step in assessment.

Deformity

• Swelling is certainly enough to make the elbow look deformed. However, when looking at the elbow, you are checking to see if the pointed portion is not where it should be. In adults, the dislocation is most often associated with a fracture. In children, this may not be the case. A contusion to the bursa may cause a ball of swelling at the point of the elbow. This would not suggest dislocation if it were the only symptom or area of swelling.

Immobility

• Some injuries still allow full use of the arm, albeit painful use. These include chronic injuries where the tendons or ligaments may be swollen, compressed or slightly torn as is the case with golfer's elbow or tennis elbow. Chronic bursitis may cause some immobility because of the location of the swelling, but should not completely immobilize the arm. Dislocations, fractures and other acute injuries may prevent a person from bending or extending his arm.

Numbness

• Many nerves run through the elbow joint down into the forearm and hand. These help control fine motor skills with the hands as well as sensory reception from tactile cells. If your hand is feeling numb or tingly, this suggests that there is a compression of the nerve in the elbow or the wrist. You will need to assess numb and weak feeling in the hand along with any pain that you may be experiencing. This is particularly important if the injury is chronic and has come on over time. If the components of the elbow are swollen and you are experiencing pain in this area with numbness, the nerve may be compressed.