Recovery time after surgery for golfers/tennis elbow??

I was off work for 3 months but mine was a severe case I may need a second surgery but my tendons were completely detached will have a cast in for 2 weeks then had a cast I could remove for 3 more weeks normal recovery is 2 months

Hi

I had op last October just for tennis elbow!

I had a nerve block under armpit to numb arm as I was awake, when it wore off just after midnight I was in agony ( sorry ) but all they give me was codine. I recommend strong painkillers!

Got back to work 3 months after as I do a lot of heavy lifting

Arm now feels loads better than it was but still doesn't feel great still painful. I have to go for nerve tests just in case there's a problem there!

Hope all goes well with your op

I had the same diagnosis about a year ago. The pain was on the top of my forearm. The MRI nor the x rays did not detect any abnormalities. I think it was the result of being infused with Reclast for Osteoproporosis. Anyway when I started bowling again, I had to force myself through the pain, although the pain that seemed to be also between the top of my forearm and the upper extremity.  I also felt it in my elbow between two bones.

They sent me to an occupational therapist. Somewhere in California, the divide the arms and other body parts to be in the realm of the Occupational the occupational therapist. The res of the body belongs to another group.

Anyway, we basically clashed the first day. She gave me exercises, where I would but my wrist a the edge of a table, and then was given a 3 lb. weight to use to flex my wrist up and down, plus a few more exercises.  The visits were only 15 minutes. I did the exercises at home for a week. The next time she kind of insulted me when she said that I needed to stop bowling!

I then sent a message to my regular doctor stating what was being done. In the Kaiser Permanente Organization, in the US, all visits to any doctor, except Mental Health, can be accessed by any doctor or therapist. The third visit she gave me exercises that could only be done during the 15 minute period since the equipment, although quite simple, cannot be purchased directly by the patient.

I then sent another not to my primary doctor, stating my observations and that she needed to be on the list of contacts so one can e-mail comments to all doctors that one has visited. The next appointment, she told me that if her name was on the contact list she would never respond. The she continued stating I was not a patient that would follow her orders. The last visit, after I was given 4 exercises, I requested, the copies of the exercises, which other physical therapist supply to their patients. She asked why, I told her out of frustration that I had Alzheimer’s. At that point she said she could not doing more for me!

Anyway I was then referred to a specialist that did the two tests. He mentioned to continue the Occupational therapist. I told him that I fired her! Next he sent me to a pain control doctor. Now that was an experience! The first thing he did is to list all the pain medications including oxycodone. I felt I was talking to some person on the street corner at night.  Anyway I chose Norco. Now my primary doctor prior to the visit gave me Percocet and stated that there would be no problem with refills!

Anyway, I started with 10 mgs of the Norco with two Tylenol tablets when I went bowling.  I then bought a 10 lb. weight and started curling until I went up to 160 times a day. One this was reached I went to a 15 lb. weight, and reached 120 a day. Now I was able to start using a 12 lb. ball at $200 dollars. As I progressed I started to use my 14 lb. ball. Eventually the pain went away!

Now hopefully that you might have the same symotoms.  Joe

I just looked at this site describing the sympoms of tennis elbow and it said:

Surgery is the last option:

"If your tennis elbow symptoms persist for some time and are really troublesome then a specialist may advise an operation. The common operation to ease symptoms is to remove the damaged part of the tendon. ONLY a SMALL NUMBER of PEOPLE require surgery to relieve symptoms."  Joe