The Source / A field guide to feeling better
Arm & Elbow
Gripping, carrying and turning a handle ask a lot of the arm. Local tendon pain and nerve symptoms need different explanations.
Can you point to it?
Choose the closest area.
Pick a point on the close-up, or choose from the list below. Each one covers what might be going on, the details that help at a visit, and the research behind it.
Put the symptoms in context
It matters if the pain stays near the elbow or travels down the arm, and if tingling or weakness comes with it. Your work and your sport tell us a lot about the load on that arm, but they don’t replace an exam.
Follow the question
Explore arm & elbow
Each guide explains what the condition is, what the research shows and where it runs out, and when it calls for a different kind of care than ours. An exam is how we look for which one, if any, fits you.
- Condition guide
Elbow tendinopathy
Pain when you grip or lift, often called tennis elbow, and what the research says about the treatment choices.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Arm & leg pain
The difference between pain from a joint or muscle and pain traveling along a nerve.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Neck pain
Stiffness, referred pain and nerve symptoms, and the questions our exam sets out to answer.
Understand this condition
Is it your elbow, or pain traveling down the arm?
Arm and elbow pain comes in two broad kinds: pain that stays around the joint, and pain that travels. Our elbow tendinopathy guide covers tennis elbow: pain on the outside of the elbow when you grip or lift. The arm and leg pain guide explains why joint pain and nerve pain need different evaluations.
Everyday examples tell us more than a label: carrying groceries, using tools, holding a child. So does where the pain goes, and any weakness or tingling. A nickname from work or sport says where it hurts. It doesn't say why.
Why the elbow research looks a year out
The elbow trial below followed people for a year. How your arm feels right after treatment is one question. Getting your grip back, and whether the pain returns, take longer to answer. The elbow guide covers the trial's findings and limits.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Effect of corticosteroid injection, physiotherapy, or both on clinical outcomes in patients with unilateral lateral epicondylalgia: a randomized controlled trial
165 adults with lateral elbow pain lasting more than six weeks.
What it foundSteroid recipients had lower recovery and more recurrence at one year than placebo recipients. Physiotherapy did not significantly change one-year recovery or recurrence.
What it can't tell usThe results apply to these approaches to persistent lateral elbow pain. They don't show that chiropractic care is superior.
Publication details & citation
Coombes et al. Effect of corticosteroid injection, physiotherapy, or both on clinical outcomes in patients with unilateral lateral epicondylalgia: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2013. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.129.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.