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Does anyone know of any research into the prevalence of tennis elbow among Podiatrists or any other related gradual process injury occurance. My Workplace insurance provider has rejected my gradual process injury claim for my tennis elbow because there research indicates that it is not a common occurrence among Podiatrist's. I meet all the criteria for it to be problem except that there is no evidence to support it. Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

I look forward to any help in this area.

Kind regards
Ian Graham.

Hi Ian:
I think you'll need to expand on this a bit........why does your profession predispose you to lateral epicondylitis?
DrSArbes

My profession has lead to my tennis elbow from three areas. They are:

Oops pushed the wrong button.

They are: 1. The repetitive nature of my work
2. The force applied
3.The angles my wrist and elbow are in
This has occurred slowly over the last 5 years plus and gets worse at the busy times of the year, then subsiding when it goes quite. These busy times I and doing alot more the routine maintainence work.
Cheers
Ian Graham

Hi Ian,

Perhaps you could get some help from an Occupational Therapist or Physio? They might be able to give you more information, and might have more info with regard to statistics of this injury in Podiatrists.

I don't know much about Compo claims, but I think it's generally difficult to distinguish a work-related injury from a pre-existing condition with these types of overuse injuries.

I have a mild degree of "tennis elbow" myself, which is the result of numerous sporting activities at school (in particular Year 10 HPE Gymnastics Unit ) . I don't feel that my work in Podiatry exacerbates the elbow either, it's more of a problem if I've been lifting too many weights at the gym .

Regards

Donna

Hi Ian
That is dissapointing that your claim has been rejected.
I too am a 'Tennis Elbow' sufferer and i am surprised that there are not more in our profession.
Do you have income protection insurance?
Let me know how you go, or if you want to know how i manage my condition.
In good health
Steve

There was an article in 'Podiatry Now' in Jan 2004 (reprinted from the Journal of Occ Health) by Paula Layzell, which was the summary of her work with the Occ Health Dept in Norwich. The investigation was ordered after the Occ Health Team noticed a high number of podiatry staff presenting with WRULD.

If you would like the full references for this article, let me know & I'll see if I can dig them out for you. It's not ground-breaking, and it's certainly not a RCT, but it does propose mechanisms for injury, and strategies to reduce exposure risk factors.

As someone who modified their role in order to avoid continuing problems, I was very fortnuate that the good old NHS provided me with staff physio as well as excellent occ health support and OT. My problem was with my hands, rather than my elbow, but any repetetive loading situation has the potential to cause problems.

Good luck
Sarah

Hi Sarah
This is the type of stuff I am looking for. I would appreciate the full references so I can source the article.Thank you in advance for this
Cheers
Ian

I stupidly knocked my elbow yesterday as I was swiveling around to reach something behind me. It hurt like crazy, and I had to take a few deep breaths before continuing on with debriding callus. I know it's not the same as having a lateral epicondylitis, but I sure learnt very quickly that we do need our elbows when it comes to routine callus debridement. I can tell you it wasn't as easy with an elbow that didn't want to bend properly!

Good luck with your claim.

Thanks Dantastic. Look after those delicate bits Cheers Ian

I have developed a great deal of pain in extensors and flexors of 4th and 5th digits of clipper hand in the past few months...I bought some cheap BMC clippers and I am going to stop using them and see if that makes the difference. If I'm really careful not to apply force while wrist is cocked it seems to help. Massage helps a fair bit for me. Seeing 100-120 patients a week, never done this before for any length of time so I might wear in to it....
regards Phill Carter

15 years of experience has taught me (painfully) not to use cheap clippers, and check the springs regularly, always take regular breaks and learn to sit correctly. Its more difficult with domicillary patients. Again I find resting the patients foot on my knee (if possible) is the best height. Leaning forward onto a footstool trapped a nerve in my neck requiring all sorts of treatments, though I found acupuncture to be the most effective. I see 50 patients a week and that is hard going..if you are working for an employer it may be time to discuss Health and safety, if you are a private practicioner I suggest you take on an assistant!!!! Hope you get better soon, as the saying goes 'I know your pain!'

Interesting to hear about the elbow problems . I'll own up straight away - I am the managing director of Bailey Instruments in the UK . I spent 15 years as an NHS and private practitioner beforehand.
Some years ago we were approached by a podiatrist who was in agony with elbow pain. We designed a nipper grip , and she was improved ( not cured !!). On the back of this I tried to find good research on elbow and wrist pain in podiatrists . the only evidence of wrist and elbow injuries similar to podiatrists' was in electricians. They do a similar action when cutting wires , but they have evidenece pointing to the fact that insulated clippers reduced the prevalence of wrist and elbow pain.
We concluded ( anecdotally) that there a number of factors influencing elbow and wrist pain. The nipper spring is crucial . too strong and you can get cramp in the palm as it throws back your fingers after a clip. Too weak and you're working too hard opening it leading to elbow pain. If your nipper fits your hand , its better.The analogy is similar to putting "wraps" on a tennis racquet . If you make a fist on the handle , you'll feel elbow pain pretty quickly. I have asked podiatrists if they would like to research the phenomenon of podiatric elbow pain , but no-one has stepped forward. as a manufacturer of instruments, we some ideas that may help . What I would like is evidence that they do.