Theme 1: the cause of onset
arthritis, ’d
SAID, TENNIS ELBOW, ARTHRITIS
Participants related the cause of their symptoms to one of three overlapping scenarios: a sudden change of activity, repetitive activity or from changes in normal physical exertion on the elbow because they were compensating for other health conditions. Sudden changes in activity were sometimes related to social hobbies:There’s one machine at the gym I believe triggered it yes … It was a sitting down apparatus where you take your arm, your both arms up into the air and pull the apparatus down … But it’s one that I didn’t use before, it’s not your normal one, it’s far apart so, I think that’s what triggered it … Yes, I’ve never done that one, that particular one before, it was a different, just a completely different movement going down. And actually, it didn’t feel right from the very first time I did it but I just carried on stupidly. BHX003The thing which definitely caused Tennis Elbow was a very big gardening project for my mother. She was basically having a concrete wall recast. I’ve got like some basic construction skills and was doing that with two other people. And it was a big job. We moved something like eight tonnes of material to make it. But because I’d gone from an office job to doing loads of shovelling over an intense period, I think I might have bumped my elbow as well while doing the job. Like I finished at the end of it and like my arm was screaming, right arm. SHE011Alternatively, sometimes changes in activity were as a result of changes in employment:SHE014: I think probably because my job is different to how it was previously when I first had it. So, whereas now I’m pretty much full time at a desk, so I’m constantly typing.MB: Right, okay.SHE014: So, I think that probably didn’t help and I probably wasn’t able to rest it as much as I may have done when I had it previously.MB: Okay. Were you not behind the desk all the time before?SHE014: No, no, I wasn’t, I was a retail assistant at the time. SHE014Repetitive activities were cited as the most frequent cause with many participants describing gardening or do-it-yourself (DIY) tasks as the precipitating factor. It may be argued that many of these are seasonal and would also constitute a sudden change in activity:I was just trimming the hedges back in the garden, the physio said that’s a classic—it’s very common, repetitive vibration if you like and it can damage the tendon. SHE016It came on while I was doing some sawing of an old crate for firewood. And I got carried away and did too much of it and then it hurt a little bit at the time and that’s what started it. I never had a problem before. DER003Others considered additional musculoskeletal conditions to have impacted on their ability to perform tasks normally, putting undue strain on their elbow and initiating their LET symptoms:I think it’s probably repetitive stress to be fair. I do a lot of DIY. I do most things myself so I think it’s just overuse. And I did also have carpal tunnel so whether the fact that, I’ve been operated on it now, but the fact that this was maybe another trigger or another factor that meant that I was maybe using my elbow not as I should be to try and compensate for my carpal tunnel, I’m sure. SHE018Well, the reason why I have had to use the one with the Tennis Elbow, I think it started up because obviously I found that I had got arthritis in my shoulder, so they said try not to carry as heavy things with that arm. So obviously I have gone using the opposite arm, which is what the Tennis Elbow is in, and I think that’s what’s triggered it, because I have stopped using my right arm and I have started using my left arm. SHE001