When you hear the term “tennis elbow,” you might picture someone playing tennis. However, elbow tendinopathy can affect anyone – including people who spend much of their working day at a desk.
For office workers, elbow and forearm pain can develop gradually and become noticeable during activities such as typing, using a mouse, gripping objects or completing repetitive tasks.
It can also become a concern when transitioning into an office-based role. Moving from a physically varied job into one involving several hours of computer and desk work can represent a significant change in the demands placed on your body.
At Urban Health HQ, our soft tissue occupational therapists and exercise physiologists can help manage elbow tendinopathy while supporting people to adapt to changing work demands.
What is Elbow Tendinopathy?
Elbow tendinopathy is a condition involving pain and reduced tolerance to load in the tendons around the elbow.
When symptoms occur around the outside of the elbow, the condition is commonly referred to as lateral elbow tendinopathy or ‘tennis elbow’. Despite the name, you don’t need to play tennis to develop it.
Elbow tendinopathy can develop gradually when the demands placed on the tendons repeatedly exceed their current capacity. It does not necessarily result from one specific injury and can be influenced by changes in workload, repetitive activities and overall physical demands.
Why can office work be associated with elbow pain?
Office work is not inherently harmful to the elbows. However, spending several hours performing repetitive hand, wrist and forearm movements can represent a substantial workload – particularly when your body is not accustomed to it.
Repetitive keyboard and mouse use
Typing, clicking, and scrolling involve repeated movements of the fingers, wrist and forearm. While individual movements may require relatively little force, performing them for many hours can create a significant cumulative workload.
Sudden changes in workload
A rapid increase in computer-based work may place new demands on the upper limb. This can occur when starting a new office job, returning to work after time away, increasing working hours or taking on a role with greater administrative responsibilities.
Your body may need time to adapt to these new demands
Limited variation throughout the day
Office work can involve spending long periods performing similar tasks. Rather than focusing on maintaining a “perfect” posture all day, it can be more useful to consider movement variations and opportunities to change activities throughout the day.
Other activities
Your computer workload is only one part of your overall physical demands. Exercise, hobbies, household tasks, lifting, DIY and recreational activities can also contribute to the total load experienced by your elbow and forearm.
What if you’re already experiencing elbow tendinopathy?
If you’re already experiencing elbow pain, you may not need to stop working or completely avoid using your arm.
Instead, managing elbow tendinopathy often involves finding an appropriate balance between maintaining activity and managing the amount of the load placed on the affected area.
Your symptoms may be influenced by how much you are doing, how frequently you are doing it and how quickly your workload has changed.
An assessment can help identify which activities are currently most aggravating and where practical modifications may be useful.
What if you’re transitioning into an office job?
Starting an office-based role can be a significant change in your daily routine.
If your previous job involved walking, lifting or regularly changing positions, moving into a role where you spend much of the day at a computer introduces different physical demands.
Your hands, wrists and forearms may suddenly be performing repetitive tasks for several hours each day.
This does not mean you need to avoid computer work. Instead, the goal is to allow your body to adapt to the new workload while considering how your working day is structured.
How can a soft tissue occupational therapist help?
At Urban Health HQ, our occupational therapists can approach elbow tendinopathy from both a symptom management and functional perspective.
Treatment may include soft tissue massage, education, and activity modification, depending on your individual needs.
Soft tissue treatment
Soft tissue massage can be used to help manage muscular tension and discomfort around the forearm and elbow.
Treatment is tailored to the individual and forms part of a broader approach to improving comfort and function.
Education
Understanding elbow tendinopathy can help you make informed decisions about your activities.
Your occupational therapist can discuss how workload, repetitive activities and changes in your routine may be contributing to your symptoms.
This can be particularly valuable when starting a new job, helping you understand how to manage changing physical demands.
Activity modification
If particular work tasks are aggravating your elbow, your occupational therapist can help identify practical ways to modify them.
This may include alternating between tasks, creating opportunities for movement throughout the day, adjusting the frequency of repetitive activities or modifying your work set-up to be more ergonomical.
How can an exercise physiologist help?
Exercise physiology can address another important part of elbow tendinopathy: your physical capacity to tolerate load.
An exercise physiologist can assess your current strength, symptoms, work requirements and goals before developing an individualised rehabilitation program.
Progressive strengthening can help gradually build the capacity of the muscles and tendons around the elbow and forearm.
For someone transitioning into office work, exercise physiology can also help maintain overall strength and fitness while gradually developing tolerance for the physical demands of this new routine.
Why combine occupational therapy and exercise physiology?
Elbow tendinopathy can be influenced by both the demands placed on your body and your capacity to tolerate those demands.
This is where occupational therapy and exercise physiology can complement one another.
Occupational therapy can focus on your work and everyday activities, including symptom management, education and activity modification.
Exercise physiology can focus on progressively developing strength, physical capacity and tolerance to load.
For someone already experiencing elbow tendinopathy, this combined approach can help address factors contributing to symptoms while gradually rebuilding capacity.
For someone transitioning into an office role, it can provide strategies for adapting to new work demands while maintaining physical health.
Supporting your elbows through office work
Moving into office work does not mean you are destined to develop elbow tendinopathy. Your body can adapt to changing demands, particularly when changes in workload are managed appropriately and physical capacity is maintained.
If you are experiencing elbow pain or tennis elbow, or are preparing to transition into an office-based role, individualised support can help you understand your symptoms and develop strategies that suit your work and lifestyle.
At Urban Health HQ, our soft tissue occupational therapists and exercise physiologists can work together to support elbow health, manage tendinopathy and help you adapt to changing work demands.
If you would like to learn more about how the allied health professionals at Urban Health HQ can help you, head to our website at https://urbanhealthhq.com.au or contact us by calling 0411563391 or email admin@urbanhealthhq.com.au
