by Liz Bonis, WKRC | Click here to see the full story.

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Elbow injuries are on the rise, and specialists at OrthoCincy say the key to preventing them may be as much about what athletes do on their days off as what they do during competition.

The team at OrthoCincy says “elbow injury season is in full swing,” but surgeons and physical therapists say people can reduce their risk with the right warm-ups, training and recovery habits. That includes pickleball players looking to avoid “pickleball elbow,” tennis elbow and other overuse injuries.

Dr. Jonathan Slaughter, an OrthoCincy elbow specialist, said elbow pain is often tied to problems elsewhere in the body.

“This is usually the result of upstream issues, it’s part of the kinetic chain, usually there’s a shoulder issue going on, whether it’s decreasing motion, poor form, of the shoulder or even a weak core can then put increased stress on the elbow,” Slaughter said.

OrthoCincy physical therapist Rob Neltner said treatment and prevention often focus on strengthening and conditioning beyond the elbow itself.

“Whenever we deal with elbows we take into consideration the entire chain so there’s hand and wrist exercises, elbow, shoulder, scapula and core activities we do as well,” Neltner said.

Neltner also emphasized the importance of staying active even when not playing a favorite sport, warning against jumping into intense activity without being conditioned.

“Light stretching, staying active sitting is the new smoking type scenario so you don’t want to just not do anything and go out and engage in a sporting activity if you are not conditioned for it,” Neltner said.