Elbow-Injury Treatment

If you have been active with your elbow in sports or around the house, give your elbow a chance to heal by resting. Sit around, watch a movie or go to sleep. Don't even read a book because you will have to hold the book and turn pages. Rest your elbow for 24-to-48 hours if you can. This can often relieve your pain.

Treat your injury with an ice pack for the first 24 hours. Put an ice pack directly on the injury for 15 minutes out of every hour in the first 24 hours after an injury (time out for sleeping is allowed). In the second 24 hours, continue to ice your injury once an hour, but every second hour treat it with a heating pad for 15 minutes. This will help relieve your pain.

Do light stretching to try to loosen the elbow and adhesions that may have developed. Put your right arm across the top of your upper body so your forearm is pointing to the left. Take your left hand and put it on the point of your right elbow. Press in on the elbow with slight pressure. Hold it for a count of three and relax. Do this 10 times, and then do the same for your other elbow.

In order to help you feel better, it is fine to take over-the-counter pain medications. Aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen sodium and ketoprofen are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories that will not upset your stomach. Acetaminophen can also be an effective pain reliever but may have an impact on your digestive system.

If you have treated your elbow with rest, ice and heat, stretching and over-the-counter medication and you have not started to feel better, you should see your doctor. He or she may offer a cortisone injection in a spot near the pain to give you relief. Cortisone is a steroid, and it will work at least 50 percent of the time. If it does not, you may have a serious elbow injury that will require further attention.