Tennis elbow is a painful elbow disorder. This term is misleading because most people who have it did not get it from playing tennis. In fact, tennis elbow seldom has any connection with fun and games. However, pain can also occur in other areas of the forearm and elbow. The pain from tennis elbow comes mainly from injured or damaged tendons near the elbow.
Tendons are strong bands of tissue that connect muscles to bones.
When repeatedly stressed or overused, tendons can become inflamed. This results in a painful condition called tendonitis, the medical term for inflammation of a tendon. Tennis elbow is simply a specific type of tendonitis that occurs in a particular part of the elbow. The development of tennis elbow can often be traced to the way of using the forearm muscles. These muscles control hand and wrist movements.