Tennis Elbow.

I have tennis elbow.

Yes, the dreaded Lateral Epicondylitis. "But Paul," I hear you say. "You don't even play tennis." You speak the truth. And even if i did play tennis, I've got it in my left elbow, and I'm right handed. After careful consultation with my doctor and physiotherapist, I have concluded that curling is the culprit. "Curling?" you expostulate amazedly, "but it's July." And once again you are correct. I haven't been curling for three months. Nevertheless.

Treatment of lateral epicondylitis is as follows:

1) Rest. Discontinue the activity that causes the pain. -Done

2) Ice. Reduce inflammation in the affected area, thereby facilitating healing. -Done

3) Physiotherapy. Treatments include ultrasound, interferential current, friction massage, and accupuncture. -I'm tryin' 'em all.

Apparently, this condition can take anywhere from two months to two years to heal fully. Two years? Two years! I want to be golfing by August. And I definitely, definitely want to be ready to curl again in October.

A funny thing happened...

During my first physiotherapy appointment, the therapist introduced me to interferential current therapy. She placed four electrodes, in wet felt envelopes, on my arm. She then turned up the current flow until I experienced a mild discomfort, and a low level involuntary contraction of my arm muscles. She then indicated the dial used to turn the current level up and down and suggested that if I became used to the current level, I could turn it up by myself, and she left. Well! I started looking around for the cameras. As far as I'm concerned, attaching electrodes to someone's body and giving them unsupervised control of the current flow through them is not physiotherapy. It's a university psychology experiment. I studiously ignored the dial until the treatment was over.