What Is the Best Treatment for Arthritis in the Elbow?

If your elbow is starting to hurt whenever you move it, you could have arthritis. Although arthritis is more common in the knee and hip joints, you can get arthritis in your elbow. Learn about effective treatments.

Is it getting hard to brush your teeth because of elbow pain? Arthritis in the elbow can make daily tasks frustrating and difficult.

Our board-certified orthopedic surgeons with Peninsula Orthopedic Associates can help heal your pain from elbow arthritis and teach you ways to prevent it from getting worse.

Treatment of elbow arthritis depends on a number of factors. It differs depending on whether you have osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.

The stage and severity of your arthritis, previous injuries to the elbow, and the condition of your elbow as revealed by imaging tests are all factors we consider in deciding which treatments are most effective for you.

Nonsurgical treatments for early stage elbow arthritis

Conservative treatment for elbow arthritis uses the same methods as for arthritis in other joints. Conservative treatment is usually very effective, and surgery is rarely needed, especially if you’ve had no prior injuries or surgery to the elbow.

Rest and activity or ergonomic adaptation

Whether your elbow arthritis is due to overuse from years of playing tennis, the type of work you do, or a dislocation or fracture, when your joint hurts, it’s time to give it a rest. You need to take time off the playing field or try to secure accommodations at work to give your elbow a break.

Look for ergonomic assistance in taking a load off of your elbow such as adaptive tool handles that are larger than the regular size, jar openers, and adaptive gardening tools. You can make many everyday tasks easier so you place less stress on your elbow.

Managing arthritis pain

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory over-the-counter medication can provide temporary relief of osteoarthritis, but relying on medication should be a short-term fix. We prescribe different drugs if you have rheumatoid arthritis.

Icing your elbow after activity can reduce pain and ease swelling. Moist heat increases circulation, which helps your elbow move.

We can administer a cortisone injection, which should ease your pain for a number of months. We may also recommend an elbow splint. You wear the splint when you need to use your elbow to drive, eat, brush your teeth, and accomplish other daily tasks. It supports the muscles surrounding your elbow and helps protect it.

Physical therapy

Physical therapy is the gold standard in arthritis treatment. We use ice, heat, massage, gentle stretches, and joint manipulation in the beginning stages of your therapy to loosen stiffness and ease pain.

During therapy, you perform specific exercises and stretches that help increase your range of motion and improve flexibility and strength. You should continue stretches and exercises after physical therapy ends in order to keep your muscles strong and ease pain.

Surgical treatments for elbow arthritis

You may need surgery if your elbow arthritis becomes severe. It can worsen if you’ve had a previous dislocation or fracture.

Arthroscopy

Arthroscopy is minimally invasive outpatient surgery that we may recommend if physical therapy and other conservative methods don’t relieve your elbow pain.

We make a few tiny incisions. Using small instruments and with the aid of a camera, we repair or remove torn cartilage and/or bits of bone or bone spurs and smooth out the surface of your bone to ease the friction that’s causing your pain.

If your arthritis is inflammatory, your synovial fluid lining the joint can become inflamed and eat away the cartilage. During arthroscopy, we remove the synovial membrane that lines the joint.

Osteotomy

During this procedure, we remove and reshape bone to correct arthritic damage. It helps prevent alignment problems in your lower arm.

Elbow joint replacement

We let you know if you need elbow joint replacement. In this procedure, we place a metal and plastic hinge with rods extending from it as the joint replacement.

Call us at Peninsula Orthopedic Associates in Daly City or Menlo Park, California, or book an appointment online for all of your musculoskeletal needs.