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Step 1
Classify your pain symptoms. Pain that accumulates gradually, and then is experienced often or whenever the elbow is used may be tennis elbow.
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Step 2
Note where the pain develops. Tennis elbow most often occurs in the dominant arm, such as the right arm for right-handed people. The pain will usually appear on the outside of the elbow's bony knob.
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Step 3
Determine whether squeezing objects increases pain. Test this by shaking hands with someone or by grasping and squeezing various objects.
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Step 4
Check to see if "locking" the wrist during use increases pain. Test this while brushing your teeth or cutting food with utensils.
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Step 5
Observe the frequency of symptoms. Once tennis elbow develops, pain may be continuous, or arise only when the elbow is bumped or the tendons worked in a specific way. However, it will not fade, and will usually return without treatment.
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Step 1
Rule out fractures and sprains. Sudden, acute pain following a trauma, such as a blow or twist, may be a bone fracture or muscle sprain instead of tennis elbow.
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Step 2
Discount gout or rheumatoid arthritis. These will flare up painfully with much less regularity than tennis elbow and might be accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever, redness or swelling.
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Step 3
Eliminate nerve entrapment as a cause. Nerve compression in the elbow is recognized by numbness or tingling.
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Step 4
Combine your assessment information to diagnose tennis elbow. Have a doctor confirm your suspicions.
