One of the reasons why I do what I do now is because I lived with chronic pain in my elbows, forearms, wrists and hands for over seven years.

Looking back, I think the advice and treatment I received from medical practitioners was unhelpful and ineffective.

Chronic problems with these parts of the body tend to get blamed on an activity that you’re doing repetitively, such as typing on a keyboard, playing a sport or a playing a musical instrument. In my case, I was told I had been using the computer too much causing me to develop RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury).

This made no sense to me because most people can use a computer and not develop RSI, so why had I?

Though the causes of chronic pain in these areas can be varied and complex, I think the most common cause is faulty body mechanics due to poor posture.

In this video I explain this in more detail and talk about how to overcome this type of chronic pain.

(Get two posture correction exercises to start improving your body alignment by signing up to my free newsletter – click here)

As I mentioned above, chronic pain in these parts of the body is often blamed on an activity that you do, and we even name certain conditions after a sport, such as tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis).

This is actually quite silly. Most tennis players don’t develop tennis elbow, while people who don’t even play tennis can develop it.

I’ve worked with clients who say they have developed pain from playing sports, using their mobile phones, typing on keyboards, using a mouse and playing the guitar and violin, and yet, most people who do these activities don’t develop chronic pain in their elbows, forearms, wrists and hands.

The truth is the activity is rarely the issue, it’s the body you bring to the activity. 

What do I mean by this?

Well, let’s say you were riding a bicycle and suddenly it stopped riding smoothly and made strange noises and sounds as you rode. You wouldn’t just say that the act of riding bicycles is a problem. You’d say that there was something wrong with this particular bicycle and get it repaired, and then go back to riding.

The same thing applies to your body.

Playing tennis is not the issue, it’s the body you bring to the tennis.

If something is wrong with how your body is working, for example putting extra pressure on the outside of your elbow when you play tennis, then you might develop tennis elbow. The tennis isn’t the cause of your pain, it’s just highlighting a problem within your body.

I think the same applies to using a computer or playing a musical instrument etc. Modern day healthcare either blames the activity or focuses exclusively on coming up with a label for the symptoms, a condition, such as tenosynovitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, lateral epicondylitis etc. without actually going deeper and asking what’s going on with this particular patient that has caused this condition in the first place.

With the clients who I see with these kinds of symptoms, most often the key contributing factor to their pain is their posture.

For example, if your upper back is rounded forward a lot, it will push your shoulders and head forward – imagine the classic hunched posture. Now that your shoulder is in this position, it probably won’t move as efficiently as it can, and because of that your elbow won’t move as well too. If you now go to play tennis, then over time, perhaps you’ll develop a condition and thus pain.

The long-term solution isn’t just to give you painkillers, or general strengthening exercises, or injections or surgery, but instead to improve the balance of your muscles, through the use of posture correction exercises, so that these muscles can hold your upper back, shoulders and head in a better position, allowing your elbow to now work more efficiently, and without pain.

Always go after the root cause!

I hope you find the video beneficial.

Take care.

Ameet Bhakta BSc, DipHE – I’m a posture correction specialist certified by the Egoscue Institute, and founder of Health Through Posture based in London and Tunbridge Wells