You have 27 bones in your hand and wrist. And if you're like most people, you regularly put great strain on your elbow. Here’s what you need to know to maintain these crucial tools.
- At least 3 percent of working adults experience carpal tunnel syndrome each year. Your risk increases with age. Children rarely develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Women are three times more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than men.
- Elbow tendinitis affects about half of all tennis players at some point in their lives. But only one in 20 people diagnosed with “tennis elbow” each year actually play tennis.
- Tennis elbow can result from damage to a forearm muscle that helps stabilize your wrist when your arm is straight. Painters, plumbers, carpenters, cooks and butchers are more likely than other workers to develop tennis elbow.
- In children, dislocated elbows occur more than any other joint. In adults, elbow dislocation is second only to dislocated shoulder.