Making the Diagnosis
If you think you might have tennis elbow, talk to your doctor. Your doctor will ask you questions about your activities and the type of work you do. Your doctor will physically examine your elbow to see if it is tender to touch and to see if the pain you're experiencing worsens when your wrist is bent backwards. Your doctor may have you perform a chair-raise test where you will try to lift a chair with your hands on top of the back of the chair.
Your doctor may also put pressure on the muscle a few inches below the elbow bone and test whether you have less pain bending your wrist backwards with this pressure than when there is no pressure.
Your doctor may also examine your neck. Some nerve problems in the neck can cause pain in the elbow similar to that seen with tennis elbow.
If your doctor is not sure that you have tennis elbow, X-rays and other tests may be done to exclude other causes of the pain.