What can a physical therapist do if your elbow hurts after sleeping?

If you’re waking up and noticing that your elbow hurts after sleeping, it can throw off your entire morning. This elbow pain can have a few possible causes. Since you aren’t moving your elbow joint that much while you’re asleep, your elbow might swell during the night, leading to stiffness. Certain conditions that cause these symptoms, like osteoarthritis, can worsen over time. However, getting treatment can help slow the disease down.

Are you wondering why your elbow hurts after sleeping? Physical therapy can help manage your elbow pain and may help you sleep better after therapeutic intervention. 

How can a physical therapist help if your elbow hurts after sleeping?

Here are four common techniques that a physical therapist may recommend to help manage your elbow pain:

• Therapeutic exercise — Exercise is an effective approach toward managing musculoskeletal problems. Therapeutic exercises can help strengthen your arm muscles that support the elbow joint. Exercise may also relieve stress on the elbow joint since the arm muscles support these structures. 

• Stretching — Regular stretching is also effective for reducing elbow stiffness. A physical therapist can show you targeted stretches to perform before you go to sleep and after you wake up to help reduce elbow pain. 

• Joint mobilization — A therapist may use their hands to help move your elbow joint through its full range of motion. This may help increase flexibility. Joint mobilization is a form of manual therapy, but it is not intended to be a painful method. This can ease the tension that may contribute to recurring elbow pain. 

Whatcom Physical Therapy is ready to treat your elbow pain

If you feel elbow pain after sleeping, our expert team of physical therapists at Whatcom Physical Therapy can help. We have years of experience in treating elbow pain. Our team is prepared to build you a personalized treatment plan that manages your elbow pain and helps reduce your symptoms. 

Contact our team today for more information about elbow pain after sleeping or to schedule an initial appointment.