Less than a month ago I started feeling a funny pain in my left elbow. When I probed it with my fingers, it turned out that the pain came from the spot where the ligaments of the muscle in the upper arm, the biceps, are attached to the bone. “Tennis elbow,” a friend who coaches tennis told me flatly a few days ago. I was surprised, for the last time I played tennis was roughly thirty years ago. Besides, I am right-handed. “Well,” he shrug his shoulders, “you can get it many different ways.” At this point I remembered that I had been hitting the poor elbow against doorframes as of late. And often. “Yup,” he said nonchalantly. I asked what should I do about it. “Put something cold on the spot and keep it there as long as you can bear it,” he answered calmly. This is what I have been doing ever since, and the elbow is somewhat better already. As I was holding a cold compress against the elbow a moment ago, I remembered that it suffered a direct hit when I fell in the Alps six years ago. Quite a hit, too. Four ribs broke under it, but the elbow stayed in one piece, although it got badly scarred. And this I somehow managed to forget.

Addendum (October 30, 2007)

Even though I have not done almost anything about the pain in my left elbow, it has gradually subsided. About a month or so ago it stopped hurting altogether. I can still feel some pain when I press against the spot where it was most intensive, but the elbow seems quite fine when I leave it alone. However, my right elbow started hurting exactly when the left stopped. The worst seems to be over, but the pain is still rather a nuisance. Tennis elbow, I assume, this time in earnest. An occasional cold compress helps, but not much. Judging from my experience with the left elbow, it will take at least six months for the pain to disappear. All the rest remains a mystery. The only good thing about it is that I can pin a name to it: tennis elbow. A pain without a name is an entirely different matter.