Causes of Tennis elbow

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Excessive or repeated use of the muscles that straighten the wrist can cause injury to the tendons, leading to tennis elbow. These injuries consist of tiny tears in parts of the tendons and muscle coverings. If these injuries are not allowed to heal fully, they can tear again, which leads to the formation of rough tissue. A protein called collagen leaks out from around the injured areas, causing inflammation. The inflamed tendon can cut off blood flow and pinch the radial nerve, one of the major nerves controlling muscles in the arm and hand, which causes pain when the arm is used.

The tendons of the elbow can be injured by overuse of the forearm muscles in repeated actions such as:

using scissors or shears;
gardening;
sports that involve lots of throwing;
swimming;
golf (golfers also get golfers' elbow, which affects the inside of the arm);
manual occupations that involve repetitive turning or lifting the wrist, such as plumbing or bricklaying;
typing; and
racquet sports (particularly if you play very regularly after not playing for a long time, if you use a lot of backhand, or if your backhand technique is not very good).

Tennis elbow happens most commonly when you suddenly use your forearm muscles a lot without having used them much before. Even if you are used to this type of work, you can still overdo it.