What We Treat

Elbow, wrist and hand pain treatment in the East Valley.

The jar lid that wins. The handshake you brace for. The hand you shake awake at 2am. Your arm is one long chain, and a cause-first evaluation finds the link that actually failed.

Tennis and golfer’s elbow Carpal tunnel Grip and thumb pain Book My First Visit (opens in new tab)

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like you?

  • Handing the jar to someone else because your grip is done arguing
  • Waking at 2am shaking your hand to get the pins and needles out
  • A hot spot on the outside of your elbow every time you turn a doorknob
  • Typing all morning, then icing your forearm through lunch
  • Dropping a coffee mug you were absolutely holding a second ago
  • Loading every grocery bag onto the other arm, because that one is not trustworthy

Two or more, and your good arm is already doing two jobs. That is how the good one goes next.

Why It Happens

It hurts in your hand. It rarely starts there.

Your arm works as one chain: neck, shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, fingers. Pain at the far end usually means something upstream stopped doing its share. A tendon at the elbow that got loaded faster than it could adapt. A nerve squeezed where it passes the wrist or the inside of the elbow. Forearm rotation that quietly disappeared, so your wrist takes the twist instead. A shoulder blade that no longer steadies the arm it is holding up.

That is why a brace helps for a week and then stops. It calms the sore spot without changing the thing that keeps loading it. You are the one everybody hands the stuck lid to, the one who types through it and grips through it and does not mention it. That is exactly why nobody has looked at the whole chain yet, and exactly why you are reading this. A cause-first evaluation tests the links one at a time, so the plan fits the real problem.

Physical therapist testing a patient's wrist and grip strength during an elbow and hand evaluation

The Honest Truth

You cannot rest a hand you use all day.

If you keep waiting

  • Your other arm takes over, and starts sounding just like this one
  • Numbness that used to come at night starts showing up while you drive
  • A tendon that never gets a real recovery load stays weak, so the flare comes back

If you start this week

  • You leave visit one knowing whether it is tendon, nerve or joint
  • Hands-on work on the forearm and wrist starts before you leave the building
  • You get a plan with an endpoint: a real one, not an open tab of visits

Nobody regrets starting too early. Plenty of people regret waiting.

How We Fix It

The same four phases. Built for a working hand.

Every plan has an endpoint. Here is what the four phases look like from elbow to fingertip.

From visit one

Pain

Take the heat out of it.

Hands-on work on the forearm, elbow and wrist settles the angry tissue and gives a squeezed nerve room to breathe.

Once it calms down

Prime

Get the twist back.

Joint and nerve mobility work restores the forearm rotation and wrist motion your hand has been borrowing from somewhere else.

Once motion returns

Perform

Build a grip you trust.

Graded loading rebuilds tendon capacity, plus the shoulder blade strength that steadies every reach and every lift.

Before you are cleared

Prevent

Fix what keeps reloading it.

Your desk setup, your tools, your backhand and your warmup get sorted, because that is the part that decides whether it comes back.

Staff was very attentive and helpful. They took the time to explain what I should be doing and how it should be done.

Shared by Mark W. · Moore Physical Therapy, Mesa

Not sure what he should be doing with it, or how

Shown how it should be done, and his questions answered

Explained the why Mark W.

Related Conditions

Pain rarely stays in one place.

Load one link of the arm too hard and the next one starts talking. Here is what else we treat.

1

Tendinitis

An ache that shows up with the same movement every time.

Learn More 2

Shoulder Pain

Reaching for the top shelf and stopping halfway.

Learn More 3

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Numb fingers and a heavy arm when you raise it.

Learn More

Questions, Answered

What people ask before booking an arm.

Usually not first. A scan shows structures, not what has been loading them, and plenty of pain-free arms show wear on imaging anyway. We start with a hands-on evaluation: grip testing, nerve tests, and motion checked at the neck, shoulder, elbow and wrist. That is what tells us whether this is tendon, nerve or joint. If imaging or a nerve study is genuinely the next step, we will say so and help you get it. You do not have to wait on a scan to start feeling better. Self-pay patients can come directly to us without a referral, as Arizona allows direct access for self-pay patients. If you’re using insurance, you’ll need a referral. Not sure what applies to you? Call your clinic and our team will verify it for you.

In most cases yes, and shutting the arm down completely tends to backfire. Hurt does not always mean harm, and a tendon that never gets loaded loses the strength you are trying to get back. What matters is the dose: which movements, how heavy, how often. That gets sorted by a licensed physical therapist at your evaluation, so you leave knowing what to keep doing and what to park for now. The dose changes as your arm gets stronger.

You get an estimated number of visits at your evaluation, and a reason for the number. An irritated nerve and an overloaded tendon do not behave the same way, and how long you have been working around it matters too. Your plan runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform and Prevent, and you will always know which one you are in and what is left. That is a plan with an endpoint, not an open-ended string of appointments.

Still Deciding?

Not sure where to start?

You don’t need to know which clinic or which service is right before you reach out. Start a request, or call the clinic closest to you, and we’ll help you sort out the rest.

5.0 · 866 Google reviews

Let’s start with your name.

Start your request on our secure patient portal. It’s the same place every appointment request on this site goes, so nothing gets lost along the way.

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Opens our patient portal at patients.moorephysicaltherapy.com.

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