So I’ve been messing around with tennis elbow the last couple months. Yeah, it stinks. Started acting up after doing some heavy lifting stuff in the garden, then boom – turning a doorknob felt like climbing Everest. Ouch.
Obviously, I needed to fix this thing. But man, the options out there? It’s confusing and nobody talks clearly about how much stuff actually costs. I started digging, specifically wondering what the chiropractor would run me.
My first stop was good old Google. Typed in “tennis elbow chiropractor cost near me”. Pages upon pages of clinics popped up, but real pricing? Forget it. Most sites just wanted my phone number for a “free consultation”. Sketchy. Phoned a couple places pretending I was a broke college student (hey, gotta be resourceful!). Got vague answers like “it depends on your needs” or “around $50-$75 per visit“. One dude finally mumbled that an initial consult might be $80-$100, then regular visits $40-$65. Okay, starting to get somewhere.
But how many visits? That’s the kicker. Reading forums and even glancing at chiro sites, they usually wanna see you for weeks, sometimes months. Let’s be super conservative: say 8 visits. That’s 8 times $50 at least? $400 bucks, probably more. And what exactly were they gonna do? Crack my elbow? Rub my neck? Felt fuzzy. Friend of mine went to one for his back – $1,200 lighter and he still groans getting outta his car. Not exactly a glowing review.
Okay, so chiropractor seemed like maybe a questionable money pit for an elbow. Time to stack it up against other stuff I could actually try:
- Rest & Cheap Ice Pack: Free. Well, mostly free – hurts your pride staring at weeds taking over your garden. Effectiveness? Takes forever. Like, glacial pace slow.
- Counterforce Brace (Elbow Strap): Went to the drugstore. Found a decent one. Cost me $25 bucks. Stuck it on. Felt a bit better lifting my coffee mug instantly. Simple.
- Physical Therapy: Now this cost me effort to find out. Called my insurance – thank goodness for that “mega-corp gold plan” my work provides (sorta). With my plan, PT visits are a $30 copay each. Specialist told me tennis elbow typically needs maybe 6-12 visits. So let’s average at 9 visits? That’s $270 outta my pocket. BUT, the PT spent a whole hour actually touching my arm, showing me specific exercises for my tendons. Left with homework (stretches, strengthening moves) feeling exhausted but hopeful. Real tools to fix it myself long term.
- Doc In A Box & Cortisone Shot: Got desperate one bad week. Walked into one of those urgent care clinics. Doctor? Saw him for maybe 4 minutes. He poked my elbow, yep, tennis elbow. Offered a cortisone shot. Total bill with injection? Came to $200 flat. Insurance covered zip? Ouch. Felt better… for about 10 days. Then back to square one. Felt stiff as a board near the injection site too. Womp womp. Waste.
So where did that leave me and Mr. Chiropractor?
Shelling out potentially hundreds – maybe over a grand – for someone to maybe adjust my spine for an elbow issue? While telling me I gotta keep coming back? Versus $25 for a strap I wear daily? Or $270 total for targeted therapy teaching me how to actually fix the problem myself? Even the dumb $200 shot felt less sketchy money-wise than the vague chiro path.
Bottom line? Chiropractor cost for tennis elbow isn’t cheap, that’s for sure. The total bill stacks up scary fast, way quicker than those gentle-sounding per-visit prices suggest. Compared to almost every other option I could throw at it – especially physical therapy which actually tackles the tendon problem directly – the chiropractor route felt like forking out cash for basically… hope? And maybe a back crack. Hard pass for me.
Turns out, sometimes the shiny, alternative path is just a detour emptying your wallet. Next time? Skipping the chiro call altogether.