Basking Ridge
Our main clinic on Allen Road — one-on-one physical therapy in Basking Ridge, NJ.
552 Allen Rd
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
Mon / Wed / Fri8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Tue / Thu11:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday9:00 – 11:00 AM
Conditions We Treat
You don't need to play tennis to have tennis elbow. Pain on the outer elbow that flares when you grip a coffee mug, turn a doorknob, or shake a hand is usually a tendon that has been loaded beyond what it can currently handle. The answer isn't endless rest — it's rebuilding the tendon's capacity, progressively and with guidance. At Mettle, that plan is built one-on-one around your job, your sport, and your day.
Symptoms
The Condition
Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is, in most cases, a tendon load problem rather than an inflammation problem. Where the forearm muscles attach to the outer elbow, the tendon becomes irritated and less tolerant of load — gripping, lifting, and twisting ask more of it than it can currently give. That framing matters, because it explains the treatment: rest calms a tendon but doesn't restore its capacity, which is why symptoms so often return the moment normal activity resumes. Progressive loading — gradually asking more of the tendon, in a planned way — is how capacity is rebuilt.
Beyond Rest
A counterforce brace (the strap worn just below the elbow) can reduce strain on the tendon during activity, and for some patients we fit and provide one. Ice and rest settle a flare. But none of them rebuild the tendon. If you've rested for weeks and the pain returned with your first full day of work, you've already met the limit of that approach — the missing piece is a loading program, dosed properly.
Most tennis elbow is none of these — but these need a physician first.
Treatment
Every visit is one-on-one with a licensed physical therapist; your treatment is never passed to aides or assistants.
Loading programs often use named protocols — a FlexBar eccentric program or heavy slow resistance training — chosen and dosed for your tendon. Where soft-tissue work will help, your therapist may use the Graston Technique, instrument-assisted treatment for the tendon and forearm. For some patients, Class IV laser therapy is added for elbow tendon pain as one part of the plan.
Elbow pain from work: repetitive gripping, tools, and lifting make tennis elbow a common work injury. If yours is work-related, our work injury management service covers evaluation, documentation, and job-specific rehabilitation.
The Inner Elbow
Golfer's elbow (medial epicondylitis) is the mirror image — pain on the inner elbow, where the tendons that flex the wrist and grip attach. It flares with gripping, shaking hands, and swinging a club, and despite the name it is at least as common in manual work and weight training as in golf. The principles are identical: calm the irritation, then progressively reload the tendon, with the same manual therapy, soft-tissue work, and ergonomic changes — aimed at the inner elbow. One page covers both because the conditions are twins; your evaluation establishes which side — occasionally both — you're dealing with.
Getting Started
A full one-on-one evaluation, typically 30–60 minutes: grip strength testing, which movements and loads reproduce your pain, elbow/wrist/neck screening (neck problems can refer pain to the elbow), and a review of how your work and activities load the arm. You leave with an explanation, your first loading exercises, and practical changes to start immediately.
In New Jersey, you can start physical therapy without a physician referral. Some insurance plans set their own coverage requirements; we verify your benefits before treatment and explain what we find.
New patients can start with a free screening, and first visits are typically available within 24–48 hours. We verify your benefits before treatment. Medicare and most commercial insurance are accepted, and self-pay is available too.
Questions & Answers
For established cases, expect months, not weeks. Tendons rebuild slowly, and a progressive loading program works gradually — measured in grip strength and what you can do, week over week. Cases caught early do better. Beware any promise of a quick fix; this condition punishes shortcuts.
That's your physician's domain, and the honest picture is mixed: injections can relieve pain in the short term, while longer-term outcomes are debated — it's a conversation worth having properly with your doctor. We don't provide injections. What we can say: whatever you decide about an injection, the tendon's capacity still has to be rebuilt, and that's the part physical therapy does.
Usually, yes — with modified load. Complete rest deconditions the tendon further; reckless loading keeps it irritated. The middle path — adjusted grips, tools, technique, and volume — is something we plan with you around your actual job and sport.
A counterforce brace can reduce the strain on the tendon during gripping activities, and many patients find work more comfortable with one. We can fit or provide one if your evaluation supports it. It is a support for the loading program, not a substitute for it.
In New Jersey, you can start physical therapy without a physician referral. Some insurance plans set their own coverage requirements; we verify your benefits before treatment and explain what we find.
Visit Us
Our main clinic on Allen Road — one-on-one physical therapy in Basking Ridge, NJ.
552 Allen Rd
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
On Washington Valley Road — one-on-one physical therapy in Martinsville, NJ.
1918 Washington Valley Rd
Martinsville, NJ 08836