He was told it was tennis elbow.

He was told it was tennis elbow.

That made sense at the time. Garreth was a carpenter in his late 50s, used his arms all day, and the pain was right on the outside of the elbow. He followed instructions: rest, ice, brace, load it slowly, stick to the plan.

Months passed. Nothing changed.

Then came the cortisone. Then a different brace. Then someone tried dry needling. Still the same pain, same location, same problem. He started using his other arm more. Started feeling helpless. Started wondering if maybe this was just permanent now.

He wasn’t lazy. He wasn’t looking for quick fixes. He was doing everything right. And he was getting nowhere.

By the time he walked into our clinic, the only thing he was sure of was that something wasn't adding up.

We checked the elbow. It was sore, yes. But nothing about it looked like the cause. The movement was clean. The joint was stable. He winced on certain tests—but so would anyone if their brain had been guarding a spot for that long.

So we kept going.

Down the arm. Up the shoulder. Across the neck. Eventually, we found it: one tiny area in the shoulder muscles that wasn’t moving properly.

When he turned his head left, it dragged. When we pressed on that segment and asked him to grip, the strength in his hand changed instantly.

That was the moment it made sense.

The elbow pain wasn’t the cause. It was the victim.

The brain had picked up on poor movement in the shoulder muscle and decided to protect the chain. That protection showed up at the elbow because that’s where the forces were collecting.

It wasn’t tennis elbow. It was something else entirely.

This isn’t a rare story. We see it all the time. A label gets applied too quickly, and everything that follows is based on that one assumption. That assumption becomes the lens through which every new treatment is applied.

But if the assumption is wrong, everything else that follows—even the really good treatment—isn’t hitting the mark.

That’s the misdiagnosis epidemic no one is talking about.

In fact, a recent 2025 study from the University of Cambridge revealed just how damaging this can be. It found that when patients are misdiagnosed—especially when their symptoms are dismissed as "just in their head"—the consequences extend far beyond the physical. It leads to long-term damage to their confidence, emotional wellbeing, and trust in the healthcare system. Even when the initial label is given with good intent, it can quietly change a person’s sense of self.

The problem isn’t that clinicians don’t care or aren’t skilled. It’s that most systems are set up to treat what hurts, not find out why it hurts.

The site of pain is rarely the true source of the problem.

Once the shoulder muscle was released and trust returned to that movement, the pain started to disappear. Quickly. Naturally. Not because anything was forced or corrected, but because the brain no longer saw a need to protect.

The strength came back. The fear faded. He got his life back.

Not from magic. Just from looking in the right place.

It’s happening more than we think. The wrong area is getting all the attention, and the real issue—the thing the brain is actually worried about—gets missed.

That’s why we do what we do.

If it feels like you’ve done everything right and still nothing is changing, maybe the problem isn’t you.

Maybe it’s just been the wrong target.