There is nothing worse than having a bad game of tennis, or is there? How about an injury that if left untreated can not only leave you in a lot of pain but can keep you away from the court entirely for a much as a couple of years? I know that I would gladly stick with my usual bad game than suffer any injury that leaves me with no choice about playing or not. If you don’t believe me then just watch a tennis match and see if you can spot the injured player in the crowd who wants to be out there. With a face like a child’s who has just opened the unwanted Christmas present slouched in their chair as though the life has literally been sucked out of them; they shouldn’t be hard to spot.

What is Tennis Elbow?

If you thought that tennis elbow won’t affect you as you have never touched a tennis racket, then you may want to sit up and pay attention. Tennis elbow has been around for centuries, in fact it was around before tennis was even invented. As you can imagine in those day it wasn’t called tennis elbow it was probably called sword elbow or in caveman times even club elbow. Before I digress any further I should probably get back on track. Tennis elbow is not just for tennis players, you can suffer tennis elbow if you play any racket sport, golf and any sport that focuses predominantly on one side of your body.

Don’t relax just yet, even if you don’t play sport you can still be affected especially if you do a one-sided activity like electricians, carpenters and construction work. Its scientific name is lateral epicondylitis and this is because the small bony area on the outside of your elbow is called your lateral epicondyle. This bony area is where your forearm extensor muscles join into or originate from. Your extensor muscles are in charge of extending your fingers and wrist. It is the huge amount of pressure placed on this small muscle and insertion into the bone that can cause the damage and swelling. Away from the tennis court it is also repetitive movements that can cause swelling also know as repetitive strain injury.

What causes it on the tennis court?

The main reason tennis players suffer from this is due to bad technique over a long period., but also weakness in the extensor muscle can contribute to the injury. The most common cause for recreational players is on the backhand and using too much wrist movement instead of keeping the wrist firm and using the arm and shoulder which is a much stronger and resilient technique. Hitting an average speed ball can be the equivalent of lifting a 25kg weight. Now a lot of people will struggle bench pressing that weight let alone using the small forearm muscles to shift it. This is why you should not use the wrist to move your racket but the stronger muscles of your torso, shoulders and arms in a combination that gives you maximum strength. The movement should initiate from your core (waist – Beeble) and work its way to your arm as the last piece of the movement.

Do you have tennis elbow?

Our advice is to go and see your doctor if you have pain in your elbow as whilst you may play tennis and you may tick the box of several of the symptoms but there are a few other injuries that can cause similar effects. Be sensible and consult your doctor. Here are the main symptoms:

•    Pain on the outside of your elbow on and around the small bony part
•    Pain that also radiates up the upper arm
•    Weakness in the wrist which can affect even the most simple day-to-day tasks
•    The bony section on the outside of your elbow should be tender to the touch
•    Pain at the point when hand is palm down and resisted against downward movement

Your treatment for tennis elbow

•    At the early stages you should use an ice pack wrapped in a cloth to cool the area for a couple of days
•    Avoid any movement that cause pain or discomfort but don’t stop exercise completely, keep running etc
•    After a couple of days you can continue with tennis but avoid strokes that cause pain
•    Use a heat retainer and alternate with and ice pack. So: 20 seconds heat 20 seconds ice and alternate this until you have completed 5 minutes. Repeat 5 times daily
•    Taping the wrist can not only support your elbow under load but it can also help limit the bad wrist technique that potentially caused the problem in the first place
•    Wear an elbow brace/support throughout the rehabilitation process to help protect the injury and reduce the load on the area
•    When the pain has subsided and you can tolerate the pain of a handshake then you can start actively exercising the area

So what exercises are going to help tennis elbow?

Isometric exercises are key at the start. You can get a better understanding of isometric exercise here. Basically isometric exercise is using the muscle in a stationary position. So for the wrist hold your arm out straight with your palm facing downwards. Now move your hand downwards so that the top of your hand is now facing forwards. This is where you turn into your own weights machine. Attempt to raise your wrist up whilst at the same time resisting the movement. The end result should be no actual movement of your arm but the muscles tightening up. Repeat this with your hand straight and with it held upwards and your palm forwards. Each time should last 20 seconds and repeated 15 times.

More movement

Dynamic exercises next (exercises with movement – Beeble). Take a light resistance of around 1 kg sit down and place your forearm on your upper leg so that the wrist is in the air with palm facing downwards just past your knee. Very slowly lower the weight downwards to the lowest point without pain and then upwards to the highest point without pain. Repeat 15 times and do keep the movement slow.

And some stretching

Stretching exercises should be applied to the forearm extensors. We do this by holding your injured arm straight out in front of you with the palm facing downwards. With your other hand pull the hand down as far as you can without causing pain. Hold it for 20 seconds and relax repeat this regularly throughout the day around 15 times.

Of course whilst you are actively repairing your injury you must also remember that the rest of your arm, shoulder and torso needs strengthening to help avoid this ever happening again. There are no particular exercises that are going to help but a good range with lots of variety should help you create a strong upper body to give you the best chance of staying on the tennis court. Find all the exercises you will need at our exercise library

Summary

This is a guide to help you understand your injury. If you feel that you injury ticks all the boxes and you must have tennis elbow do not start going through the healing process without consulting a doctor first. Believe me there are several different causes of all these symptoms and one can be quite a serious upper back problem. Be safe and sensible and check with your doctor first. Finally although our methods show you how to get back on that tennis court as quickly and safely as possible our techniques do not tackle the initial cause which is potentially bad technique. Seek the advice of a professional to give you some lessons to help with your technique and don’t be arrogant about it even the top players like Andy Murray have regular lessons.

All the best with your tennis game.

Related posts

• Introducing Speed Circuits: the Fast Way to Lose Weight (13)
• How Yoga Helps with Losing Weight (5)
• Exercising But Not Losing Weight? (6)
• Being Happy and Healthy – a Six-point Daily Plan for Women (1)
• The Fruit of Mom’s Labors (0)

This entry was Posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Injuries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.