Avoid Tennis Elbow

I had Golfers elbow, the opposite side from what is called Tennis elbow, from playing tennis. I had it for a year and at its worse it hurt to wash my hands. Obviously tennis was restricted but I continued to play on a restricted basis. If I stopped it got better but came back as soon as I started playing. I did a bunch of reading and study. I iced, took Aleve when needed and did what these guys said. https://youtu.be/xCZoFTVKJQk. One has to be careful with advice you get on the net, etc and take everything with a good dose of skepticism. I am now pain free for the most part and don’t know if what I did helped or things just healed. I am 68 years old, still hit pretty hard and have always played, and still do, with the Babolot Pure Drive strung with RPM Blast at 50#. If the elbow starts hurting, it’s been a year pain free, I will definitely go to a more forgiving racket and string.
Thanks for having such an interesting site and I hope your recovery is complete.
Steve,
Los Alamitos, Ca

I developed tennis elbow by using the wilson ultra tour (…!!!!) with kirschbaum pro line evolution at 22kg.
I got rid of it in two months time by doing 3 things… 1. purchased the diadem elevate and 2. followed the advice and protocol in this link http://drjuliansaunders.com/ask-dr-j-issue-223-dodgy-elbows-revisited/ 3. heat it and massage it. The finger band exersice is good as is the flexbar exersice. Follow the advice and protocol of the guy in the link above you will not regret it.

I developed epicondylitis two times. The first was when switching to the stiff Adrenaline Luxilon string (using a highly flexible Prince exo3 tour 16×18 with 20gr lead tape). After switching back to my usual (and less stiff) Luxilon Big Banger, pain disappeared. The second time was when testing Yonex ezone (too stiff and too light racquet). Now I am using a heavy (330gr) head light and flexible Volkl C10 pro with Luxilon 4G. I can play 8 hours per week without any pain! :)

My advice is that of a person whose only source of income was to teach tennis. And this type of injury led me near depression.
I suffered tennis elbow and had to stop for a year and a half, due to the racket material. I was sponsored by Head, and they constantly changed the racket. The second time, I stood for almost a year. That second was for the grip. On the first occasion, it hurt when I hit and on the second, even without hitting. That second was easier, because it was due to having reduced the size of the grip, from a 3 of a lifetime to a 2.
I was treated with infliltrations, massages, rest, shock waves, Intratisular Percutaneous Electrolysis (EPI®) and finally came to consider operating my elbow.
RESTING DOES NOT SERVE ANYTHING, moreover, it is counterproductive since you lose muscle.
I stopped many times because of the pain, and when the only option they gave me was to go through the operating room, I had to do a Völkl event at my school. It was a racket test for my students. I tried two of them out of curiosity, and it was impossible. By chance, at the end of the session I had to play with a student, who was left alone and taking any racket from the bag, I began to play. Not only did he play normal, but I could also hit with full power. Völkl event manager told me that it was very flexible because it was made of fiberglass (c7 pro).
Conclusions: If one model is going well, do not make changes and if you have to try others (as is your case), try not to hit too hard.
Another factor that damages the elbow is overgrip that slips you, as well as those that are mounted with much supersosition. The overgrip must be placed very tight and overlapping only about 2 millimeters. That will prevent the area from being padded and exerting excessive force with the tendons having to squeeze the hand.
I hope you get well soon, Jonas.

Hi Jonas,
Its bad to read that you have a tennis elbow. As you know im a tenniscoach, stringer and customizer, and I play/teach tennis with pain for 19 years now. When I was 18 I torn my bicep, tricep, tendons and my shoulder joint and capsule were torn in half and a tendon next to my shoulder joint was torn off. (yeey tennis is good for you…) It never healed good and still have pain every day when I sleep/play. for me dry needling helps a lot and exercises every day. But first take your time to recover! It is a very nasty injury.
What also helps for me is playing with low kilo’s. My PT57A’s are also helping, but each other racket cause more pain for me. I play with 15 kilo’s and use the Diadem Evolution17 in mains and Diadam Solstice power 18 in the crosses. At the moment im busy with testing the Stringproject strings, also at 15 kilo’s.
Im not a fan of different kilo’s in mains and crosses. And when stringers say that you have to string the mains harder because the extra length , I tell them that’s bullsh*t. When you string mains at 15 kilo and the crosses at 15 kilo, then its 15 kilo. My ert300 confirms that for me. But its easy, when you use a handmachine, you have to do more with the mains before it reaches 15 kilo then when you do the crosses. In the end, both are 15 kilo. Beside that its a personal thing, but mains don’t have to be strung harder then the crosses.

This you won’t like to hear, but all the time different rackets and strings, won’t help your injury.. Constantly different balances, head heavy, head light and so on won’t help your arm. choose your string setup wisely when you start playing again so you can play without pain!
Good luck Jonas!!

Jonas,

I feel for you. I went through this a few years ago. Went to an Orthopedic surgeon who put me in carpel tunnel brace and gave me wrist exercises. No relief and wasn’t getting better. I couldn’t lift my briefcase or shake hands. Eventually one of the pros at my club told me to call this masseuse who works a lot of east coast US tennis tournaments and areas college teams. I made an appointment and found out that the masseuse was Michael Phelps’ personal masseuse for five years when he was swimming competitively. He said a lot of interesting things — swimmers and tennis players deal with similar injuries (repetitive overhead). He said he’s treated many, many cases of tennis elbow and rarely does he see the cause emanating from an injury to the elbow. He had me lie on my stomach and he started to work my upper back. He started on the left (I’m right handed) and said you’re pretty loose. then went to the right side deep in the shoulder and said “ah ha, you’re tight as a drum.” He went on to say that this is what he sees as the cause of most tennis elbow. The repetitive overhead motion causes a muscle deep in the shoulder to tighten and basically pulls on the tendon that runs from the shoulder all the way to the wrist. He said it often manifests in elbow and wrist pain.

It’s a little hard to get at because it’s deep in the shoulder, but he worked me for an hour and literally after about 45/50 minutes my whole arm just relaxed and my elbow felt dramatically better. He said “you’ll feel a bit beat up for a day or two but after a few days you should feel a lot, lot better.” He was right. I did one more half hour session and he said the muscle responded great and loosed right up. Very soon I was back on the courts.

I’m not saying it’s the cure for all, but it worked for me (dramatically) and according to the masseuse, for many other tennis players and swimmers as well. I keep a platform tennis ball in my office and put it behind my chair or roll on it on the wall if my elbow starts to act up. I can find the spot deep in the shoulder and roll it out with the ball so far with no problem.

PS – I have several different flexbands and do those exercises as well and like them. But the real cause of my tennis elbow was the muscle deep in my shoulder. According to the masseuse, it’s the most common cause of tennis elbow he sees.

Let me know if you want more details and thanks for what you do,

Paul