What is Tennis Elbow?
Tennis elbow is a repetitive strain injury that can be incredibly painful. The good news is that you can prevent it, or at the very least, lessen the chances of it occurring. Here is how to prevent tennis elbow.
Now we know that tennis elbow is a pretty common injury and it can appear during work or all kinds of other sports. As we are more interested in tennis than anything else, we’ll focus on finding out how to prevent tennis elbow.
How to Prevent Tennis Elbow When Playing Tennis
Use the Right Tennis Equipment.
One of the main reasons that tennis elbow can occur can be traced to using the wrong racket. It is important to get professionally fitted with a racket to ensure that it is the proper size for you.
Most sporting goods stores will be able to help you pick a racket that has the right size and the right grip, based on your age/height. Ideally, if you are interested in playing tennis professionally or more than just every once in a while, you would need to ask your tennis coach if he/she can recommend a good tennis racket.
If you are playing with a racket that is too heavy for you, too tightly strung, or with a too wide grip, it is possible to stress your elbow joint and end up with tennis elbow.
Stretch Beforehand.
Although tennis elbow is a repetitive injury, you can reduce the chances of having it occur by taking the time to warm up your joints properly.
Learn the right exercises to do before you play and remember not to play too long. Several hours of tennis will hurt even the best players and can put too much stress on your joints. It is better to keep your sessions shorter than risk having to deal with this injury.
Wear a brace.
If you already have a problem with tennis elbow, or if you will be playing for extended periods of time, wearing a brace can reduce the amount of stress on that joint. You may want to have your doctor prescribe a specific brace and get one that is properly fitted to make sure that it will work the way it was intended.
Practice Using Good Form.
Tennis elbow can be exacerbated by improper form. If you are new to the sport, it is important to get at least one lesson from a pro to start off with, and then to follow up with one from time to time to make sure that you are using the right form. This can greatly reduce your risk of becoming injured.
If you train more often, make sure to keep a good form, as instructed.
Play Less.
Sadly, for many players, the only way to prevent tennis elbow from flaring up is to limit how often they play the game. This is usually the case for those with severe cases, or for those that have been playing tennis for many years. In this case, playing less may be your only option.
While tennis elbow is common among professional players, there are ways that it can be prevented. If you are noticing increasing pain in your elbow joint, it is best to contact your doctor and schedule a checkup. They will be able to make further recommendations that will help you stay pain free and help you get back into the game again.
Can You Prevent Tennis Elbow?
This article will provide you with some tips on how to prevent tennis elbow, regardless of why you might get it.
As a tennis player, you can expect that you might be afflicted with tennis elbow. Fortunately, there are some treatments that can cause a lot of relief. Of course, if you get a tennis elbow, the most important thing that you can do is rest your arm.
However, nobody wants to get a tennis elbow in the first place. So here are some tips on how to prevent tennis elbow:
• Stay in shape.
• Do not overwork your elbow – if you have not played tennis for a while, take it easy. It may take a few weeks before you can play the kind of game you used to play.
• Strengthen the muscles of your arm, then they can take away some of the stress that would normally befall your elbow. Be sure to strengthen your shoulder and upper back, too.
• Do not overuse your arm – repeated movements can injure your tendon. Try switching arms when possible. If you are practicing your serve, be sure to take a lot of breaks.
• When lifting things, keep your palm facing your body. Lifting things in this way does not cause as much strain on your tendons.
• Stretch before playing tennis or participating in any other activity that might cause pain.
• Use only equipment that is appropriate for your ability and your strength.
• Make sure that your technique is down – the better your technique, the less likely you are to injure yourself.
• Try out a counterforce brace. This kind of brace is worn below your elbow, and it distributes pressure throughout your whole arm, thereby easing the pressure on the tendon. Make sure that you do not allow it to cut off your circulation, though.
• If you do start to feel pain, stop doing whatever action causes the pain!
• Apply ice to where you felt pain.
• Take a lot of breaks.
Tennis elbow is something that nobody wants to get, but many of us will. Following some of these tips, though, can reduce your chances of getting tennis elbow.
One of the most important things that you can do to prevent tennis elbow is to listen to your body – if your body is aching, listen to it. Figure out why you ache – did you forget to stretch? Have you been repeating a single motion? Are you overusing your arm? Any of these reasons (and many more) can lead to tennis elbow.
5 Tennis Elbow Exercises
Tennis elbow is primarily considered a Repetitive Stress Injury, (RSI) so as soon as you begin to improve you should start, gently with a couple of resistance tennis elbow exercises. Of course, you want to start simple and work your way up to things like dumbbells.
If you strain to re-gain strength before the tendons and muscles are ready, you can considerably undo any progress you may have made—or even make the problem worse. Once you can use dumbbells—even very light ones—we suggest that you try the following exercise:
- Holding a dumbbell in each hand, sit down.
- Lay your forearms down your thighs.
- Be sure that your hands are hanging over your knees.
- Your palms should be facing upwards.
- Begin by curling the weight upwards at the wrist and lowering slowly.
Another example would be tennis elbow exercises like squeezing a ball in your hand—then try to hold (momentarily) before releasing. There are a few very good tennis elbow exercises available. Let your tennis elbow exercises vary depending on how good the tendon feels—but always remember to include them as part of your regular schedule twice every day.
Your overall strength should get better—and you can keep in shape by doing lower body cardiovascular exercises Of course, you want to start simple, and work your way up to things like dumbbells.
If you strain to re-gain strength before the tendons and muscles are ready, you can considerably undo any progress you may have made—or even make the problem worse.
