Tennis elbow is a very common injury that can be debilitating to people strength training as well as playing tennis. If you have pain on the outside of your elbow that is most likely tennis elbow. Pain on the inside is called golfers elbow. Basically this is inflammation in the muscles that extend the wrist. Here are the muscles that generally are effecting the elbow with tennis elbow.
Why does this happen?
1-Tight forearm extensor muscles. We dont realize how much we use our forearms until there is an issue with them. Tightness in the muscles of the forearms can cause a compensation pattern with the elbow causing pain.
2-Tight Tricep Muscle-If you see how close the tricep is to the elbow, a tight tricep muscle can effect how the elbow moves which causes pain.
3-Limited shoulder rotation- This is generally the issue. When your shoulder doesn’t rotate properly in tennis or in weightlifting (think chin ups and the front rack position) the elbow compensates and therefore takes the brunt of the pain causing irritation. Overuse of this muscle can also cause irritation.
How do I fix this?
This method is in no way a magic pill for fixing your tennis elbow and I recommend consulting with a physician or PT if you think something is seriously wrong. Having said that I have found this method to be extremely helpful.
First we need to reduce some inflammation in the effected area and then try and loosen up some the muscles that may effect the area. How do we do that:
1-scraping or superficial massage-If you have a graston tool that works best but a butter knife may do the trick. 1-2 minutes until the skin turns pink. Helps get some new blood moving to the area
2-Voodoo floss the elbow-Create a tight band to wrap the elbow and then get some movement in the elbow which may break up some tightness. This also allows some bloodflow to the area, gets some junk out and brings it fresh blood for oxygen and nutrients.
3-Forearm and tricep smash-This is like getting a deep tissue massage but using a lacrosse ball or tennis ball and you can do this yourself. 1-2 minutes on each 4-5 days a week (you can do this everyday as well but at least 4 days)
4-chest and posterior cuff smash-Tight chest muscles and posterior rotator cuff muscles can limit rotation of the shoulder which can irritate the elbow. 1-2 minutes for each, do this before exercise as well.
Once you have no pain thats awesome! However, keep working on these tight areas to reduce the likelihood of getting elbow pain again.
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