tennis elbow cure??

[cityblue]

i have been playing badminton for years and every now and again i get excruciating in my elbow i think its a trapped nerve!!
does anyone have any miracle cures or excercises that could help me rid me of this pain?

[Phil McBride]

Use a thicker grip on your racket, if that doesn't work go see a doctor, don't use one of those tennis elbow supports it will make things worse!

[NeilNicholls]

There is plenty of information out there on the net (e.g. jointpaininfo.com), but some of it is contradictory, so ideally, see a physio.

You want the correct size grip, not necessarily thicker. One cause of tennis elbow can be holding the racquet too tightly. Having too thin a grip can contribute to this.

My experience with tennis elbow is that the pain was more of a dull ache and long lasting rather than short and sharp.

I did briefly use a tennis elbow support and found it useful (but I wouldn't want to use it long-term)

P.S. see also the Peak Performance website
www.pponline.co.uk

[hilly1285]

I think im right in saying that tennis elbow is a tear/strain on a tendon in the elbow (tendonitus), and not a trapped nerve. If its a trapped nerve then try a hot water bottle on your elbow, followed by gentle massage, repeat this a few times and you should feel alot better. If its tennis elbow then you would be wise to see a physio because that requires much more intense rehab.

[philhowe]

Tennis elbow is very difficult to play with.Sometimes rest is the best answer as it can be an overuse injury.The other things to consider are to reduce racket tensions or change the racket to one that doesn't aggrevate the injury.I changed from Yonex MP 100 to MP99 and for some strange reason the MP99 gave me tennis elbow? Hope that this helps you.

[safeguy]

I've had tennis elbow .Tennis elbow is the over use of the muscle sometimes due to too much play. You should rest it for a while maybe miss a couple of sessions. Playing with it makes it worse. Also use deep heat or a type of gel to help. It does make a difference but the best remedy is to rest ur arm. Also another way this happens is due to bad technique or having a very tight grip on the racket at all times when on court. You should not always strain the muscles in your arm. This will prevent in. Hope i've been of some help.

[hilly1285]

Playing a 'wristy' game put alot of strain of the tendon in the elbow, which causes tennis elbow. So for the long term trying to use your elbow to create the power in shots rather than your wrist, this might help redude the pain aswell. If you decide to continue playing and feel some pain, you should stop immediately and apply ice to reduce swelling.

[flamingjam]

sorry maybe abit young 4 this but i had tennis elbow it was caused by over play and playing wristy helped reduce the strain on the elbow

[northantsgirl]

i had tennis elbow for a good few months b4 i went to ict, try a few exercises to build up your brachioradialis (back of your lower arm). i did lots of wrist flexes using stuff like small weights and bags of sugar until my muscle ached. do it everyday. i had 4 days of intensive badminton n my tennis elbow didnt appear at all. hope that helps xx

[Site Support]

One of our members has emailed in some great info:

Tennis Elbow – official title lateral epicondylitis – is a form of tendonitis or inflammation. It manifests itself at the outside joint of the elbow where the muscle attaches to the bone (particularly the extensor carpi radialis brevis).

It is a dull ache which gets worse with exercise. It can feel very stiff if you carry a heavy object like a shopping bag, for any length of time and you can certainly feel it if you put your hand flat, palm down, on the table and raise your second finger.

The best treatment, as with any inflammation, is to ice the area. After a while you can try ‘contrast bathing’ which is 10 minutes ice, 10 minutes warmth but you must rest the injury. Massage will help prevent and reduce any scar tissue which may build up and improve the flexibility of the muscle, putting less tension through the tendon.

Yes, increasing the size of the grip on the racquet will help but there are no quick fixes.

[andymcg]

Also, a bit of a different slant on this:

http://www.acsm.org/health+fitness/pdf/currentcomments/tennisel103101.pdf


Current opinion seems to be that it should not be called tendonitis as that implies inflammation when it is rarely present (or so my physio tells me!)

[lauraw]

hi i dunno if what i got is tennis elbow its not on the elbow its slef but on the otha side where the muscle is if u no what i mean, its really sore when i tense my arm, it doesnt bothere me when im playing but afterward it aches and aches sometimes when im lying down i get shooting pains up my arm into my shoulder, i was wondering if anyone can help me?

[cityblue]

i went to doctors and found its a trapped nerve in my elbow and theres 2 possible cures on is surgery depending on how badly its trapped or thunb and finger massage with oil.
so will try the massage thing first if that doesnt work maybe surgery.

[steph666]

my mam suffers with long term tennis elbow shes had an operation on it that didnt work i think if you consult a doctor about it hopefully they could send you to a physio to have some work done on it if it is really bad. however if you do use the wrist a lot as hilly said it can become sore but for many players it is to late to change the way they play just some useful advice hope it helps :)

[eddykid]

Get a better technic!!!!!

[hilly1285]

Whats a technic when its at home?

[steph666]

hilly you should know wat a technic is after all the coaching with pete :)

[hilly1285]

I know about cats on hot tin roof's, and 'push the racket forward, pull the racket back, swing it over your shoulder and give the bird a wack' but higgers hasn't taugh me about technic.

[eddykid]

Come on guys you know what a technic is........

Maybe you don't......

Good luck with hitting the dead budgie then.