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Recently, I have had a recurrence of the dreaded tennis elbow. What
can I do about it?
Unfortunately,
sooner or later, most of us have to suffer through the dreaded
tennis elbow. Between 10 and 50 percent of players suffer from
tennis elbow so you’re not alone.
Tennis
elbow occurs when repetitive forces cause micro-trauma injuries to
the tissues around the elbow. Common playing factors include:
using a new racket, using nylon strings that are too tight,
oversized grips, playing in the wind, hitting ‘wet balls’.
In
addition, if you suddenly increase your playing frequency and couple
this with poor technique, especially on the backhand and serve, you
reduce your body's ability to withstand these forces and impede
normal recovery.
In
a study by Kelley (1994), “...sufferers showed poor body positioning
and greater involvement of their forearm extensor muscles. They also
showed rapid change from wrist flexion to wrist extension when
striking the ball and early in the follow-through. This placed the
wrist in an unstable position to withstand repeated forces.
Importantly, the backhand stroke heightened these differences...”
If you
are suffering from tennis elbow, you will have pain radiating down
the lateral side of your elbow or stiffness in this area. Your
symptoms may disappear if you stop playing, but this is
self-defeating. If you consult a doc, he’ll suggest
anti-inflammatory drugs, injections, and RICE (rest, ice,
compression and elevation). These, however, merely treat the
symptoms and don't address the underlying factors that caused the
injury. Another study by Noteboom (1994) suggested 5 stages of
treatment for tennis elbow: 1. Reduce pain, 2. Reduce
inflammation, 3. Induce the healing process, 4. Maintain fitness,
and 5. Control force placed on injured tissues.
In my
own case, after I’ve completed stages 1-3, I use a series of
stretching
exercises coupled with reducing the force in hitting the ball.
Racket stringing technology is developing all the time and I’ve
found that one of Gamma’s latest strings, Live Wire
(TM), definitely eases
the force on my arm; dampeners never worked for me. While it might cost a few $$ more for a
restring, even so, you’ll easily make up for this in frustration and
injury reduction.
Candidly, putting the right strings in your racket is worth at least
a point-a-game advantage in power, control, and injury prevention!
If you can afford the technology, buy it!! Likewise, if you worried
about your technique, spend a few $$$ on lessons before it gets
chronic.
(c) Rob Muir USPTA
June 11, 2010 |
