From Donic to Stiga

[d3ss3n]

Hello everyone. I am changing my blade. I use a Donic Epox Carbotec and now i am switching over to Stiga Eternity VPS V. I am thinking of Xiom Omega V Pro FH and Tibhar Evo EL-S BH. I am switching over to an All Wood blade due to a tennis elbow and i wanted a less stiff and hard blade. Any advice would be more than welcome.

 

[ttmonster]

I think the first question people would like to know if you have tennis elbow why do you want to switch from a Carbon Blade , which should be in general faster, to an All Wood Blade which in general is slower .. I don't think the less stiff / hard blade reasoning holds in this case , its not about the blade absorbing the impact and saving your elbow the blow , its about making smaller strokes with less effort .. anyways .. lets wait till we hear more from you ..

 

[d3ss3n]

I think the first question people would like to know if you have tennis elbow why do you want to switch from a Carbon Blade , which should be in general faster, to an All Wood Blade which in general is slower .. I don't think the less stiff / hard blade reasoning holds in this case , its not about the blade absorbing the impact and saving your elbow the blow , its about making smaller strokes with less effort .. anyways .. lets wait till we hear more from you ..

It was the advice my sports doctor gave me

 

[Baal]

Try using a diffefent shape handle. If you use FL go to ST and vice versa. It will force a grip change and that can relieve tennis elbow.

 

[pgpg]

Tennis elbow might be caused by technique and not the equipment. I did have an episode of 'tennis elbow' a year ago, which gradually went away after I started to do a bit more of a body rotation, instead of relying on arm doing all the work.

Don't have video though, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[d3ss3n]

Try using a diffefent shape handle. If you use FL go to ST and vice versa. It will force a grip change and that can relieve tennis elbow.

I did the handle change...i was using anatomic handle on the Donic Epox Carbotec and now FL with Stiga Eterniry VPS V..

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

So far the info is good. The doctors intentions may be good but his understanding of TT equipment may not be.

You may want as light a blade as possible. But carbon reduces vibrations so it actually may be better for what you have than an all wood blade.

I would look at something light. Lighter than what you have. Maybe something like Photino Light. It is harder but a Viscaria Light may be okay too.

But things like what Baal said about changing grip, changing the kind of handle are intelligent. And also seeing if you can examine your stroke technique and change it a little. Slight changes in stroke technique can help you stop stressing the area which will help it get better.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[d3ss3n]

Tennis elbow might be caused by technique and not the equipment. I did have an episode of 'tennis elbow' a year ago, which gradually went away after I started to do a bit more of a body rotation, instead of relying on arm doing all the work.

Don't have video though, so take it with a grain of salt.

Due to that tennis elbow, i have away from table tennis since end of August. I am still trying to get rid of that curse

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Hopefully you've also been showed some exercises and stretches for that.

Two stretches that should help:

The stretches do need to be adjusted to your body's flexibility.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I did the handle change...i was using anatomic handle on the Donic Epox Carbotec and now FL with Stiga Eterniry VPS V..

What is the weight of your Stiga Eternity?


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[d3ss3n]

What is the weight of your Stiga Eternity?


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

I dont have a measuring scale unfortunately to check the weight

 

[d3ss3n]

Hopefully you've also been showed some exercises and stretches for that.

Two stretches that should help:

The stretches do need to be adjusted to your body's flexibility.


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I have been told to do some stretches like you said and i have also been practicing some stretches you showed me. It is helping me a lot but it has not fully healed yet

 

[laistrogian]

Like what carl said, you might want to switch to a lighter blade instead of switching to eternity. In fact eternity is probably even worse than your previous blade because that thing is pretty damn heavy.

Not to mention a combination of Omega V and EL-S is heavy as well

 

[ttmonster]

The other thing to make sure is not to grip the blade too tightly all the time , the grip should be firm but not too tight ... it will help you in both your game as well as to relax the muscles surrounding your elbow ...

 

[d3ss3n]

Like what carl said, you might want to switch to a lighter blade instead of switching to eternity. In fact eternity is probably even worse than your previous blade because that thing is pretty damn heavy.

Not to mention a combination of Omega V and EL-S is heavy as well

I switched blades because my carbon blade was too stiff for the poly ball and i really wanted to try the Eternity

 

[Dan]

Great advice above.

Here's my personal experience with a similar injury

I did a post around 5 months ago about the pain I was getting in my arm which the physio diagnosed mine as bicep tendinitis. I think all the variations of the names from Tennis Elbow, Golfers Elbow, Bicep Tendinitis and so on are all fairly similar in terms of symptoms and have similar methods to heal. This pain forced me to not be able to coach and play. I followed all the advice from Baal's grip change, stretching from Carl, lighter blade, play more relaxed and found they all helped tremendously. My physio also recommended I apply Ice on my arm twice a day which helped greatly to.

The cause of my injury

I guess like most injuries my injury was caused by overuse and over playing. I found over a few months in of rehab that it was my backhand side that bought on the pain. I found the action of playing a backhand really bought on the symptoms whereas I could play as many forehands as I wanted and no pain would come on whatsoever. Since I stopped using my backhand my recovery and pain was a lot less. In training and coaching sessions I used my forehand 90% of the time. The reason why I started getting less and less pain was because i simply stopped aggravating the weakness.

Healing and rest

I think the number one factor for healing this type of overuse, chronic injury is 'rest' and apply all the tactics mentioned above. Taking 3 months off with solid rehab will give you a lot of healing. I think then you want to apply some light strength exercises such as the use of therabands. There are a lot of different exercises on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stretching+with+therabands+tennis+elbow I would let your physio recommened you here as sometimes therbands can bring on your symptoms if not done correctly.

I think overtime you learn what works and what doesn't work for you. But I really do think you sometimes simply need to take rest. Sometimes missing 10 league games in the short term is not as bad as having ongoing pain for the next 3 seasons.

Good luck and see you around.

 

[d3ss3n]

Great advice above.

Here's my personal experience with a similar injury

I did a post around 5 months ago about the pain I was getting in my arm which the physio diagnosed mine as bicep tendinitis. I think all the variations of the names from Tennis Elbow, Golfers Elbow, Bicep Tendinitis and so on are all fairly similar in terms of symptoms and have similar methods to heal. This pain forced me to not be able to coach and play. I followed all the advice from Baal's grip change, stretching from Carl, lighter blade, play more relaxed and found they all helped tremendously. My physio also recommended I apply Ice on my arm twice a day which helped greatly to.

The cause of my injury

I guess like most injuries my injury was caused by overuse and over playing. I found over a few months in of rehab that it was my backhand side that bought on the pain. I found the action of playing a backhand really bought on the symptoms whereas I could play as many forehands as I wanted and no pain would come on whatsoever. Since I stopped using my backhand my recovery and pain was a lot less. In training and coaching sessions I used my forehand 90% of the time. The reason why I started getting less and less pain was because i simply stopped aggravating the weakness.

Healing and rest

I think the number one factor for healing this type of overuse, chronic injury is 'rest' and apply all the tactics mentioned above. Taking 3 months off with solid rehab will give you a lot of healing. I think then you want to apply some light strength exercises such as the use of therabands. There are a lot of different exercises on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stretching+with+therabands+tennis+elbow I would let your physio recommened you here as sometimes therbands can bring on your symptoms if not done correctly.

I think overtime you learn what works and what doesn't work for you. But I really do think you sometimes simply need to take rest. Sometimes missing 10 league games in the short term is not as bad as having ongoing pain for the next 3 seasons.

Good luck and see you around.

Really great info. I am in fact away from table tennis since end of August and i am still in pain. So i have recently changed doctor and only now i am seeing some improvement. So i hope everything goes on smoothly and i am back on track soon

 

[d3ss3n]

Like what carl said, you might want to switch to a lighter blade instead of switching to eternity. In fact eternity is probably even worse than your previous blade because that thing is pretty damn heavy.

Not to mention a combination of Omega V and EL-S is heavy as well

I wanted to swap the Xiom Omega V pro for a Donic Blue Acuda P1 or P2. Is it lighter than Xiom omega V Pro?