Tennis elbow

[Luis Nasche]

hi guys,

I'd like to know if you guys have experience healing it without stop playing?

I had this problem long time ago playing tennis and it took about two months away from the sport to heal and now it's hurting for about two weeks. I'm stretching, putting ice about three times a day, but on serves or attacking with my backhand it hurts. I wouldn't like to stop playing three months after returning to table tennis, but I don't want it to become a chronic condition.

 

[Archosaurus]

Although I can't tell you for sure if it can be healed while playing, I'd just like to remind you that pain exists for a reason.

I try not to be the fool and push conditions like this: it's always got worse for me.

 

[violoniste18]

I got a tennis elbow some years ago and cure it with that :

https://www.amazon.fr/Globus-Duo-Pr...466567309&sr=1-12&keywords=electrostimulateur

 

[NextLevel]

Usually, tennis elbow is caused my a muscle getting tight and pulling really hard on a tendon. If you massage the muscle and tendon really hard, they can loopen up like and become free. I have had tennis elbow many times and it has never stopped me from plaging after a massage of the joints and muscles pulling on my tend onset.

I also recommend the Tyler twist exercise. It is a good prevention tool.

 

[Archosaurus]

On the topic of exercises and stretches, you really should be doing them if you're not.

Don't do static stretches before playing, just warmup. After you've played, and normally during the day, you really should do static stretches and specific exercises to prevent things like this, and wrist injuries for example. I draw, and I would have carpal tunnel syndrome by now if I didn't do stretches and exercises for the wrist.

What makes you think you're gonna be free of table tennis injuries if you don't do extensive stretching and warmup if I need it to prevent wrist injuries from drawing of all things?

 

[Jaffar Lone]

Golfer's elbow/Tennis elbow are common injuries for racket games enthusiasts.. recently i overcame the Golfer's elbow condition which got quite bad actually. The therapist did a good job of getting me back up and playing.

Different people suggest different steps to avoid this injury.. in my case i realized that i hardly ever did any wrist/elbow stretching before playing. That didnt help.. now i use the elbow support while playing, also i avoid doing weights.

The real deal which helped me recover from this condition was yoga. I am putting up the link here should you or anyone else be interested..

This is for Golfer's elbow only, NOT Tennis elbow.

https://tomrandallclimbing.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/golfers-elbow-a-possible-solution/

 

[Nuke Skywalker]

I work in a rehab and sports medicine is one of our specialties. I also have had tennis elbow. There are many reasons why this can happen, both anatomical and mechanical. First step, see a sports med doc or orthopedic doc to determine what is causing the problem.

Usually however, the cause is overusing your forearm muscles which pull on the tendon attached to your Lateral Epicondyle, and the rubbing causes a tear to happen to the tendon or the muscle near the part where it attaches to the bone. This can be anatomical (Bone spurs or unusual bony prominences) but usually not.

So, to reduce the rubbing, you must reduce the amount of forearm muscle involvement.

1. Relax your grip - A lot of racket sport players find out that they are over-gripping their rackets. So, try reducing the intensity of your grip during game play. We should be relaxed more often anyways in TT and you may find this benefits your game anyway.

2. Reduce the weight of your equipment - Another thing you can do is to reduce the weight of your bat, or the head heaviness of your bat. Bring the center of gravity towards the handle. (See Der_Ecthe’s beast mod, but don’t go quite that heavy). You can also use weight tape Tennis and Golfers use.

3. Increasing the size of the handle for guys with big hands reduce the amount of grip pressure needed during game play. Usually smaller handles require more grip strength to be applied.

4. Adding grip tape, will add grip to the handle and reduce the need for you to over-grip (or feel like you need to over-grip). Also increases the size.

In addition to the above, if you ALREADY have symptoms:

RICE: Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate.

NSAIDS such as Naproxen or Ibuprophen reduce pain and swelling.

Braces which fit over the forearm have been shown to help; there are special Tennis Elbow braces.

Physical therapy: This could be the best “CURE” of them all. Most people who play sports prone to overuse of one movement or another often have overdeveloped muscles in one part of their joint, but lack tone in opposing or accessory muscles which pulls things out of alignment. Re-aligning things might mean you need to develop other muscles which counter-balance the ERCP (The Muscle-tendon complex involved here). PTs and OTs can do this.

Start with visiting the right kind of doctor before starting any of the above to make sure this is indeed your issue, you never know, there are a million and one things which could be causing the pain, and it might not actually be “Tennis Elbow.”

 

[Luis Nasche]

2. Reduce the weight of your equipment - Another thing you can do is to reduce the weight of your bat, or the head heaviness of your bat. Bring the center of gravity towards the handle. (See Der_Ecthe’s beast mod, but don’t go quite that heavy). You can also use weight tape Tennis and Golfers use.

Thanks Skywalker

It makes sense since the pain started after I settled down with a head heavy blade as my main bat.

I'm sure it is tennis elbow because I had it in the past when I used to play tennis.

As a former penholder I'm thinking about using my old blade for a while since it's a lot lighter and the penholder BH stroke is kindly to the elbow, this way I hope I can recover without shutting down my TT activities.

Right now I'm using ice, stretching and making some isometric exercises with a 2.5lb dumbbell the same things I did in the past, but I didn't play tennis for about two months when I had this problem before and I would like to avoid stopping my activities if possible.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Nuke Skywalker's post is a great one that should be read and reread. And then people should hit the like button.

That being said, what follows is not exactly a remedy but very effective stretches for the forearm muscles including the ones involved in issues like tennis elbow.

Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[ttmonster]

I am not as qualified as Nuke or Carl to comment on this. However, I would not personally go the RPB way. RPB is not very kind on the wrist , so you might want to fix this as it is with lighter paddle and with the stretches recommended.

A great tip to notice here is the grip pressure. I am not sure about your level, but the most common mistake in shakehand grip is to grip the handle and not pinch the rubbers. You can try it out and its very obvious that when you grip the paddle , all the muscles in the arm tense up, where as when you pinch the rubber it does not . intuitively, since you changed from penhold to shakehand , the grip is fundamentally different so this might be the case. Again there is a another about the force of pinch. From personal experience, I have found Brett's video on grip pressure quite helpful.

Thanks Skywalker

It makes sense since the pain started after I settled down with a head heavy blade as my main bat.

I'm sure it is tennis elbow because I had it in the past when I used to play tennis.

As a former penholder I'm thinking about using my old blade for a while since it's a lot lighter and the penholder BH stroke is kindly to the elbow, this way I hope I can recover without shutting down my TT activities.

Right now I'm using ice, stretching and making some isometric exercises with a 2.5lb dumbbell the same things I did in the past, but I didn't play tennis for about two months when I had this problem before and I would like to avoid stopping my activities if possible.

 

[Luis Nasche]

I am not as qualified as Nuke or Carl to comment on this. However, I would not personally go the RPB way. RPB is not very kind on the wrist , so you might want to fix this as it is with lighter paddle and with the stretches recommended.

I'm not thinking about RPB, but using my old Jpen blade while it's hurt. First I'll try to go back for another blade that is more balanced because I didn't had this problem when I was using it and the anatomic handle may help a bit with the grip pressure since I have to use an over grip to adjust the flare handle to my big hand.

Anyway the pain comes most on serves and attacking with my BH when I overstretch my arm.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

From personal experience, I have found Brett's video on grip pressure quite helpful.

In a way Brett is a genius at teaching and helping people understand complicated issues. Here is that video:

 

[ttmonster]

Are you trying to punch on the backhand ? It happens to me if I try to punch on the backhand out of position. Also , some of the muscles that are required for your shakehand backhand might take time to stregthen , since that was not your original grip. The way I was taught backhand, I cannot play it without completely loose forearm muscle, the moment I forget to do that and forget to use wrist , I start hurting my shoulder ... you might want to film your backhand technique and put it out here , people might be able to help you out ...

I'm not thinking about RPB, but using my old Jpen blade while it's hurt. First I'll try to go back for another blade that is more balanced because I didn't had this problem when I was using it and the anatomic handle may help a bit with the grip pressure since I have to use an over grip to adjust the flare handle to my big hand.

Anyway the pain comes most on serves and attacking with my BH when I overstretch my arm.

 

[Luis Nasche]

Are you trying to punch on the backhand ? It happens to me if I try to punch on the backhand out of position. Also , some of the muscles that are required for your shakehand backhand might take time to stregthen , since that was not your original grip. The way I was taught backhand, I cannot play it without completely loose forearm muscle, the moment I forget to do that and forget to use wrist , I start hurting my shoulder ... you might want to film your backhand technique and put it out here , people might be able to help you out ...

The first time I felt the pain was after over stretching and punching a ball close to the net, now it also hurts on serves, but I'm also using the punch serve since I've switched to this head heavy blade, I'm serving backhand to avoid the pain because I can't make my follow through with pendulum or serve underspin without feeling the pain.

I've found an old thread where guys were telling it's a common condition with former penholders switching to shakehand and despite having a Mazunov for more than twenty years, I'm really working on developing my technique recently when I asked my coach to help me building my backhand from scratch, so the theory about the muscles needing time to strengthen is valid because I was not using the wrist that much before and sometimes I feel like I'm hitting the ball with my muscles a bit tight.

Last thuesday I had a long session and it didn't felt the pain during the drills, but after my third match it was bothering me again. I didn't play other matches and went to another session of drills that went well, but on the first match I felt the pain again. I felt sorry about my training partner because on this second session there were not anyone else up to his level and he asked me if I could still play with him without forcing the thing. I had no problems serving just backhand and using my backhand just for placement. It may be an option while my condition improves.

Thanks about the tips.

 

[Nuke Skywalker]

A great tip to notice here is the grip pressure. I am not sure about your level, but the most common mistake in shakehand grip is to grip the handle and not pinch the rubbers. You can try it out and its very obvious that when you grip the paddle , all the muscles in the arm tense up, where as when you pinch the rubber it does not .

This is an excellent point!


And the excercises in Carl's post are excellent as well.

 

[Luis Nasche]

Well folks, I did most of the things you recommend me. Had a session using a balanced blade with an anatomic handle, didn't punch the ball, kept a loose grip and used a brace. The results where good, didn't felt strong pain, just some discomfort on my elbow.

After the session ice and stretching exercises, let's see how it feels tomorrow in the mourning.

 

[Nuke Skywalker]

Well folks, I did most of the things you recommend me. Had a session using a balanced blade with an anatomic handle, didn't punch the ball, kept a loose handle and used a brace. The results where good, didn't felt strong pain, just some discomfort on my elbow.

After the session ice and stretching exercises, let's see how it feels tomorrow in the mourning.

It might take some time to train a looser grip with pincer on the rubbers. I still subconsciously revert to handle grabbing because as a chopper, often times you maintain a looser lower grip on the handle than conventional attacking players. But when i attack, i almost always grip the rubbers these days...

Give it time. Continue. And rest a bit when you can, to reset things in your elbow, as you likely still have some residual inflammation in the joint. Best of luck!