Tennis elbow cures

There’s a good reason that most amateur racket sport players are familiar with the term - tennis elbow. The fact is that most players with less than perfect technique struggle with tennis elbow as a direct consequence of poor form when hitting the ball.

To reduce the threat of tennis elbow, there are number of exercises you can do and measures you can take. But they won’t help you if you already have it. So it’s of primary importance to figure out exactly which type of tennis elbow you have. That’s right, there’s more than one.

Two types of Elbow problem?

Elbow problems can be classified as either 'backhand tennis elbow' or 'forehand tennis elbow'. Backhand elbow is usually caused by lack of strength in the extensor muscles of the forearm (the muscles which attach on the outer side of the elbow) and/or by poor technique. For example, if a player hits backhand shots by leading with the elbow, the head of the racket lags behind the elbow during the initial part of the stroke. Just before impact with the ball, the racket must accelerate dramatically, travelling much faster than the elbow. When the racket actually hits the ball, the impact forces the racket to slow down immediately, and the heavy force of impact is transmitted directly to the elbow. One remedy for this is to hit the backstroke with the entire arm - instead of 'snapping' the forearm ahead at the elbow joint

Forehand tennis elbow is less common among novice players, primarily because the average tennis participant's inside-elbow muscles are stronger than the outside-elbow ones. However, professional players are at high risk for the malady, because their attempts to put spin on the ball (for topspin forehands and spin serves) lead to excessive action at the wrist, which in turn strains the elbow on the inside

To limit your risk of tennis elbow, the following steps should be very helpful:

1. Work with a knowledgeable coach to improve your technique
2. Make sure that the grip on your racket is the right size for you (a grip that is too large or too small increases wrist-muscle fatigue, making the wrist unstable and leading to too-large forces at the elbow)
3. Play on clay or grass courts (cement and other hard courts raise ball velocity, producing greater impacts and higher elbow forces)
4. Use less-stiff rackets (the stiffer the racket, the larger the force transmitted to the arm)
5. String your racket less tightly (the tighter the strings, the higher the force)
6. Strength train your wrist muscles, as well as the muscles on the inside and outside of the elbow. For the wrists, good exercises include squeezing a tennis ball and doing wrist curls and extensions with a dumbbell
7. Carry out stretching exercises for the wrist muscles and muscles on the outside and inside of the elbow after you play, or after a warm-up which includes light hitting of the ball
8. Avoid playing more than four times a week, and if soreness appears after a game, don't play again until the pain disappears

Concluding

Tennis elbow can be a tremendous pain, whether you’re competing regularly or ‘knocking up’ with a friend. The techniques outlined here should help you win the battle with tennis elbow and keep the pain well and truly out of centre court.