Learning to play with tennis elbow.
Apr 06 '00
I am a varsity tennis player at Johns Hopkins University. I took three years off from tennis, as well as school, between my sophomore year and this season. As a result of working too hard in order to get back into shape, I developed tendonitis (commonly referred to as tennis elbow). While there have been moments this season where my arm has been in excruciating pain, I have found methods of dealing with my injury so as to minimize discomfort and flare-ups.
First of all, it is really important that you take your time warming up. I realize that most tennis players do not have the luxury of going to their trainer to get an ultrasonic massage. Thus, make sure you stretch out and start out by hitting the ball at half-strength rather than full.
Next, you absolutely must ice down your elbow after playing for 20 minutes. This type of injury is an inflammation, so if you ice afterward, you'll reduce the swelling significantly.
Now, you also have to realize that weather is going to have a significant impact upon how your elbow feels. You are extremely likely to feel discomfort with this injury when it is cold out. Thus, you should look into obtaining a sleeve for your elbow. The sleeve will do two things: compress the arm and give support to it; and keep the muscles warm. As long as you can keep the muscles, ligaments, etc. warm, you can keep them loose. However, the moment they get cold (which will result from lack of warm-up or cold weather), they get stiff, and that's when discomfort will occur.
Finally, in some cases, such as mine, it is not possible to rest such an injury. We are in the most active part of our season, so it is not realistic for me to take a few days off in order to rest this injury. However, if it is not essential to continue playing, whenever you have a nasty flare-up, you should really consider resting a few days. It is important to remember that this type of injury will result from either overuse or improper use (the result of a bad swinging form).
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Member: Daniel Kreeger
Location: Washington, DC
Reviews written: 64
Trusted by: 11 members
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