Crazy for pickleball or padel? Then tennis elbow is something you must know about.
Tennis elbow:
Tennis elbow refers to a localised painful condition on the outside or inside of the elbow. It’s often due to overuse of wrist and forearm muscles. If not treated, tennis elbow can become debilitating over time.
It is the most common upper-body repetitive stress injury. Approximately 50% of tennis players will have tennis elbow at least once. However, it can happen to someone who has never picked up a racket. Jobs that require gripping and wrist extension with repetitive wrist and forearm movement, like carpentry, painting, typewriting, etc., are a few examples. People over age 40, smokers, and obese people are at a higher risk.
Let’s discuss ways to prevent and steps to recover from it.
How to prevent tennis elbow:
Prevention is the best cure; following these strategies will help you prevent this.
- Correct the basics
1) Learn proper technique. Remember, it’s all about technique. Whether it is an intense sport or a skill like painting, a proper technique will help you avoid injuries. We unknowingly start putting pressure on joints whenever we put ourselves out of our comfort zone, which leads to injury. Be aware of this and keep on correcting posture and technique.
2) Warm-up and stretching. Ten minutes of warm-up and 10 minutes of stretching afterwards will help reduce the risk of injury. Similarly, give a day to rest and recover. Overtraining is harmful. Resting helps the body recover from fatigue and soreness. It gives enough time to repair microscopic muscle tears and promote muscle growth, which eventually helps to prevent injury. Lastly, make sure to increase the intensity gradually. Correcting this basic will help immensely.
3) Strengthen your shoulder: All our organs, joints, and muscles work in harmony, and a weak shoulder can exacerbate the tennis elbow injury. Strengthening shoulder muscles, particularly the rotator cuff, will help make stable movement and support the function of the elbow joint and forearms.
4) Never compromise on a protein-rich diet: Protein is essential for building muscles. Consume a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, healthy fats (nuts and seeds), whole grains and lean protein.
- Tips for faster recovery
1) Find out root cause: As mentioned above, tennis elbow is mainly due to some activity which is causing strain on your forearm and wrist, it is crucial to pinpoint that activity, and the first step of defence would be stopping that activity entirely and giving time to the body to recover.
2) Basic care: Hot and cold compresses on the pain point will help. You can massage your forearm for better blood circulation. Taking an anti-inflammatory drug will also help. Consuming an anti-inflammatory diet is advisable. Consume fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid junk, fried, and commercial food at all costs.
3) Physiotherapy: A physiotherapist will help you relieve pain, strengthen weak muscles without aggravating the injury, and improve elbow function. They can also teach you exercises to do at home to improve your situation. Remember to start exercising with low intensity and increase it gradually. However, if you are unable to improve after physiotherapy, consider visiting an orthopedic surgeon.
Lastly, remember that it’s more about prevention. Learning the technique, slowly increasing the intensity, and keeping on strengthening muscles, the body will help you avoid injuries.
Get it right, play safe!