Which is worse for your elbow.. stiff frame? or stiff strings?
 

What do you think contributes more to tennis elbow. A stiff frame or stiff strings? I know technique is probably number one, but what do you think the next biggest risk factor is?

Take a stiff frame like the Pure Drive Roddick+ with soft multifilaments and compare it to a soft frame like the exo3 Tour 100 with a full bed of stiff polys. Which setup would be worse for the elbow?

I wanna say the strings & the tension of the stringing.

I would say strings as well.

Stiff arms?..

I'd say, until you develop proper technique why risk with any stiff frame and/or stiff strings?

Personally I recommend beginners to use full natural gut. Aside from safety concerns, that will teach them to be calm and watch the ball carefully, or else it's $50 every shank :)

Hard to say. I've gotten tennis elbow from using a stiff frame with soft strings and I've gotten tennis elbow from using a flexy frame with stiff strings. So to me, they are both bad for your elbow, but I think the damage comes quicker with stiff strings.

If anything hurts, change everything you can... I developed tennis elbow recently because of dead multi. The second i switched to a new bed, it was almost instantly cured.

Checklist in priority

1. Technique
2. Strings
3. Racket

I think it comes down to that order through common sense AND cost effectiveness.

Stiff frame. Most pain comes from missing the sweet spot & soft strings don't cushion the impact well when you hit the ball high in the stiff frame. I feel that a flexible frame is the safest way to go. If strung tight, the frame will still absorb some of the shock. Actually, a soft frame with stiff strings will flex more at impact than with loose strings.

Cheers,
kev

I agree with this order but the gap between 2 and 3 is very small. Both can do harm to your arm if they are stiff.

I would say stiff strings cause more harm than stiff frames. I started having tennis elbow when I strung my K-Tours with a full bed of poly. Now, I'm back to using hybrids or pure gut and my elbow is starting to heal. :)

My personal experience:

A stiff frame hurts my wrist.

A dense/stiff string bed hurts my elbow.

Completely agree. Of course, most people don't want to hear about No. 1

Both.
If you get shot in the torso and shot in the upper chest, which wound to you address first?

My wrist hurts when I mistime WW forehands, b/c WW forehands are wristy. My elbow hurts on backhand shanks, because my arm is at full extension on the 1hbh.

Get your timing right and nothing hurts.