Another Elbow Pain post

[curvefan]

3lowdown,

I could be you!! Same exact story here only I'm 53.

My guess, and I'm no doctor, but the shot will probably help you.

It definitely helped me. But I came back too soon and tried to play through the pain. Big mistake!

Long story short, I ended up having to quit playing for probably 6 to 8 long months. Also during that time the usual rehab stuff.

I'am happy to say I'm back in the game.

I now use a POG OS racquet with a multifilament string at 55#

I also developed a 2h bh which is still a work in progress.

I think if I had started out with the 2h bh that my tennis elbow problems could have been avoided.

Anyhow, good luck and all the best.

John

[scotus]

If you want immediate relief from pain from something besides a cortisone shot, here are a few things to ponder:

(1) Lidocaine patch -- won't do anything for the inflammation but will take away the pain for half a day.

(2) Deep tissue massage -- will loosen up your forearm muscles and tricep muscles. When these muscles relax, your elbow tendon will be under much less tension.

(3) ART (Active Release Technique) -- similar to deep tissue massage with a focus on undoing the "adhesion" of tissue fibers.

(4) Laser Treatment (Remember the news articles on Nadal, Ljubic, and others getting laser treatments?)

All right, the option #1 will bring you immediate relief from pain although it really won't do a thing for you in term of healing.

#2-4 will make your arm sore and hurt for a day or two but it will significantly lessen your pain. Make sure to ice your arm after the first treatment. Your arm will get used to subsequent treatments, though.

[J-Mack]

Just wanted to relay a small change that worked for me. Bit of background: I'm 42, have been playing regularly for about 5 years (twice a week in summer, once every couple of weeks in winter), hit a 1HBH, and had never had any elbow pain -- until this past winter, when some nasty TE flared up. It was getting progressively worse by the Spring, just at the time I was hoping to start playing more.

About three weeks ago, I was hitting with a partner, and the pain was worse than ever. I was anticipating the stab through my elbow on every backhand, which made it impossible to swing freely. I could feel the pain even as I gripped the racquet before contact. Finally, because it was hurting so much just gripping the handle, I had to loosen the grip until it felt like I was barely hanging on, exerting only enough pressure to keep the racquet in my hand – and wouldn't you know it? I immediately felt better, all the way through contact and beyond. It was a total "duh" moment – if you don’t grip so tightly, the vibration doesn’t pass from your racquet on up through your elbow.

I've read so many times on this board, "grip lightly", "don't strangle the handle", and my favourite, "imagine you're holding a small animal", but I never applied it on court, and clearly never realized just how tightly I must have been gripping. And an added benefit: as soon as I relaxed the grip, my entire swing became more fluid, and lo and behold, I am now able to generate effortless topspin. This whole episode has reinforced an important lesson for me -- sometimes it's the smallest, most "obvious" change that can make the biggest difference. I feel like an idiot for not realizing sooner that I should relax my grip pressure, but it's often easy to overlook the basics. Hope this helps some people get back to pain-free play a little more quickly.

[3lowdown]

Update - The cortisone treatment for my TE worked !
2 weeks now since the cortisone treatment and I'm back to at least 90%. I waited a week after the treatment, even though I felt much better just two days later. Now I'm hitting about twice a week, and have no pain.

I can -almost- squeeze a tennis ball without feeling any pain at all. Prior to the cortisone I couldn't wad up a piece of paper.

I continue to take it easy on serves, overheads and volleys just because I'm paranoid I think. FH and 1hbh ground strokes are no problem at all.

I hear there is controversy about cortisone's benefits, so just wanted to post back about my experience.