Listen to your arm

garywsyu · Jul 14, 2012

I also have been suffering from both TE and GE since May. At first I didn't listen to my arm and continued to play, by night it was drastically painfull on two affected areas. The next morning the pain was becoming obvious during tooth brushing(GE) and sharp pain on the outer elbow(TE) while pulling a door.

I tried on Voltaren gel and massage on affected areas but no help. I put on Voltraren tablet 25mg X 3 per day; the pain was subsided a bit. Therefore I went for tennis again.....

No way man........whenever having a chance for a late forehand stroke, it hurts the outer elbow; an overhead smash would hurt the associated forearm muscle groups.

I still did not take rest.........times after serveral days of break to put myself on court again and again........the results have been the same............they both hurt sharply.

Staright arm stroke and hit loose at contact...........both can alleviate the pain and reduce the chance of getting hurt. I have been letting go a lot of balls due to the chance of late hit. These made me cannot enjoy the nature of the game thoroughly, so.............

I decided to keep away from court for a while..........awhile.

Hi guys, it is not a muscle problem; it is a tendon issue. Sure stretches would help a bit........and.........those with these pain please share your views here.

Good luck!!

SwankPeRFection · Jul 14, 2012

http://www.pressurepointer.com/PressurePointerManual.pdf

Page 14 will help with the pain. It worked for me, but yes, take some time off.

garywsyu · Jul 14, 2012

Thanks Swank, it seems very much the same as to acupuncture points theory. Will give it a go for few days.

SwankPeRFection · Jul 14, 2012

Yep. I actually read about it on here in a thread where someone suggested going to buy a book for it. I went searching and found that PDF. I did page 7 and 14 and almost immediately felt the pain go away. I couldn't bend my arm at one point without some pain and doing page 14 changed that 5 minutes later. I was left scratching my head.

But hey, it worked.

BreakPoint · Jul 15, 2012

Speaking from experience, you will need to stop playing tennis completely and rest for 6 months in order for your elbow tendons to fully heal. If you start playing too early, you run the risk of re-damaging your tendon and resetting your clock back to day one and another 6 months of rest. I know it's very difficult to stay away from tennis for so long but that's what it takes. I know because I've had both tennis elbow and golfer's elbow several times in the past. Good luck with your healing.

garywsyu · Jul 15, 2012

SwankPeRFection said:
Yep. I actually read about it on here in a thread where someone suggested going to buy a book for it. I went searching and found that PDF. I did page 7 and 14 and almost immediately felt the pain go away. I couldn't bend my arm at one point without some pain and doing page 14 changed that 5 minutes later. I was left scratching my head. But hey, it worked.

I recently bought an apparatus to help soothing the areas in which it comes with a drawing showing those acupuncture points. Page14 shows such two points are related to the arms in conjunction with the drawing literally. Will learn how to deal with that two points.:???:

garywsyu · Jul 15, 2012

BreakPoint said:
Speaking from experience, you will need to stop playing tennis completely and rest for 6 months in order for your elbow tendons to fully heal. If you start playing too early, you run the risk of re-damaging your tendon and resetting your clock back to day one and another 6 months of rest. I know it's very difficult to stay away from tennis for so long but that's what it takes. I know because I've had both tennis elbow and golfer's elbow several times in the past. Good luck with your healing.

Haha.....this is what I don't want to know!!! AND surely it is what I want to hear from you guys your experience to deal with it and the approximate time frame for a 100% recovery. Sufferers who should have their own kinds of way to overcome the processes.

I realized such dilemma and am convinced right now to take a break from here. Six months is a bit toooooo long and I will do some arm/elbow exerices when the pain is gone. I will start slow on wall to see or stop right there if any small signs of pain is observed.

dhnels · Jul 15, 2012

I assume from your sig that you're over 40? If so, plan on 6 months minimum off the court, and up to 12 if needed.

Those of us that have been there know you'll try to speed it up anyway. So here's some hard earned advice: after 2 months total rest, when you over do it you won't feel the pain until 48 hours later. By the time you know you did too much, you've probably already done more! So always leave two rest days between flexbar workouts, hitting, whatever, until you know your arm can handle it.

Dan

gofed · Jul 15, 2012

ARP and foam rolling seemed to work for me..
Try the Rumble Roller, probably works on the same kind of trigger points shown in the PDF..

garywsyu · Jul 15, 2012

dhnels said:
I assume from your sig that you're over 40? If so, plan on 6 months minimum off the court, and up to 12 if needed.

Those of us that have been there know you'll try to speed it up anyway. So here's some hard earned advice: after 2 months total rest, when you over do it you won't feel the pain until 48 hours later. By the time you know you did too much, you've probably already done more! So always leave two rest days between flexbar workouts, hitting, whatever, until you know your arm can handle it.

Dan

Yes, approaching 54 this year. My second time of TE in life. I didn't aware of it first time four years ago. 12mths sounds really scary, I don't have too many of it from now

.

I will take 200% cautious measure in order to speed up the healing process. I've stopped playing since last Thursday only; my forearm still sores badly(once triggered) but the inner/outer elbow are feeling easier day after day.

I keep on "flipping" my elbow in which could feel the pain is subsiding, doing the arm twist stretch also nice to the GE point.

Anyway, thanks Dan........

garywsyu · Jul 15, 2012

gofed said:
ARP and foam rolling seemed to work for me..
Try the Rumble Roller, probably works on the same kind of trigger points shown in the PDF..

I have a handheld metal roller to deal with the points........just don't know how to use my left hand to perform it nicely.:shock:

dman72 · Jul 16, 2012

I've been dealing with TE for the last month or so, my first major bout with it ever (just turned 40). I thought I had had minor issues with it in the past, but that turned out to be more muscle soreness as this kind of pain is a whole different animal.

I have been stubborn and refuse to put the racquet away completely. I've been taking at least a week between hitting sessions (in contrast to last summer hitting 3+ times per week), doing wrist curls, rubber band finger stretches, flexbar, massaging all day at work..everything. My forearm is pumping up quite a bit.

I hit yesterday with my ball machine. As the OP said, straight arm forehand..zero pain. I took some weight out of my raquets and strung under 50Lbs. On late shots I did feel a bit of the sharpness.

This morning, arm is the same as it was the previous 7 days. A little stiff in the morning but no increased pain to speak of.

I'm going to see an orthpedist this week to see the extent of the damage. If it's not super serious I'll ask for a cortisone shot. If they tell me it's real bad I may have to hang it up until the winter.

The pain I had 3 weeks ago, I would have to quit tennis. All the fun was gone. The way I felt yesterday, I could play through easily as long as it stays where it is. It'll just be there to distract me from the pain in my hip that I was whining about previously.

garywsyu · Jul 17, 2012

dman72 said:
I've been dealing with TE for the last month or so, my first major bout with it ever (just turned 40). I thought I had had minor issues with it in the past, but that turned out to be more muscle soreness as this kind of pain is a whole different animal.

I have been stubborn and refuse to put the racquet away completely. I've been taking at least a week between hitting sessions (in contrast to last summer hitting 3+ times per week), doing wrist curls, rubber band finger stretches, flexbar, massaging all day at work..everything. My forearm is pumping up quite a bit.

I hit yesterday with my ball machine. As the OP said, straight arm forehand..zero pain. I took some weight out of my raquets and strung under 50Lbs. On late shots I did feel a bit of the sharpness.

This morning, arm is the same as it was the previous 7 days. A little stiff in the morning but no increased pain to speak of.

I'm going to see an orthpedist this week to see the extent of the damage. If it's not super serious I'll ask for a cortisone shot. If they tell me it's real bad I may have to hang it up until the winter.

The pain I had 3 weeks ago, I would have to quit tennis. All the fun was gone. The way I felt yesterday, I could play through easily as long as it stays where it is. It'll just be there to distract me from the pain in my hip that I was whining about previously.

Consider to take a short break dman72.

I am now having that forearm muscle pain(don't know why, never happens to me) together with GE and TE pain. A small late hit or light overhead smash quickly trigger the pain onto my head. At first TE pain is TE pain, this forearm soreness becomes obvious later on after 4 weeks of continuous tennis.

I've stopped five days from court and no medication(were Voltaren tablet and Voltaren gel and others) for inflammation; let alone my body to heal itself. The good news is both TE and GE pain are subsiding, it confirms "rest, rest ,rest" is the best cure to my condition. Leave that straight arm forehand for a while, the price is too high to use our arms to return a ball.

Will continue my updates once better.

Pacific lefty · Jul 17, 2012

Based on my experience which was shoulder impingement causing a vicious cycle of supraspinatus tendonitis and bursitis (which was eventually resolved surgically three months ago) rest is the first and foremost thing that will help. In my experience, once the injury is there you can complement rest with anything ( going from dry needling to accupuncture to cortisone injection to foam rollers ) but NONE of these things will help you continue to play. Once a tendon injury is there you have to rest until it heals. I only learned that the hard way...

mikeler · Jul 17, 2012

SwankPeRFection said:
http://www.pressurepointer.com/PressurePointerManual.pdf

Page 14 will help with the pain. It worked for me, but yes, take some time off.

Just so you know, this is not a one time thing. I have had to do this several times now to help my arm.

garywsyu · Jul 17, 2012

Pacific lefty said:
Based on my experience which was shoulder impingement causing a vicious cycle of supraspinatus tendonitis and bursitis (which was eventually resolved surgically three months ago) rest is the first and foremost thing that will help. In my experience, once the injury is there you can complement rest with anything ( going from dry needling to accupuncture to cortisone injection to foam rollers ) but NONE of these things will help you continue to play. Once a tendon injury is there you have to rest until it heals. I only learned that the hard way...

Did you NOT listen to your pain??

What leads your decision to go for a surery??

garywsyu · Jul 17, 2012

mikeler said:
Just so you know, this is not a one time thing. I have had to do this several times now to help my arm.

I am still not yet figuring where the exact TWO points.............I use a metal roller to massage the shoulder back areas.....won't give up any chance, wish it will do the same result.

mikeler · Jul 18, 2012

garywsyu said:
I am still not yet figuring where the exact TWO points.............I use a metal roller to massage the shoulder back areas.....won't give up any chance, wish it will do the same result.

Just start poking around and massaging those areas. You'll know in a minute or so if there is a knot there. My arm was bugging me Saturday so I went looking for the shoulder spot towards the outside of the shoulder. That one seems like it is tied to my arm pain while the inner one closer to the neck seems related to the actual elbow tendon.

garywsyu · Jul 18, 2012

mikeler said:
Just start poking around and massaging those areas. You'll know in a minute or so if there is a knot there. My arm was bugging me Saturday so I went looking for the shoulder spot towards the outside of the shoulder. That one seems like it is tied to my arm pain while the inner one closer to the neck seems related to the actual elbow tendon.

I might have located the inner point and will give the area a try for a period of time. Sure these acupoints not work only on chinese, their expertise would benefit to all of us..............thanks mikeler.

How you could tell the inner ponit looks work for the arm tendon? Your experience is important to us.

mikeler · Jul 18, 2012

garywsyu said:
I might have located the inner point and will give the area a try for a period of time. Sure these acupoints not work only on chinese, their expertise would benefit to all of us..............thanks mikeler.

How you could tell the inner ponit looks work for the arm tendon? Your experience is important to us.

I was told about the inner trigger point by Ray at Mamba. Once I got that knot out, my elbow pain went away but my arm pain persisted. So I bought the trigger therapy workbook and it listed the outer trigger point. Sure enough, there was a knot there and once I massaged that out, my arm pain went away. I just have to keep on top of it and check for those knots whenever I feel the arm pain coming back.

akamc · Jul 18, 2012

mikeler, could you maybe post pictures of the pressure point areas you are talking about?

jk816 · Jul 18, 2012

mikeler said:
I was told about the inner trigger point by Ray at Mamba. Once I got that knot out, my elbow pain went away but my arm pain persisted. So I bought the trigger therapy workbook and it listed the outer trigger point. Sure enough, there was a knot there and once I massaged that out, my arm pain went away. I just have to keep on top of it and check for those knots whenever I feel the arm pain coming back.

Mikeler,

Which point helped alleviate your medial elbow issue? I have the Trigger Therapy Workbook, but I can't find a point to address GE (lots for TE!)

BTW, for those who prefer their info from their smartphone, there's a pretty good trigger point app. May help when you are on the go....

thanks.

mikeler · Jul 18, 2012

akamc said:
mikeler, could you maybe post pictures of the pressure point areas you are talking about?

Check out the link in post #2.

jk816 said:
Mikeler,

Which point helped alleviate your medial elbow issue? I have the Trigger Therapy Workbook, but I can't find a point to address GE (lots for TE!)

BTW, for those who prefer their info from their smartphone, there's a pretty good trigger point app. May help when you are on the go....

thanks.

I have not tried trigger points for GE. They did seem to be somewhat lacking in the book. Back when I had GE, I took a few weeks off and did professional grade ultrasound and electrostimulation. Now I own home units of both those devices.

garywsyu · Jul 21, 2012

update : Day 10

After ten days of break, the pain on the outer elbow(TE) point has been subsiding quite a bit. It is very difficult to quantify the degree of pain. "A bit" means quite a lot, but the pain is still there whenever a small movement thereto trigger the point area.

There is no obvious pain alleviating from the inner elbow(GE) area. Everytime to lift up my elbow in front of a mirror, it tells you that "hello, I'm here".

No tennis or any heavy activity on the right arm since day one; only daily house chore, toilet flush and else.

Still doing arm flipping and twist arm stretch to massage the elbow; both are expressing the pain is improving especially on the outer elbow.

Heat roller therapy still running once daily to help soothing the areas including the forearm section. This forearm soreness is getting better only happens on day ten.

Will do update on day 20.

Chas Tennis · Jul 21, 2012

Suggest that you do your own research on tendon injury healing time often discussed in recent TE threads.

Always best to see a well qualified Dr.

Mister drool · Jul 21, 2012

By the way… this maybe a dumb point, but never the less… check you grip size correctly. A too small grip for your hand will cause stress on your arm, and aggravate the TE.

garywsyu · Jul 21, 2012

Chas Tennis said:
Suggest that you do your own research on tendon injury healing time often discussed in recent TE threads.

Always best to see a well qualified Dr.

Thanks for the advice, have found lots of suggestions here very sincere and helpful.

Have seen an orthopedic two weeks ago who had prescripted ibuprofen, gloucosamine sulfate and some proprietary patches for external uses. I didn't take any but I will seek for a second opinion next Tuesday at the same hospital.

garywsyu · Jul 21, 2012

Mister drool said:
By the way… this maybe a dumb point, but never the less… check you grip size correctly. A too small grip for your hand will cause stress on your arm, and aggravate the TE.

My racquets are 4 1/2 or 4 3/8 always.....I used to play with different kinds of syn guts stringed from 55-60lbs in recent decade with no single problem. And I found first time with poly string at 55-58 four years ago then my elbow started crying. I didn't aware it is TE because no such issue before. RUB A535 and Voltaren gel didn't help much, it eventually healed by itself due to a long overseas absent from tennis.

I put on poly(Signum Pro) string again this May at 56lbs........haha.....my bad.....it cried on me right the way. So.........I put everything on poly string.

SwankPeRFection · Jul 21, 2012

Gary, do the stretches in I think 7 and 14 in the PDF I linked on the first page. One of them will get rid of the pain and you can concentrate on just resting it instead of dealing with the ache.

garywsyu · Jul 23, 2012

SwankPeRFection said:
Gary, do the stretches in I think 7 and 14 in the PDF I linked on the first page. One of them will get rid of the pain and you can concentrate on just resting it instead of dealing with the ache.

I quickly take a look on page 7; haha........will give it a try and wish it could help me a bit. I have been doing page 14 and will continue to do so.

My goal is to rest and at no time to deal with the pain. They wouldn't be contradicting to each other as long as no excessive stress acts onto the spots.

What I am doing are only stretching and massages, it is very hard to tell when the pain cycle is completed.

garywsyu · Jul 23, 2012

SwankPeRFection said:
Gary, do the stretches in I think 7 and 14 in the PDF I linked on the first page. One of them will get rid of the pain and you can concentrate on just resting it instead of dealing with the ache.

this scalenes stretches looks awkward to learn...........bUT it's OK!!:-?

garywsyu · Jul 27, 2012

update : Day15

There are several measures have been taken into account to speed up the healing processes. First to minimize any inflammation and associated pain. Second to begin with light weight exercise to strengthen the affected spots. Final to get back to court for a low frequency volley and gound strokes.

So, I spiced up some varieties on Day 11 to help alleviating the pain.
1. Added moxibustion to heat roller and medicated balm for the massage theraphy.
2. Two times each day 10 min. with warm-hot water to the elbow and ball squeezing to increase blood flow.
3. 5 min. daily with metal roller on pressure points as stated on p.14 http://www.pressurepointer.com/Press...nterManual.pdf

There is noticeable NO pain when flipping the arm, very light pain sensation when doing the twist arm stretch. Small pain on GE still existed during hair washing. DON'T get me wrong, pain may show up sharply once triggered......

pingu · Jul 27, 2012

Mister drool said:
By the way… this maybe a dumb point, but never the less… check you grip size correctly. A too small grip for your hand will cause stress on your arm, and aggravate the TE.

I think you have a valid point here. I switched to a smaller grip size 3/8 to 1/4 two weeks ago and did feel some pains in my elbow so I decided to go back to the old racket and sure enough, I feel much better. Even though it's not 100% heel yet, I do feel the different.

garywsyu · Jul 28, 2012

pingu said:
I think you have a valid point here. I switched to a smaller grip size 3/8 to 1/4 two weeks ago and did feel some pains in my elbow so I decided to go back to the old racket and sure enough, I feel much better. Even though it's not 100% heel yet, I do feel the different.

I already bought cushion grips and wrappings to increase the grip size on my gears. But no chance that it is the right time to put myself on court yet.............wait i n g !!

pingu · Jul 30, 2012

garywsyu: As others have suggested, I think you do need to rest now. Hope to hear you making good progress next time.

garywsyu · Jul 31, 2012

pingu said:
garywsyu: As others have suggested, I think you do need to rest now. Hope to hear you making good progress next time.

thanks pingu, I am doing nothing but eat, sh*t and sleep.......

no doubt that my arm is feeling MUCH better today(Day 18), I exercise serve movement and forehandstroke with a racquet and the whole arm is pain free nicely. only little feeling on GE area when picking up an 10kg watermelon from the trolley to the car. so far so good..........

tlm · Jul 31, 2012

As many have mentioned it can take a long time to get rid of. There was a thread on using tricep press downs with a really light weight and slow reps as a way to speed up the healing by pumping a lot of blood into the elbow.

I would advise anyone that has been through TE and is worried about it reoccurring to do a full forearm and wrist workout at least 2 times a week.

Really I think that all tennis players should do this to keep the wrist and elbow healthy from the stress of tennis. I had Te bad years ago and i play tennis 5 days a week all year long now with poly at high tensions and have no problems because i maintain good muscle strength in the forearm.

This is especially true for those that have sedentary jobs and do no forms of strength training, but play tennis regularly. You are an accident waiting to happen.

garywsyu · Jul 31, 2012

tlm said:
There was a thread on using tricep press downs with a really light weight and slow reps as a way to speed up the healing by pumping a lot of blood into the elbow.

I am very much interested to know this tricep press downs can do wonders...........indeed believe to increse blood flow is a key factor for the whole healing process.

will have a search on this topic, thanks!

garywsyu · Jul 31, 2012

Hi tlm,

found it.... http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=32204&highlight=tricep+press+down

definitely take a full ride on it.

garywsyu · Aug 2, 2012

update: Day21

rest, rest, rest!!

I broke the rule and back to the court for a slow jam. 2 1/2hour play with wall, light volley drills and baseline groundsrtokes. No late hit, no arm hit only straight arm drives. No pain at all. Only a bit of soreness on the forearm, TE/GE spots early this morning.

Continuous with arm flips and twist arm stretch, warm water elbow dip, moxibustion heat roller massage and shoulder back pressure point therapy. Will start tricep pushdown and other muscle strengthening exercises for rehab stage.

Chas Tennis · Aug 3, 2012

Exercises and stretches intended for preventive conditioning of healthy tissues may stress and farther damage injured tissue. It can take months to heal an acute tendon injury. Take a break from everything and give your arm a rest.

tlm · Aug 3, 2012

garywsyu said:
update: Day21

rest, rest, rest!!

I broke the rule and back to the court for a slow jam. 2 1/2hour play with wall, light volley drills and baseline groundsrtokes. No late hit, no arm hit only straight arm drives. No pain at all. Only a bit of soreness on the forearm, TE/GE spots early this morning.

Continuous with arm flips and twist arm stretch, warm water elbow dip, moxibustion heat roller massage and shoulder back pressure point therapy. Will start tricep pushdown and other muscle strengthening exercises for rehab stage.

You need to take it easy, let it heal. I would advise to do the slow light weight tricep press downs only, if you go light enough you should not bother the injury and it will actually heal faster. But stay off the court you are going to aggravate your elbow and just prolong the problem.

pingu · Aug 6, 2012

garywsyu said:
update: Day21
...
I broke the rule and back to the court for a slow jam. 2 1/2hour play with wall, light volley drills and baseline groundsrtokes. No late hit, no arm hit only straight arm drives. No pain at all. Only a bit of soreness on the forearm, TE/GE spots early this morning.
.

It's good to know that you can get back to the court again. However, I think 2 1/2 hours is a bit too much. IMHO, 1 hour should be enough.

garywsyu · Aug 6, 2012

pingu said:
It's good to know that you can get back to the court again. However, I think 2 1/2 hours is a bit too much. IMHO, 1 hour should be enough.

Once back on court, the balls will drive me crazy to hit harder and harder.............

Another factor to be taken into account is the risk to hurt the spots again. So far my TE is getting so much better on Day 25 despite quite a lot of forehand(FH) strokes on the right arm. Straight arm swing is the key but a small late bent FH kills my GE noticeably. Sadly, my GE has back to Day 1, so to speak.

Obviously as well that the arm is feeling weaker and weaker during a prolonged play. YES SIR, 2 1/2 hr is too much.............

Thanks to the dudes who have given me advices from their hard learnt experiences on these stubborn injuries. Trusted that mine isn't a serious example after reading hundreds of threads here in TT. This diary is to serve its purpose to those have similar dilemma and lastly, REST is the speediest to get healed.

Listen to your arm

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