5 months with Tennis Elbow so far; help :-(

[sharif]

Hi; So I know there are numerous threads about TE. I've been struggling with it off & on for 5 months now. I'm a 3.5 female doubles player. I've been working on my technique, switched racquets from a Head instinct oversized power 110 to a Wilson Clash. I only use multifilament strings & have been doing PT & wearing a brace while playing. I've also moderated how much I play but randomly, sometimes it's sore the next day after playing & other days it's fine. Every time, I think I've turned a corner, it tends to come back. Any other things I can try? Do I stop playing all together? I initially took off 2 & 1/2 weeks when it first occurred & then slowly phased back in. Should it be healed by now since it's been so long or is 5 months common? I have a few weeks left of my team season & I'm worried about lasting :-(
Thanks!

 

[Icsa]

In my case, the only way to fully heal my TE case was by not touching the racquet for approx. 6 months. Only complete rest heals.
After you are 100% healed, you can start working on your technique. There could be many causes like pushing the racquet and holding it too tight etc. Learn to use racquet lag and racquet head speed to do the work for you. The shoulder and arm should become just parts of a double pendulum. A relaxed wrist shouldn't do much beyond connecting the racquet to the arm. Good luck!

 

[Cerdany]

Flexbar. You're welcome.

 

[sharif]

In my case, the only way to fully heal my TE case was by not touching the racquet for approx. 6 months. Only complete rest heals.
After you are 100% healed, you can start working on your technique. There could me many causes like pushing the racquet and holding it too tight etc. Learn to use racquet lag and racquet head speed to do the work for you. The shoulder and arm should become just parts of a double pendulum. A relaxed wrist shouldn't do much beyond connecting the racquet to the arm. Good luck!

Thx oy 6 months? are you back to playing normally now as many times per week as you did before getting the tennis elbow? What are you doing PT during those six months? glad to hear that you are healed But definitely sounds like a long process ugh. Thx

 

[sharif]

Flexbar. You're welcome.

Thx I’ve been doing this

 

[Cerdany]

Thx I’ve been doing this

Green? 3x12-20 twice a day?

 

[sharif]

Green? 3x12-20 twice a day?

No red & only 10 reps a day or so. Interestingly enough, my PT never told me to get it but I saw a lot of people mention it on this forum.

 

[Cerdany]

Get the green. Hold the bar very lightly, just enough so that it doesn't slip. Do the eccentric part very slowly.

 

[Icsa]

Thx oy 6 months? are you back to playing normally now as many times per week as you did before getting the tennis elbow? What are you doing PT during those six months? glad to hear that you are healed But definitely sounds like a long process ugh. Thx

Yes, I'm back. 7 years since it happened, playing 6+ hours per week without TE. I did pay close attention to technique, racquet, strings and rest to keep it in check.

 

[PKorda]

you can't play through it, have to take time off plan on roughly 5-6 months, could be longer or maybe a little shorter depending on severity and how disciplined you are in using flexbar/rehab. I live in Northeastern U.S. so for me was much easier to hang up the racket in November and return in April-ish. Then ramp up slowly, sounds like you're doing right thing w/ equipment, prob good idea to take a few lessons to improve your form.

 

[sharif]

Yes, I'm back. 7 years since it happened, playing 6+ hours per week without TE. I did pay close attention to technique, racquet, strings and rest to keep it in check.

do think I should eventually consider natural gut strings? glad to hear u r back

 

[sharif]

you can't play through it, have to take time off plan on roughly 5-6 months, could be longer or maybe a little shorter depending on severity and how disciplined you are in using flexbar/rehab. I live in Northeastern U.S. so for me was much easier to hang up the racket in November and return in April-ish. Then ramp up slowly, sounds like you're doing right thing w/ equipment, prob good idea to take a few lessons to improve your form.

thx ugh in hindsight then, maybe I should've just taken off several months at the beginning. But the orthopedist said it was mild & to take off for 2 wks and then PT started having me phase back in.. but here I am five months later and it's not healed so it's very frustrating.

 

[Icsa]

do think I should eventually consider natural gut strings? glad to hear u r back

No - unless money and weather are not a problem for you. Otherwise a soft multifilament at a lower tension will suffice.

 

[PKorda]

thx ugh in hindsight then, maybe I should've just taken off several months at the beginning. But the orthopedist said it was mild & to take off for 2 wks and then PT started having me phase back in.. but here I am five months later and it's not healed so it's very frustrating.

yeah that orthopedist has no clue, i mean maybe if it's a mild case you could get away with 3-4 months w/ disciplined rehab, it's better to err on side of caution to make sure fully healed before returning to avoid a relapse.

 

[happyandbob]

If you go to a doctor, he will prescribe you PT. If you go to PT, they'll primarily do two things -- make you do eccentric exercises and stretching and also do some sort of deep massage. That's because tennis elbow is not an injury, and rest will not cure it. Tennis elbow pain is the result of improper healing of microtears in your tendons (which by nature are slow healing).

The reason PT has you do exercises rather than rest is because that's what is proven to work:

clinical testing of eccentric exercise - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2971639
clinical testing of deep friction - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312643/

At home, you can do all of these things:

1. Tyler twist - buy a flexbar and do this exercise:
2. massage gun or gua sha or Graston tool on the tendon
3. stretching

Those are the only clinically proven ways to promote recovery from tennis elbow.

 

[PKorda]

If you go to a doctor, he will prescribe you PT. If you go to PT, they'll primarily do two things -- make you do eccentric exercises and stretching and also do some sort of deep massage. That's because tennis elbow is not an injury, and rest will not cure it. Tennis elbow pain is the result of improper healing of microtears in your tendons (which by nature are slow healing).

The reason PT has you do exercises rather than rest is because that's what is proven to work:

clinical testing of eccentric exercise - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2971639
clinical testing of deep friction - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312643/

At home, you can do all of these things:

1. Tyler twist - buy a flexbar and do this exercise:
2. massage gun or gua sha or Graston tool on the tendon
3. stretching

Those are the only clinically proven ways to promote recovery from tennis elbow.

it's not an either or choice between exercise and rest, it's both

 

[recreationalplayer]

Consider lessons from a good pro, after watching you hit he may point out movements that are causing TE and make corrections to prevent. If improper technique is causing TE it will never go away until you change.

 

[Yamin]

Clash isn't actually that soft in real usage. Green flex bar is a good recommendation. When you do PT, are you doing enough weight to actually build strength?

Make sure you're stressing it with a good amount of weight around a moderate pain level. Tricep pull downs usually end up engaging it for me.

 

[sharif]

Clash isn't actually that soft in real usage. Green flex bar is a good recommendation. When you do PT, are you doing enough weight to actually build strength?

Make sure you're stressing it with a good amount of weight around a moderate pain level. Tricep pull downs usually end up engaging it for me.

Thx yes the weight has been hard at pt. Maybe I’ll move to green soon.

 

[PKorda]

Thx yes the weight has been hard at pt. Maybe I’ll move to green soon.

red is for more severe case of TE, green much better for mild

ETA at least for most men, maybe for women would be a little different but if feels too easy would try the green, good thing is these things are inexpensive.

 

[sharif]

It was my understanding that the red is lighter than the green & that the order of the weight started at yellow for extra light, then red for light & green for medium. So I thought you go up in weight as u master the lighter ones? https://www.pickleballportal.com/gear/theraband-flexbar-review/

 

[sharif]

red is for more severe case of TE, green much better for mild

ETA at least for most men, maybe for women would be a little different but if feels too easy would try the green, good thing is these things are inexpensive.

ok yes I'm a 5'5 108 pound 52 yr old female & def not very strong but may move to green eventually..

 

[Tmano]

I'm in the same boat at i have been having TE since May and i have tried everything to heal, flaxbar green included...no improvements!
TE JUST SUCKS!!!

 

[sharif]

I'm in the same boat at i have been having TE since May and i have tried everything to heal, flaxbar green included...no improvements!
TE JUST SUCKS!!!

Agree ugh sorry to hear! Have you been playing during it or have you taken a break?

 

[Tmano]

Agree ugh sorry to hear! Have you been playing during it or have you taken a break?

I played a little against the wall about a month ago and it was fine, at least it did not get any worse. Then a couple weeks later i went to hit again and instead of hitting against the wall i hit with some guy who was at the courts who apparently knew me from when i played in the league. So i lightly hit with him for 45 minutes and it did not feel great the day after. I'm not sure why.
I know of a therapy that is very helpfull in Europe which is the Shockwave which targets the tendons and nerves but here is not being used. I had my doctor asking around but at least in Madison WI it seems not popular. That's unfortunate!

 

[Fintft]

When you rest, try not to do anything with that arm, besides the exercises. Don't carry staff etc. Even gripping the steering wheel too tight might contribute to the problem.
@sharif @Tmano And when you play try not to arm the ball, do shadow swings to get a feeling for relaxed strokes etc. Multi, or nat gut?

 

[sharif]

I played a little against the wall about a month ago and it was fine, at least it did not get any worse. Then a couple weeks later i went to hit again and instead of hitting against the wall i hit with some guy who was at the courts who apparently knew me from when i played in the league. So i lightly hit with him for 45 minutes and it did not feel great the day after. I'm not sure why.
I know of a therapy that is very helpfull in Europe which is the Shockwave which targets the tendons and nerves but here is not being used. I had my doctor asking around but at least in Madison WI it seems not popular. That's unfortunate!

ugh same thing happens to me.. some times I play & it's fine the next day & other times it's not & I've yet to figure out if it's a particular stroke, intensity or just random..hmm haven't heard of the shockwave but wonder why they don't do it here.

 

[sharif]

When you rest, try not to do anything with that arm, besides the exercises. Don't carry staff etc. Even gripping the steering wheel too tight might contribute to the problem.
@sharif @Tmano And when you play try not to arm the ball, do shadow swings to get a feeling for relaxed strokes etc. Multi, or nat gut?

Thx! yes I'm trying though it's hard b/c I'm also on the computer a lot which I know can't be great. I'm also working on my technique not to arm the ball. I know I tense up in matches which isn't good. I'm playing with multi strings.. may consider switching to nat gut

 

[Tmano]

When you rest, try not to do anything with that arm, besides the exercises. Don't carry staff etc. Even gripping the steering wheel too tight might contribute to the problem.
@sharif @Tmano And when you play try not to arm the ball, do shadow swings to get a feeling for relaxed strokes etc. Multi, or nat gut?

I don't harm the ball, i actually mostly played using the backhands and barely hit with the FH. and yes switched to full multi...isospeep professional.

 

[Fintft]

Thx! yes I'm trying though it's hard b/c I'm also on the computer a lot which I know can't be great. I'm also working on my technique not to arm the ball. I know I tense up in matches which isn't good. I'm playing with multi strings.. may consider switching to nat gut

Switch the mouse to the off hand.

 

[sharif]

Switch the mouse to the off hand.

I actually tried that but it was so hard for me :-(

 

[Fintft]

I actually tried that but it was so hard for me :-(

You'll get used to it, unless it's a video game.

 

[sharif]

You'll get used to it, unless it's a video game.

will try again

 

[Fintft]

will try again

Both me and my signifcant one (also a tennis player) did this and it's fine, trust yourself. I used to be a gamer and basketball player, but not her.

 

[sharif]

Both me and my signifcant one (also a tennis player) did this and it's fine, trust yourself. I used to be a gamer and basketball player, but not her.

It’s so hard for me for some reason I really can’t do anything with my left hand or arm for that matter

 

[TypeRx]

Go and get this. If this link doesn't work go to the Bezos ship and search for Rolflex Pro leverage foam roller ($63.99). It is rarely on sale like this and is absolutely worth it. Use this to massage and release adhesions/knots and loosen tight muscles in your forearm. Follow with therabar exercises. Best of luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Rolflex-PRO-Leverage-Foam-Roller/dp/B07H14X98W?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

PS - I have one and it is worth every penny. I paid $20 more for it.

 

[sharif]

Go and get this. If this link doesn't work go to the Bezos ship and search for Rolflex Pro leverage foam roller ($63.99). It is rarely on sale like this and is absolutely worth it. Use this to massage and release adhesions/knots and loosen tight muscles in your forearm. Follow with therabar exercises. Best of luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Rolflex-PRO-Leverage-Foam-Roller/dp/B07H14X98W?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

PS - I have one and it is worth every penny. I paid $20 more for it.

Wow this looks great & yes the link works thx so much!

 

[ByeByePoly]

will try again

Tennis elbow sucks … 7 year surviver here.

@happyandbob beat me to it … I followed Jamie Dreyer‘s advice in the video, and got past pretty bad TE (couldn’t serve for 9 months).

I do not believe the medical community, much less ttw … totally understands TE. I also don’t think all TE is equal (I hurt on TE side … lateral epicondyle) but hitting one handed backhands never hurt, forehands hurt bad, and serves hurt worse than bad. I have always suspected mine might have been tricep related … will never know … but to this day I massage the tricep every time I massage the forearm.

So the following is what worked for me … with some opinions sprinkled in. I read a lot at the time … wasn’t ready to give up tennis. Now I have … but not because of TE … moved on to massaging arm before paddle rather than racquet … turns out pickleball can wake up a degraded elbow if you aren’t careful.

- first … I would stick with red flexbar unless it gets too easy. Jamie even suggested starting with red … “you are doing this because you have a tendon injury”. I think the most important part is doing the eccentric exercise right and slow release of flexbar tension. I have the green flexbar … and I learned in the early days I could adjust total tension by hand positions at start of twisting it. Also opposite is true … now with semi-healthy elbow, I add more twist/tension. Maybe try that with red one … twist it a little further by changing initial hand positions gripping the flexbar.

- massage massage massage … particularly before tennis if you play. If you use your fingers feel for knots and work them out. I think the flexbar helped me heal … now I think massage keeps the elbow demons away. I always massaged forearm before tennis matches after I got past TE … and also do now before pickleball. I don’t pull out the flexbar anymore … but I did the other day when I got the telltale elbow twinge from a new paddle.

- I was prepared to sit out tennis until healed … but read stories where someone would come back a year later and immediately develop TE again. I just made an educated guess for me (not advice for anyone else) … and hit tennis balls as part of my therapy. That was the activity I was trying to get back to. My rule was mild discomfort during ball machine sessions ok as long as I didn’t hurt the next day. So I hit backhands from the start … no pain. I would try forehands, and would stop because more than mild discomfort. At some point continuing with flexbar and massage, forehands were ok. Interestingly full baseline forehands got comfortable way before fh volleys. I kept checking serve for months … and finally I could serve some … than added more a little at time in subsequent ball machine sessions. My serving healed 100% to the point I never worried about elbow.

- I don’t think ice does anything … other than maybe first couple weeks of injury. Apparently tendons are the things of low blood supply … TE not really a typical inflammation problem. Ice never worked for me. But … I also read ice is free and doesn’t hurt anything … so if you want go for it. Also my tennis friend I was hitting with soon after getting back to playing told me to ice and he was a vet. I guess human and dog tendons are similar.

- Some of us will end up with a permanently degraded elbow … check my ttw name … I showed up here at hotel ttw looking for TE advice. I could play 3 singles matches a week full out with Head Velocity multi … and never feel a twinge. I could play one match with poly … even soft poly … I got elbow twinges the next day. And yes … I kept trying to find the soft poly that worked. I don’t really think the racquet matters as much as the strings … I played nothing but stiff racquets my entire tennis years. That said … I did switch from Babolat Pure Drive to a Volkl.

Good luck … massage that forearm before your matches … you heard it here first.

 

[Fintft]

It’s so hard for me for some reason I really can’t do anything with my left hand or arm for that matter

Play basketball and learn to be ambidextrous?

Also for TE, I use chest expanders and light weights.

 

[ByeByePoly]

Go and get this. If this link doesn't work go to the Bezos ship and search for Rolflex Pro leverage foam roller ($63.99). It is rarely on sale like this and is absolutely worth it. Use this to massage and release adhesions/knots and loosen tight muscles in your forearm. Follow with therabar exercises. Best of luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Rolflex-PRO-Leverage-Foam-Roller/dp/B07H14X98W?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

PS - I have one and it is worth every penny. I paid $20 more for it.

good timing … prime day deal … I wonder if I can stick my Achilles in there. The thing that has saved my calves and therefore Achilles is my massage gun. Unlike brother happybob I don’t use the massage gun on my forearm. Not sure why … calves and Achilles adjacent yes … forearm extensor muscles no.

 

[ey039524]

Had TE for over a year, so I thought. Played lefty w my sons during that time. Came back, hit w a clash, nat gut. Used a 2hbh. Did PT, he said my arm was strong. Orthopedic surgeon said cortisone should work. Also did the prolotherapy shot. Did the green flexbar, eccentric exercises w the PT. Nothing worked. Ortho wanted to do surgery.

Finally got advice from retired stuntman who said to dig into the forearm where the tendon starts w the thumb for an hour. Deep, until the forearm is red and painful. Consecutive days to break up the scar tissue, which is causing the pain. I did it for 5 days, and the pain subsided. The scar tissue is a sticky adhesion that needs to be broken up.

Now I can hit OHBH w/o pain. Still using nat gut hybrid, no poly. Also using a proper soft racket (prince phantom) w an RA under 60. Strung at 40 lbs.

 

[sharif]

Tennis elbow sucks … 7 year surviver here.

@happyandbob beat me to it … I followed Jamie Dreyer‘s advice in the video, and got past pretty bad TE (couldn’t serve for 9 months).

I do not believe the medical community, much less ttw … totally understands TE. I also don’t think all TE is equal (I hurt on TE side … lateral epicondyle) but hitting one handed backhands never hurt, forehands hurt bad, and serves hurt worse than bad. I have always suspected mine might have been tricep related … will never know … but to this day I massage the tricep every time I massage the forearm.

So the following is what worked for me … with some opinions sprinkled in. I read a lot at the time … wasn’t ready to give up tennis. Now I have … but not because of TE … moved on to massaging arm before paddle rather than racquet … turns out pickleball can wake up a degraded elbow if you aren’t careful.

- first … I would stick with red flexbar unless it gets too easy. Jamie even suggested starting with red … “you are doing this because you have a tendon injury”. I think the most important part is doing the eccentric exercise right and slow release of flexbar tension. I have the green flexbar … and I learned in the early days I could adjust total tension by hand positions at start of twisting it. Also opposite is true … now with semi-healthy elbow, I add more twist/tension. Maybe try that with red one … twist it a little further by changing initial hand positions gripping the flexbar.

- massage massage massage … particularly before tennis if you play. If you use your fingers feel for knots and work them out. I think the flexbar helped me heal … now I think massage keeps the elbow demons away. I always massaged forearm before tennis matches after I got past TE … and also do now before pickleball. I don’t pull out the flexbar anymore … but I did the other day when I got the telltale elbow twinge from a new paddle.

- I was prepared to sit out tennis until healed … but read stories where someone would come back a year later and immediately develop TE again. I just made an educated guess for me (not advice for anyone else) … and hit tennis balls as part of my therapy. That was the activity I was trying to get back to. My rule was mild discomfort during ball machine sessions ok as long as I didn’t hurt the next day. So I hit backhands from the start … no pain. I would try forehands, and would stop because more than mild discomfort. At some point continuing with flexbar and massage, forehands were ok. Interestingly full baseline forehands got comfortable way before fh volleys. I kept checking serve for months … and finally I could serve some … than added more a little at time in subsequent ball machine sessions. My serving healed 100% to the point I never worried about elbow.

- I don’t think ice does anything … other than maybe first couple weeks of injury. Apparently tendons are the things of low blood supply … TE not really a typical inflammation problem. Ice never worked for me. But … I also read ice is free and doesn’t hurt anything … so if you want go for it. Also my tennis friend I was hitting with soon after getting back to playing told me to ice and he was a vet. I guess human and dog tendons are similar.

- Some of us will end up with a permanently degraded elbow … check my ttw name … I showed up here at hotel ttw looking for TE advice. I could play 3 singles matches a week full out with Head Velocity multi … and never feel a twinge. I could play one match with poly … even soft poly … I got elbow twinges the next day. And yes … I kept trying to find the soft poly that worked. I don’t really think the racquet matters as much as the strings … I played nothing but stiff racquets my entire tennis years. That said … I did switch from Babolat Pure Drive to a Volkl.

Good luck … massage that forearm before your matches … you heard it here first.

wow super helpful thx! I appreciate u sharing all of this. I wish I knew what stroke aggravates if for me as I typically feel no pain playing but then wake up with pain the next day. The only time I feel pain playing is if I play when it's already sore but I usually give it the 3-4 days it needs for the pain to go away before playing again. I once woke up sore after doing live ball the previous day which is mostly volleys but typically I think it's when I"m serving & doing games but I can't be 100% sure. I do have a 2 hand backhand. I did have rotator cuff tendinitis prior to the TE so I def think that contributed as it's all connected. I will def try the massage & continue to use my red flex bar thx

 

[sharif]

good timing … prime day deal … I wonder if I can stick my Achilles in there. The thing that has saved my calves and therefore Achilles is my massage gun. Unlike brother happybob I don’t use the massage gun on my forearm. Not sure why … calves and Achilles adjacent yes … forearm extensor muscles no.

yes great timing. I've heard good things about the thera gun too but not sure about it on the elbow lol

 

[sharif]

Tennis elbow sucks … 7 year surviver here.

@happyandbob beat me to it … I followed Jamie Dreyer‘s advice in the video, and got past pretty bad TE (couldn’t serve for 9 months).

I do not believe the medical community, much less ttw … totally understands TE. I also don’t think all TE is equal (I hurt on TE side … lateral epicondyle) but hitting one handed backhands never hurt, forehands hurt bad, and serves hurt worse than bad. I have always suspected mine might have been tricep related … will never know … but to this day I massage the tricep every time I massage the forearm.

So the following is what worked for me … with some opinions sprinkled in. I read a lot at the time … wasn’t ready to give up tennis. Now I have … but not because of TE … moved on to massaging arm before paddle rather than racquet … turns out pickleball can wake up a degraded elbow if you aren’t careful.

- first … I would stick with red flexbar unless it gets too easy. Jamie even suggested starting with red … “you are doing this because you have a tendon injury”. I think the most important part is doing the eccentric exercise right and slow release of flexbar tension. I have the green flexbar … and I learned in the early days I could adjust total tension by hand positions at start of twisting it. Also opposite is true … now with semi-healthy elbow, I add more twist/tension. Maybe try that with red one … twist it a little further by changing initial hand positions gripping the flexbar.

- massage massage massage … particularly before tennis if you play. If you use your fingers feel for knots and work them out. I think the flexbar helped me heal … now I think massage keeps the elbow demons away. I always massaged forearm before tennis matches after I got past TE … and also do now before pickleball. I don’t pull out the flexbar anymore … but I did the other day when I got the telltale elbow twinge from a new paddle.

- I was prepared to sit out tennis until healed … but read stories where someone would come back a year later and immediately develop TE again. I just made an educated guess for me (not advice for anyone else) … and hit tennis balls as part of my therapy. That was the activity I was trying to get back to. My rule was mild discomfort during ball machine sessions ok as long as I didn’t hurt the next day. So I hit backhands from the start … no pain. I would try forehands, and would stop because more than mild discomfort. At some point continuing with flexbar and massage, forehands were ok. Interestingly full baseline forehands got comfortable way before fh volleys. I kept checking serve for months … and finally I could serve some … than added more a little at time in subsequent ball machine sessions. My serving healed 100% to the point I never worried about elbow.

- I don’t think ice does anything … other than maybe first couple weeks of injury. Apparently tendons are the things of low blood supply … TE not really a typical inflammation problem. Ice never worked for me. But … I also read ice is free and doesn’t hurt anything … so if you want go for it. Also my tennis friend I was hitting with soon after getting back to playing told me to ice and he was a vet. I guess human and dog tendons are similar.

- Some of us will end up with a permanently degraded elbow … check my ttw name … I showed up here at hotel ttw looking for TE advice. I could play 3 singles matches a week full out with Head Velocity multi … and never feel a twinge. I could play one match with poly … even soft poly … I got elbow twinges the next day. And yes … I kept trying to find the soft poly that worked. I don’t really think the racquet matters as much as the strings … I played nothing but stiff racquets my entire tennis years. That said … I did switch from Babolat Pure Drive to a Volkl.

Good luck … massage that forearm before your matches … you heard it here first.

Oh & no I would never use poly; I'm only a 3.5 doubles player. I'm using nxt 16 but may consider nat gut down the road

 

[Tmano]

Had TE for over a year, so I thought. Played lefty w my sons during that time. Came back, hit w a clash, nat gut. Used a 2hbh. Did PT, he said my arm was strong. Orthopedic surgeon said cortisone should work. Also did the prolotherapy shot. Did the green flexbar, eccentric exercises w the PT. Nothing worked. Ortho wanted to do surgery.

Finally got advice from retired stuntman who said to dig into the forearm where the tendon starts w the thumb for an hour. Deep, until the forearm is red and painful. Consecutive days to break up the scar tissue, which is causing the pain. I did it for 5 days, and the pain subsided. The scar tissue is a sticky adhesion that needs to be broken up.

Now I can hit OHBH w/o pain. Still using nat gut hybrid, no poly. Also using a proper soft racket (prince phantom) w an RA under 60. Strung at 40 lbs.

I like it somehow it makes sense.
Did you start digging exactly where the tendon attaches to the bone by the elbow....correct?

 

[happyandbob]

Had TE for over a year, so I thought. Played lefty w my sons during that time. Came back, hit w a clash, nat gut. Used a 2hbh. Did PT, he said my arm was strong. Orthopedic surgeon said cortisone should work. Also did the prolotherapy shot. Did the green flexbar, eccentric exercises w the PT. Nothing worked. Ortho wanted to do surgery.

Finally got advice from retired stuntman who said to dig into the forearm where the tendon starts w the thumb for an hour. Deep, until the forearm is red and painful. Consecutive days to break up the scar tissue, which is causing the pain. I did it for 5 days, and the pain subsided. The scar tissue is a sticky adhesion that needs to be broken up.

Now I can hit OHBH w/o pain. Still using nat gut hybrid, no poly. Also using a proper soft racket (prince phantom) w an RA under 60. Strung at 40 lbs.

This is why rest does not work for tennis elbow. Your body does not think the tendon is injured because it's already done its work and the injury has been patched with scar tissue.

If rest helped your tennis elbow, you didn't have tennis elbow it was tendonitis. In order to heal tennis elbow (tendonosis not tendonitis) you need to re-damage the affected area:

1) eccentric exercise creates new microtears to spur the body's healing mechanism and bring blood to the area
2) deep massage breaks up old scar tissue and adhesions, and stimulates collagen growth

The body's healing mechanism is more like carpentry and less like furniture making -- it's not trying to expend resources to make things perfect. It's trying to use minimum energy to fix you enough to keep you alive. Tennis elbow is a build-up of a lot of old microtears that didn't heal quite right.

It hurts like hell, but I used to use one of those jade stones to grind that point on the elbow where the forearm tendon connects. Now (as @ByeByePoly notes), I jam my $80 massage gun on my elbow almost every day in addition to the flexbar.

 

[NattyGut]

Physical therapy, rest, brace

 

[ByeByePoly]

yes great timing. I've heard good things about the thera gun too but not sure about it on the elbow lol

You don’t have to spend a lot … I bought this one on Am@zon in February. I use the soft bigger orange massage head in the pic. Love it … thinking about marrying it as 2nd wife. @happyandbob gave me the Darkiron recommendation … I think he already married his.

fyi … I used a roller like Jamie Dreyer showed in the video above. I just wedged in the top corner of my couch and rolled the forearm. You can press as hard as you want an adjust pressure. The advantage of using your thumb or fingers is you can feel for knots/trigger points and then really work out those spots. If I was using the massage gun … I would just put that soft orange head right on the spot at the low setting and hold it there. I do that now with spots on calf, lower back and shoulder. All those head choices and power levels … and I only use orange head and lowest setting.

DARKIRON Massage Gun Deep Tissue Muscle Percussion Massager Gun, Electric Back Massagers with 15 Massage Heads Suitable for Any Pain Relief- Black https://a.co/d/h1w803C

 

[ByeByePoly]

Oh & no I would never use poly; I'm only a 3.5 doubles player. I'm using nxt 16 but may consider nat gut down the road

You don’t need gut … multi should work fine. If you think lower powered multi would work for you … try the Head Velocity 16 natural color @52lbs. You might not like the muted lower power feel of Velocity after NXT, but your elbow might. If you get to experimenting with strings a 2nd racquet (same racquet as 1st) is very helpful … both testing strings and tension).

 

[NattyGut]

Theragun / massage guns for the win