Elbow pain - but not painful to the touch

[Thiago Amaral]

I have been battling elbow pain for the last two years, if I try to play more than once per week, the pain comes back and if I play 3 times in the spam of a few days, I can barely hold the racket. The most frustrating part is that it is not sensitive to the touch, I can touch and press forcefully with my fingers all over my elbow and I feel nothing. When I play in this condition, I feel no sharp pain, it is just a lingering feeling that makes it very uncomfortable to hit my strokes and it feels incredibly weak. I thought for sure it was golfer's elbow since I believe it comes from serving and hitting forehands, but shouldn't I be able to touch the inside of my elbow right on the tendon where my forearm muscles connect to my elbow and feel a lot of sharp pain? I feel no sharp pain. Is that normal? Could it still mean that I have golfer's elbow? I took MRIs and it showed nothing, I thought about going to the doctor but how is he supposed to diagnose if I feel no sharp pain?

Has anybody faced something similar or has more thoughts on this?

 

[Oldstorm]

My inner elbow has bothered me for quite some time, years. It only appears on serves and has been lasting longer recently. The pain symptoms are similar to yours. I can push down and would rarely feel it. This time around ortho said sprain of UCL.

My suggestions:
Get it checked by an ortho to prevent worst case scenarios, you don’t need to do every PT session so it doesn’t get too expensive. They put your elbow in positions of load and extensions to determine damage and in worst case could MRI it.

Get yourself a theraband and work on the shoulders and delts to remove the load from the elbow

Get a coach to check your technique

 

[jimmy8]

I have been battling elbow pain for the last two years, if I try to play more than once per week, the pain comes back and if I play 3 times in the spam of a few days, I can barely hold the racket. The most frustrating part is that it is not sensitive to the touch, I can touch and press forcefully with my fingers all over my elbow and I feel nothing. When I play in this condition, I feel no sharp pain, it is just a lingering feeling that makes it very uncomfortable to hit my strokes and it feels incredibly weak. I thought for sure it was golfer's elbow since I believe it comes from serving and hitting forehands, but shouldn't I be able to touch the inside of my elbow right on the tendon where my forearm muscles connect to my elbow and feel a lot of sharp pain? I feel no sharp pain. Is that normal? Could it still mean that I have golfer's elbow? I took MRIs and it showed nothing, I thought about going to the doctor but how is he supposed to diagnose if I feel no sharp pain?

Has anybody faced something similar or has more thoughts on this?

You took MRIs, but you haven't gone to a doctor? That doesn't make any sense. Please elaborate.

Am I guessing correctly that you use a Babolat racket?

 

[Rosstour]

You've already damaged it tbh

Take a long break from playing, or you'll never get fully back to it

Build forearm strength!

 

[Deleted member 775108]

Go to the doctor.

Explain this whole thing to him/her.

Dont assume anything.

 

[SpinControl]

Just found this.
It could be muscle tightness and subsequent trauma.

Always did the usual taught stretching, but I just did this and my tightness went away. I will obviously need to keep doing this and other strengthening exercises to ensure proper elbow health. Amazing that this isn't a TOP search result on YouTube.

He shows the thumb scraping technique on the inside forearm, but I just did the outside by using my thumb to scrape my outside forearm while turning my hand down. Amazing.

I've heard of myofacial release on other muscles like the levator (turn that head and have piercing pain? Levator) and scapula, but this is the first to recommend similar for tennis elbow.

 

[yossarian]

Clear the cervical spine

 

[PKorda]

You took MRIs, but you haven't gone to a doctor? That doesn't make any sense. Please elaborate.

Am I guessing correctly that you use a Babolat racket?

Got the MRI machine off of Amazon, duh