elbow pain

[DaddyMac]

Forgive me if I'm starting (yet another) tennis elbow thread. I have perused enough of the tennis elbow threads and sites to know that I'm a little confused, so forgive me if what I describe is "simply" tennis elbow. My (admittedly uneducated) instinct is that its not.

My (right - i'm a righty) elbow hurts whenever i hit a slice backhand or volley. Sometimes the pain is quite sharp. The pain intensifies the further I extend the stroke usually -- an especially painful one is a high backhand volley where i may need to lead with my elbow more and hit downwards.

I do not feel pain otherwise, no dull pain, no pain lifting things or clutching things. The pain is not located at any part of the upper forearm, it is strictly located in the elbow joint (in one of the "valleys" created by the joint there -- that's the only way i can describe it)

Is this tennis elbow? It feels more like I "overextended" my elbow, if that's possible. Any enlightenment on what this injury could be would be very much appreciated.

Thanks -

Noah

 

[Marius_Hancu]

nothing special, looks like TE to me
http://www.tennis-elbow.net/tenniselbow.htm
even if it might be muscular weakness and pain

you probably have technique probs on your BH (hitting from your elbow, instead of your shoulder)

your arm might have become weaker with age; do lots of shadow BH and FH with surgical tubing, with an extended arm, but not locked at the elbow, stop at any pain during or the day after

go to a good coach for assessment on all counts

which racquet, which strings & tension?

then use my signature here (Elbow Pain section) for recovery

Great Fitness Sites
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=33800

 

[DaddyMac]

Thanks for your quick response Marius -- I can't refute any of these claims. I'm 28 years old, so I don't know if that qualifies necessarily for age injury, but I've been playing tennis on and off since I was 10 or so.

I am somewhat stubborn on this front in terms of calling this tennis elbow, not sure why. Clearly the "hurts on my backhand" is one of those tell-tale tennis elbow signs, but I feel like it may be a red herring. I haven't been playing a lot of tennis this season (or last) to really qualify for an "overuse" injury.

I feel like my injury was caused by something acute (I may have strained it playing volleyball or something), and not chronic from overuse or bad technique.

Could you clarify for me the typical location of tennis elbow? Is it clear what I mean by the valley in the elbow joint? All the descriptions of tennis elbow seem to suggest that it involves part of the upper forearm.

Sorry to be long winded. Thanks again.

Noah

PS - To answer your racquet questions: primarily I use Head's Flexpoint Radical. I've been experimenting with strings because I tend to break them a lot, so no constant there (last was TNT Fusion). Tension ~60 if I recall correctly.

you probably have technique probs on your BH (hitting from your elbow, instead of your shoulder)

your arm might have become weaker with age; do lots of shadow BH and FH with surgical tubing, with an extended arm, but not locked at the elbow, stop at any pain during or the day after

go to a good coach for assessment on all counts

which racquet, which strings & tension?

then use my signature here (Elbow Pain section) for recovery

Great Fitness Sites
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=33800

 

[Marius_Hancu]

sorry, check the pics in the links, it's pretty clear there.

right on the elbow, inside or outside, in the points where the forearm tendons are anchored, and those seem like "valleys" to me.

go to a coach or doctor, he will SHOW it to you if you don't understand from here.

as a matter of fact an orthopedic surgeon might be quite recommended in any doubt situation.

and acute might mean even 20 shots. it's enough to get TE, if you're not warmed up, etc.

 

[DaddyMac]

Well, I will ask a coach or doctor next time I see one -- thanks. I'm probably splitting hairs here, but as far as I can tell my pain specifically resides (in bold black circle):

Or in red here:

But it does seem like the diagrams aren't really gonna do it for me. I will ask. Thanks for your time.

 

[scotus]

I feel like my injury was caused by something acute (I may have strained it playing volleyball or something), and not chronic from overuse or bad technique.

It could very well be the case. Most people don't develop tennis elbow solely from overuse or bad technique or faulty equipment. It might be any combination of these things, and an acute injury from a non-tennis-related activity could certainly make your elbow susceptible to TE. It is not uncommon to see someone who has played tennis for decades without a problem suddenly develop TE.

Whatever the case, playing tennis while you are feeling the elbow pain will only exacerbate the situation. So lay off for now until pain goes away.

 

[Luis Re]

I have 2 year with chronic elbow pain. My regular raquet was head gravity tour and is great with gut/poly at low 45/47. But is not a very spin control, more flat with 18*20. I try clash pro and I loved it but never could did a flat shots well, with spin is great and very arm friendly, even with full poly. Then I try prince phantom 100x 305. I lover too but you have to put all power in every shot and It stress my shoulder first time. Very anemic power.
Then I try ProKennex black ace 300. I put 3gr at 10 and 2. Wuawww it is the perfect raquet with cream and gut. Try it, if you have arm problems or even not. I’m very very happy. Great control, great power, low weight 324, 22 bean, with 3 extra grams is very power but controles, all insinde. The spin is amaizing /all tell me, your shots take floor and take much more speed/ And great in flat shots. NO PAIN.
I finish my 2 years raquet search. Thanks prokennex! I want to share this. ProKennex don’t sell in my country so I hade to import and a lot off players should has this cuestión. This is the best raquet don’t think it and buy it. It work perfect. Just low tension 3gr at 10 and 2, and is very power. And the best for elbow.

 

[badmice2]

Perhaps you hyper extended your elbow at some point? or hit a backhand overhead type shot but hit it late? either way sounds like low grade TE symptoms. If anything, take IB to knock out the inflammation, which will help some with the recovery process. As for recover or strengthening exercises, i would work on resistance training on the triceps (resistence band works well) as well as using flexbar to strengthen the elbow joint area -

. Lastly, get some help with technique.

 

[threeseatercouch]

Thread bumped from 2005, hopefully OP got his elbow pain sorted by now.

 

[Crocodile]

TE and GE are tricky injuries to treat because we are constantly using the elbow all the time and most tennis players keep playing while in pain when they need to rest and therefore continue to aggravate or irritate the tendon.
The rehabilitation and strengthening is also tricky. I have seen people self treat and end up irritating the tendon because they either massage right on the tendon, when they should stay well away from It and instead work on the associated muscles, or they go too hard and heavy with the exercises and too early without checking the impact after they first did the routine.
You can certainly predict that you are about to get tennis elbow if you touch both elbows and can feel the difference in heat coming from your injured elbow. It is at this time when you need to go with the ice packs and rest and wait till the heat goes away. Then you can slowly start the rehabilitation. Once you start to notice some improvements, then you could do your rehab up to 3 times a day and usually you should get to about 85 percent by 8 weeks.
I have read some sites that advocate a different protocol, but I haven’t seen any actual evidence that supports it.
Lately I have been doing some testing with racquets and tennis elbow and golfers elbow and all I can say is that the benefits of natural gut and multi filament strings and appropriate grip size is key. With racquets I haven’t yet made conclusive results, but all I can say is that a moderately weighted frame with a swing weight in that 323 to 328 and open string pattern seems to work well. A moderately weighted frame for a strong player would be around 315g unstrung, An RA around 60 seems optimal with some variance depending on the frame, works well. At present I would still say that the kinetic technology is still the best with the current PK Q Tour 315 with 328SW optimal for say an advanced male player. The Prince Phantom’s are very good as well but I haven’t yet pinpointed the optimal model within that range but leaning towards the 100 P or Phantom 100. Angell K 7 Lime has also been a stand out. For recreational level players of small build, maybe the clash would work in stock form, but I think it is too light for competitive 4.0 players.
I will be trying out more frames to see how they work. I will mention that the Diadem Elevate MP is a good frame for modern style players with TE and out of all the poly strings I have tried, I found the solstice quite comfortable.

 

[hpsg]

Perhaps you hyper extended your elbow at some point? or hit a backhand overhead type shot but hit it late? either way sounds like low grade TE symptoms. If anything, take IB to knock out the inflammation, which will help some with the recovery process. As for recover or strengthening exercises, i would work on resistance training on the triceps (resistence band works well) as well as using flexbar to strengthen the elbow joint area -

. Lastly, get some help with technique.

Hi, interesting that you mentioned hyper extension. I have an injury on the elbow and it feels different from the usual tennis or golfer's elbow injury. The pain occurs right at the end of my elbow (instead of at the sides for cases of tennis and golfer's elbow) when I fully extend my elbow. I use a single backhand for many years and this is the first time it has occurred. At full extension and ball contact, I can feel acute pain. If I hit it with a bent elbow, the pain is less severe. At times, the pain is less and I can return to hitting it, but it comes back and I have to end up using backhand slices. No pain at rest. Searching through the internet, I can't seem to find a definite answer to what this injury is. The closest is elbow posterior impingement syndrome, but I am not sure. Have you experienced or heard of something similar?

 

[badmice2]

Hi, interesting that you mentioned hyper extension. I have an injury on the elbow and it feels different from the usual tennis or golfer's elbow injury. The pain occurs right at the end of my elbow (instead of at the sides for cases of tennis and golfer's elbow) when I fully extend my elbow. I use a single backhand for many years and this is the first time it has occurred. At full extension and ball contact, I can feel acute pain. If I hit it with a bent elbow, the pain is less severe. At times, the pain is less and I can return to hitting it, but it comes back and I have to end up using backhand slices. No pain at rest. Searching through the internet, I can't seem to find a definite answer to what this injury is. The closest is elbow posterior impingement syndrome, but I am not sure. Have you experienced or heard of something similar?

I have, long time ago; but went away over time. I actually had elbow surgery recently due to numb outside part of my hands (ulnar nerve entrapment); in miss of PT/recovery. Anyhow sounds like you’re experiencing some form of tendinitis. Best thing to do is have someone take a look to pin point the source. That way if you decide to self medicate it’s easier to look up your recovery option.

 

[hpsg]

I have, long time ago; but went away over time. I actually had elbow surgery recently due to numb outside part of my hands (ulnar nerve entrapment); in miss of PT/recovery. Anyhow sounds like you’re experiencing some form of tendinitis. Best thing to do is have someone take a look to pin point the source. That way if you decide to self medicate it’s easier to look up your recovery option.

Thanks for your reply and good luck in your post-surgery recovery. I shall go find a physio to check it out.

 

[Enkitec]

Forgive me if I'm starting (yet another) tennis elbow thread. I have perused enough of the tennis elbow threads and sites to know that I'm a little confused, so forgive me if what I describe is "simply" tennis elbow. My (admittedly uneducated) instinct is that its not.

My (right - i'm a righty) elbow hurts whenever i hit a slice backhand or volley. Sometimes the pain is quite sharp. The pain intensifies the further I extend the stroke usually -- an especially painful one is a high backhand volley where i may need to lead with my elbow more and hit downwards.

I do not feel pain otherwise, no dull pain, no pain lifting things or clutching things. The pain is not located at any part of the upper forearm, it is strictly located in the elbow joint (in one of the "valleys" created by the joint there -- that's the only way i can describe it)

Is this tennis elbow? It feels more like I "overextended" my elbow, if that's possible. Any enlightenment on what this injury could be would be very much appreciated.

Thanks -

Noah

That sounds like it could be hyperextension or maybe a small bone spur rather than typical tennis elbow, especially since you only feel it when fully extending on those backhands. Tennis elbow usually burns on the outside of the forearm when you grip things, which you said isn't happening.

You might want to have a physio check if it's posterior impingement. In the meantime, try not to "snap" your arm straight on those volleys and see if it helps.