The issue of tennis elbow and other arm ailments is pretty multifaceted. For some people, the stiffness, weight, or whatever other factor of the racquet or strings themselves make a significant factor in the irritation of tendons, ligaments, and muscles. With more and more people swinging harder these days and using much more extreme grips, these little factors can sometimes make a big health difference to some. A change of equipment, whether it be a softer multi or natural gut string, lower tensions, or a different racquet, may be all that is needed. In Audiodude’s situation, this was the case.
For a lot of people, the problem is more technique-oriented. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of my students who have developed tennis elbow at some point are older men (i.e., those of us that aren’t teenagers bursting at the seams with energy) with one-handed backhands who hit the ball late on that wing. It doesn’t matter what racquet you use if you’re placing a lot of stress on various parts of your arm to compensate for poor technique. I’d consider poor technique to be a bigger contributor to tennis elbow than racquet selection. Indeed, I work with a number of nationally ranked juniors, college players, and open level players who wield fairly light sticks like the Surge, Pure Drive, LM Radical, and so forth and have no arm problems whatsoever. If you have good technique and hit the sweetspot all the time, your arm’s going to be in good health more probable than not.
Finally, for some it’s a health or conditioning issue. Some people may frankly be just overworking themselves or are not strong enough to handle the pounding that tennis can put on the body on a consistent basis. The solution obviously is to get stronger, which is why you always see various exercises recommended for those with tennis elbow, shoulder problems, etc. Some people may also have a health condition – e.g., a bone spur in the elbow – that will cause the ligaments and tendons around the joint to become inflamed no matter what racquet you use or how good your technique is. This is obviously the most extreme situation, and people have had surgery in order to correct this.
Everyone is different. If you’re suffering from severe tennis elbow, you need to find out the source of the problem and take subsequent remedial actions. If different strings or racquets don’t cure your problems, have a teaching pro analyze your strokes to see if it may be causing your problems. Perhaps working on getting yourself stronger will solve your problems.
