Golfer’s Elbow

T

tennisralph4

New User
Hello. I have been having quite a bout with golfer’s elbow this year and came here looking for some help and maybe some tips/exercises that have helped some of you.

I developed it earlier this year back in March and was able to shake it after a cortisone shot and strengthening my forearm muscles.

2 months ago I was practicing my serve with some not great balls (old and dead) and the next day the golfer’s elbow was back and was throbbing.

I have been doing the theraband, Marcy wrist, hammer exercise, heating, icing and have seen little progress. I did receive another cortisone shot about a month ago but that did not do anything this time around.

I am 33 years old and a 5.0 who plays 2-4 times a week. I have noticed I can do just about everything but serve and tolerate the pain but if I serve I can definitely feel it the next day.

I have tried taking a week or so off but have noticed if I take a few days off from tennis or weight lifting it hurts even more than when I’m active.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
 
There continues to be evidence that cortisone shots will eventually degrade soft tissues. It might be something to talk to your doctor about before going that route again. I wish this were known back in the day. I had probably 8-10 cortisone shots in my neck for a nerve impingement caused by a bone spur. I ended up needing a disc fusion but the surgeons did mention that things were not good in there, likely from the shots.

Have you tried either a tight neoprene elbow sleeve or one of those forearm compression devices that prevents you from flexing your lower arm muscles too tightly? Of the two, the neoprene wrap helped me more when I went through a bout of golfer’s elbow many years ago. Something about the tightness seemed to hold everything in place firmly and prevented the localized soreness on the tendon or ligament.
 
tennisralph4 said:
Hello. I have been having quite a bout with golfer’s elbow this year and came here looking for some help and maybe some tips/exercises that have helped some of you.

I developed it earlier this year back in March and was able to shake it after a cortisone shot and strengthening my forearm muscles.

2 months ago I was practicing my serve with some not great balls (old and dead) and the next day the golfer’s elbow was back and was throbbing.

I have been doing the theraband, Marcy wrist, hammer exercise, heating, icing and have seen little progress. I did receive another cortisone shot about a month ago but that did not do anything this time around.

I am 33 years old and a 5.0 who plays 2-4 times a week. I have noticed I can do just about everything but serve and tolerate the pain but if I serve I can definitely feel it the next day.

I have tried taking a week or so off but have noticed if I take a few days off from tennis or weight lifting it hurts even more than when I’m active.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Click to expand...
GE often occurs in tennis & golf when squeezing the handle too hard. Your grip should be very relaxed most of the time — as if you are holding a baby bird in your hand. Your grip force should be just enuff so that the bird does not fly away. If you squeeze to firmly, you’ll harm the bird.

Consider a scale from 0 to 10. At a grip of 0, the racket falls out of your hand. A grip of 10 is 10 is max grip strength. You should never come close to this.

Most is the time, an ideal grip force would be around 2. Very shortly before contact (about 30-50 ms), your grip force should naturally increase a bit — do not force this. The finder will squeeze a bit just prior to contact. At contact, the grip does not need to be greater than a 5 or 6 for the serve or most other strokes. Immediately after you hear or feel the contact, let the grip relax again (to a grip F of 2).
 
What size grip do you play with? It may be too small, which can make using less grip pressure as suggested difficult. From your description of exercises, it sounds like you are focused on strength only, but no flexibility/mobility exercises. For myself, rolling the forearm on a tennis ball on a table with palm down was helpful as well as stretching the wrist several times a day by holding the arm out palm up and bending the hand down. It’s also possible you need to work on shoulder mobility. You mention theraband - are you definitely using the motion for golfer’s elbow vs the motion for tennis elbow? Another good exercise to balance against constant gripping is to put a rubber band around your fingers and spread them out against the resistance of the rubber band.
 
What's your setup?

I had the same issue, and it took a long time to heal.

My case and the changes I made:

Changed the strings and stopped playing until they broke (especially old strings that get stiff).
Increased the weight of the racquet; more mass helps absorb vibrations.
Used ice and stretches to relieve the pain.
Did hand grip exercises and power ball spinning exercises.
 
Agree with above poster that cortisone shots are generally overused and possibly do more damage than good (just on what i've read i am not a doctor)
could be something with your form but as a 5.0 player maybe not
a week off is literally nothing, serves zero purpose, i'd plan on much longer like 4 months maybe longer
use theraband regularly, continue to use even after return to play
take a look at your equipment, maybe a less stiff racket would help, but if don't want to change rackets at a minimum would consider lowering tension in your strings and assuming you're using poly now, changing strings to a multi or gut until you're recovered then can move back to poly gradually
 
tennisralph4 said:
Hello. I have been having quite a bout with golfer’s elbow this year and came here looking for some help and maybe some tips/exercises that have helped some of you.

I developed it earlier this year back in March and was able to shake it after a cortisone shot and strengthening my forearm muscles.

2 months ago I was practicing my serve with some not great balls (old and dead) and the next day the golfer’s elbow was back and was throbbing.

I have been doing the theraband, Marcy wrist, hammer exercise, heating, icing and have seen little progress. I did receive another cortisone shot about a month ago but that did not do anything this time around.

I am 33 years old and a 5.0 who plays 2-4 times a week. I have noticed I can do just about everything but serve and tolerate the pain but if I serve I can definitely feel it the next day.

I have tried taking a week or so off but have noticed if I take a few days off from tennis or weight lifting it hurts even more than when I’m active.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Click to expand...
in case it applies to you...

i got golfers elbow (medial epicondylitis) pretty bad from serving (so much so that i thought i'd have to get dropped down a couple levels to 3.5/4.0 as i could only underhand serve and/or roll my serve in as a sitter - my groundies were not impacted). i hurt it when my mental model was to make contact with the ball when my elbow was locked, because i was reaching up as "high as i could" to make contact (took an entire summer off from serving to recover, and also used that time to study up and revamp my serve)

before fixing technique, i also experimented with soft strings ("soft" poly - IMO doesn't exist!!, multi-filament, gut) and low tension... and "soft frames"... to me these were all bandaids to the ultimate need to fix my technique. side note, gut & soft frame & low tension is "comfortable" but not enough when trying to "serve big" with my bad technique.

fast forward a few years i fixed the issue, after watching this vid (and ones similar to it, but can't find):
the sensation i have is making contact lower, in the space between my head and my hand, such that my elbow is never locked at contact (but am violently moving the racquet from supination to pronation up & through contact - which also feells much whippier than my old motion)

side note, after fixing, i practiced with old/dead balls all the time, and was practicing serve daily for 30-40m... no more elbow issues... then again i'm not a 5.0 and typically not breaking 100 throughout a match (but can hit flat, slice, kick, etc...).

my $.02

other:
* i did massage, icing, etc... but once i started serving again, it came back
* strengthening, just made it worst IMO
* avoided cortisone/pain killers for reasons mentioned above..
* originally i thought i was doing what the video above showed, but videos like this, helped point out the errs of my old serve, and show/feel me the path to my current serve:
 
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tennisralph4 said:
Hello. I have been having quite a bout with golfer’s elbow this year and came here looking for some help and maybe some tips/exercises that have helped some of you.

I developed it earlier this year back in March and was able to shake it after a cortisone shot and strengthening my forearm muscles.

2 months ago I was practicing my serve with some not great balls (old and dead) and the next day the golfer’s elbow was back and was throbbing.

I have been doing the theraband, Marcy wrist, hammer exercise, heating, icing and have seen little progress. I did receive another cortisone shot about a month ago but that did not do anything this time around.

I am 33 years old and a 5.0 who plays 2-4 times a week. I have noticed I can do just about everything but serve and tolerate the pain but if I serve I can definitely feel it the next day.

I have tried taking a week or so off but have noticed if I take a few days off from tennis or weight lifting it hurts even more than when I’m active.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Click to expand...
I've had luck with reversing a couple cases of golfer's elbow among the high school sluggers I coach by switching those players out of a stiff string - poly was the culprit in each case - to a multifiber for at least a few weeks. I generally like to keep Prince Premier Control 16 on hand for anybody needing a full bed of multifiber, but two kids who were very strong hitters could eat that string up in only about 5-7 days. They got much better service life from their string beds along with plenty of comfort when they tried the heavier gauge PPC 15L.

If you currently have a stiffer string setup - even a poly hybrid at relatively low tension - I'd say don't be subtle. Go to a much softer alternative string type for at least a month or two while you're doing whatever else in terms of therapy and exercise for cooling out that elbow.
 
tennisralph4 said:
Hello. I have been having quite a bout with golfer’s elbow this year and came here looking for some help and maybe some tips/exercises that have helped some of you.

I developed it earlier this year back in March and was able to shake it after a cortisone shot and strengthening my forearm muscles.

2 months ago I was practicing my serve with some not great balls (old and dead) and the next day the golfer’s elbow was back and was throbbing.

I have been doing the theraband, Marcy wrist, hammer exercise, heating, icing and have seen little progress. I did receive another cortisone shot about a month ago but that did not do anything this time around.

I am 33 years old and a 5.0 who plays 2-4 times a week. I have noticed I can do just about everything but serve and tolerate the pain but if I serve I can definitely feel it the next day.

I have tried taking a week or so off but have noticed if I take a few days off from tennis or weight lifting it hurts even more than when I’m active.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Click to expand...
Do nothing athletic until you are absolutely pain free. Slowly add activities and observe closely for any recurrence of pain and immediately back off for any pain. Your goal is to identify if there's any activity you need to permanently avoid.
 
I had GE last year which forced me to stop. I went for shock therapy which really accelerated the healing, so I would highly recommend it.

I'd also suggest you use a heavier racquet with a relatively high flex, so avoid the Babolats. Something like a Blade with a multi setup or similar.
 
Get a TENS machine, i just got one, I've had awful golfers elbow for over 12 months to the point i couldn't hardly serve or hold a racket if i hit for longer than an hour, been using the TENS for a fortnight now and huge improvement, pain nearly completely gone on serve and can hit for nearly 2 hours with only minor pain. Have also been stretching and doing some forearm weights to increase strength.
 
Thank you all for the help and advice. Went to see an elbow specialist two weeks ago who actually played D2 tennis and had struggled with elbow pain in the past. He suggested I take the lead tape off of my racquet (I have added weight at 10 & 2 and also in the handle). I had previously been taking Meloxicam from my PCP, but he switched me from that to diclofenac sodium.

I continued hitting as usual last week and took the lead tape off. Everything felt fine until I served a little too much one day so I took a few days off. Went for a hit last night (no serving) and my right elbow was still in pain but now I am having pain in my right wrist as well as pain in the top of my left (non-dominant) elbow. What in the world is going on? Is taking the weight off of the racquet causing more stress on the rest of my body without the added stability? Was the meloxicam more effective than the diclofenac?

I have been using the Pure Aero 98 2023 for about 18 months now with the added weight and strung with Solinco Confidential at 48 lbs. I have ordered some softer poly as well as some nrg2 to try a hybrid. Do I need to start considering a more arm friendly racquet? Just seems odd that after a year of using it that is when the arm problems would start to appear. I stay in pretty good shape and get to the gym once a week so it's hard for me to believe my arms can't handle the stiffness of the racquet.

Feel like I am running out of options here. The specialist did mention I could do a PRP injection but that would require a 6 week shut down. If nothing changes in the next few weeks I am afraid that is my best hope but I will likely have to sit out this spring and summer season.

Does anyone have any experience with the above options? Thanks again for all of the help.
 
tennisralph4 said:
Thank you all for the help and advice. Went to see an elbow specialist two weeks ago who actually played D2 tennis and had struggled with elbow pain in the past. He suggested I take the lead tape off of my racquet (I have added weight at 10 & 2 and also in the handle). I had previously been taking Meloxicam from my PCP, but he switched me from that to diclofenac sodium.

I continued hitting as usual last week and took the lead tape off. Everything felt fine until I served a little too much one day so I took a few days off. Went for a hit last night (no serving) and my right elbow was still in pain but now I am having pain in my right wrist as well as pain in the top of my left (non-dominant) elbow. What in the world is going on? Is taking the weight off of the racquet causing more stress on the rest of my body without the added stability? Was the meloxicam more effective than the diclofenac?

I have been using the Pure Aero 98 2023 for about 18 months now with the added weight and strung with Solinco Confidential at 48 lbs. I have ordered some softer poly as well as some nrg2 to try a hybrid. Do I need to start considering a more arm friendly racquet? Just seems odd that after a year of using it that is when the arm problems would start to appear. I stay in pretty good shape and get to the gym once a week so it's hard for me to believe my arms can't handle the stiffness of the racquet.

Feel like I am running out of options here. The specialist did mention I could do a PRP injection but that would require a 6 week shut down. If nothing changes in the next few weeks I am afraid that is my best hope but I will likely have to sit out this spring and summer season.

Does anyone have any experience with the above options? Thanks again for all of the help.
Click to expand...
I would move away from Confidential yesterday. I doubt the lead had anything to do with it. I’d get something like Velocity at 52lbs strung up for now.

As for the elbow, various things that have helped me with golfers and tennis elbow:

-be mindful how and how often you hold your cell phone. Change how you hold it if you are constantly holding it in the palm of you hand.
-be mindful of how you use a mouse or keyboard if you work at a computer
-Dry needling - I saw a physio locally that is tennis oriented. They have a lot of different procedures they use but dry needling was the most effective to me.
-Massage - using your other hand, you really need to get in and massage against the fibers/tendons in your fore arm. If your fore arm was a long rectangle, you’d be massaging north & south on the shorter side
-There band exercises
-Strengthening - keep your arm bent at 90 degrees, hold a 3-5lb weight in your hand and curl your wrist up. Hold this position for 30 secs. Then release. Do multiple sets.
 
Worth having a coach take a look at your service motion. Or post a video here.

socallefty said:
If you have shoulder issues and golfer’s elbow, that seems to be an indication for your serve technique possibly causing the issue. When your racquet is extended above before you contact the ball, do you take it vertically up so that the Racquet tip is pointed straight up or do you initially have the racquet tip pointed slightly inwards towards your head before you swing up/out. If it is the first case, it causes injuries. If it is the second case, it is the right technique where you are using ISR to generate power and not just your arm.

This freeze frame shows the internal tilt I am talking about.
maxresdefault.jpg
Click to expand...
 
tennisralph4 said:
Thank you all for the help and advice. Went to see an elbow specialist two weeks ago who actually played D2 tennis and had struggled with elbow pain in the past. He suggested I take the lead tape off of my racquet (I have added weight at 10 & 2 and also in the handle). I had previously been taking Meloxicam from my PCP, but he switched me from that to diclofenac sodium.

I continued hitting as usual last week and took the lead tape off. Everything felt fine until I served a little too much one day so I took a few days off. Went for a hit last night (no serving) and my right elbow was still in pain but now I am having pain in my right wrist as well as pain in the top of my left (non-dominant) elbow. What in the world is going on? Is taking the weight off of the racquet causing more stress on the rest of my body without the added stability? Was the meloxicam more effective than the diclofenac?

I have been using the Pure Aero 98 2023 for about 18 months now with the added weight and strung with Solinco Confidential at 48 lbs. I have ordered some softer poly as well as some nrg2 to try a hybrid. Do I need to start considering a more arm friendly racquet? Just seems odd that after a year of using it that is when the arm problems would start to appear. I stay in pretty good shape and get to the gym once a week so it's hard for me to believe my arms can't handle the stiffness of the racquet.

Feel like I am running out of options here. The specialist did mention I could do a PRP injection but that would require a 6 week shut down. If nothing changes in the next few weeks I am afraid that is my best hope but I will likely have to sit out this spring and summer season.

Does anyone have any experience with the above options? Thanks again for all of the help.
Click to expand...
re-posting what i wrote in December

Agree with above poster that cortisone shots are generally overused and possibly do more damage than good (just on what i've read i am not a doctor)
could be something with your form but as a 5.0 player maybe not
a week off is literally nothing, serves zero purpose, i'd plan on much longer like 4 months maybe longer
use theraband regularly, continue to use even after return to play
take a look at your equipment, maybe a less stiff racket would help, but if don't want to change rackets at a minimum would consider lowering tension in your strings and assuming you're using poly now, changing strings to a multi or gut until you're recovered then can move back to poly gradually
 
EggSalad said:
I would move away from Confidential yesterday. I doubt the lead had anything to do with it. I’d get something like Velocity at 52lbs strung up for now.

As for the elbow, various things that have helped me with golfers and tennis elbow:

-be mindful how and how often you hold your cell phone. Change how you hold it if you are constantly holding it in the palm of you hand.
-be mindful of how you use a mouse or keyboard if you work at a computer
-Dry needling - I saw a physio locally that is tennis oriented. They have a lot of different procedures they use but dry needling was the most effective to me.
-Massage - using your other hand, you really need to get in and massage against the fibers/tendons in your fore arm. If your fore arm was a long rectangle, you’d be massaging north & south on the shorter side
-There band exercises
-Strengthening - keep your arm bent at 90 degrees, hold a 3-5lb weight in your hand and curl your wrist up. Hold this position for 30 secs. Then release. Do multiple sets.
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same about the lead tape. Thought it even might help making the racquet more stable upon contact.

It's funny you say that because I have in the last few months tried to exclusively use my phone with my left hand as opposed to my right.

I do work at a computer for the majority of the day. Is there anything to do or not do that would help?

How often are you dry needling? Once a week?
 
tennisralph4 said:
I was thinking the same about the lead tape. Thought it even might help making the racquet more stable upon contact.

It's funny you say that because I have in the last few months tried to exclusively use my phone with my left hand as opposed to my right.

I do work at a computer for the majority of the day. Is there anything to do or not do that would help?

How often are you dry needling? Once a week?
Click to expand...
I alternate the locations of my mouse and keyboard. Have my mouse to the left of the keyboard so that I’m reaching across my body. Then after a couple weeks, move it back to the right of the keyboard.

I’m not sure if that will help golfers elbow, it may apply more to tennis elbow.

I am a believer in holding your phone in the other hand and changing up how you hold it.

When I was starting to get tennis elbow, I went to rhat physio once a week for 3 weeks. They did dry needling each session; so once a week for three weeks is what got me over the hump.

The dry needling is really interesting. They are sticking a needle into muscle fibers to get the muscle to respond with a spasm. When the muscle spasms, it breaks up the junk that is keeping it stuck in place. Then you can do massage. And once you are on the track to healing, start doing some light strength work.

In My experience, it’s all about loosening those muscles up and getting them to move free, then do some strength work to build them up and help heal.
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
GE often occurs in tennis & golf when squeezing the handle too hard. Your grip should be very relaxed most of the time — as if you are holding a baby bird in your hand. Your grip force should be just enuff so that the bird does not fly away. If you squeeze to firmly, you’ll harm the bird.

Consider a scale from 0 to 10. At a grip of 0, the racket falls out of your hand. A grip of 10 is 10 is max grip strength. You should never come close to this.

Most is the time, an ideal grip force would be around 2. Very shortly before contact (about 30-50 ms), your grip force should naturally increase a bit — do not force this. The finder will squeeze a bit just prior to contact. At contact, the grip does not need to be greater than a 5 or 6 for the serve or most other strokes. Immediately after you hear or feel the contact, let the grip relax again (to a grip F of 2).
Click to expand...
What about volleys?
 
EggSalad said:
I alternate the locations of my mouse and keyboard. Have my mouse to the left of the keyboard so that I’m reaching across my body. Then after a couple weeks, move it back to the right of the keyboard.

I’m not sure if that will help golfers elbow, it may apply more to tennis elbow.

I am a believer in holding your phone in the other hand and changing up how you hold it.

When I was starting to get tennis elbow, I went to rhat physio once a week for 3 weeks. They did dry needling each session; so once a week for three weeks is what got me over the hump.

The dry needling is really interesting. They are sticking a needle into muscle fibers to get the muscle to respond with a spasm. When the muscle spasms, it breaks up the junk that is keeping it stuck in place. Then you can do massage. And once you are on the track to healing, start doing some light strength work.

In My experience, it’s all about loosening those muscles up and getting them to move free, then do some strength work to build them up and help heal.
Click to expand...
Interesting experience, but sounds like you had a muscle issue. TE is tendonitis.
 
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LuckyR said:
Interesting experience, but sounds like you had a muscle issue. TE is tendinitis.
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It’s probably my inability to articulate what they were actually doing.

GE/TE is basically caused by overuse/damage to those muscles and tendons and the pain localizes at that spot where the tendon attaches to the muscle as it gets inflamed. But ultimately, you have to treat the root cause which is in the forearm itself as opposed to the elbow. At least that has been my experience.
 
EggSalad said:
It’s probably my inability to articulate what they were actually doing.

GE/TE is basically caused by overuse/damage to those muscles and tendons and the pain localizes at that spot where the tendon attaches to the muscle as it gets inflamed. But ultimately, you have to treat the root cause which is in the forearm itself as opposed to the elbow. At least that has been my experience.
Click to expand...
I accept your description of your experience as accurate, though in my own experience relieving then preventing TE/GE is more about avoiding causes than true "treatments".
 
EggSalad said:
I would move away from Confidential yesterday. I doubt the lead had anything to do with it. I’d get something like Velocity at 52lbs strung up for now.

As for the elbow, various things that have helped me with golfers and tennis elbow:

-be mindful how and how often you hold your cell phone. Change how you hold it if you are constantly holding it in the palm of you hand.
-be mindful of how you use a mouse or keyboard if you work at a computer
-Dry needling - I saw a physio locally that is tennis oriented. They have a lot of different procedures they use but dry needling was the most effective to me.
-Massage - using your other hand, you really need to get in and massage against the fibers/tendons in your fore arm. If your fore arm was a long rectangle, you’d be massaging north & south on the shorter side
-There band exercises
-Strengthening - keep your arm bent at 90 degrees, hold a 3-5lb weight in your hand and curl your wrist up. Hold this position for 30 secs. Then release. Do multiple sets.
Click to expand...
Yes don't do anything with your dominant arm if you got TE, switch hands for the mouse, etc.
 
Have tried the Babolat RPM Rough 17 in the mains and the Tecnifibre NRG2 in the crosses this week; both at 48 pounds. Definitely gives the stringbed a softer feel which I like. Have hit for 2 hours on it and the NRG2 is already very frayed and about to break. Any other crosses recommendations? Have read good things about IsoSpeed Cream as a cross string even though it is a poly. Head Velocity MLT also getting some good feedback.
 
tennisralph4 said:
Have tried the Babolat RPM Rough 17 in the mains and the Tecnifibre NRG2 in the crosses this week; both at 48 pounds. Definitely gives the stringbed a softer feel which I like. Have hit for 2 hours on it and the NRG2 is already very frayed and about to break. Any other crosses recommendations? Have read good things about IsoSpeed Cream as a cross string even though it is a poly. Head Velocity MLT also getting some good feedback.
Click to expand...
Replace the poly cross after 15h or so, with any poly. I use Mayami Tour Hex or Hit Pro.
You can do it 2-3 times before the gut mains break if you are not a string breaker.

I also wax the gut mains to remove the clay chips and the poly crosses to improve snap back.

Have you tried straight arm lifting 20LBs? The twinge in my TE is gone and I am now back of playing with full bed poly. Isospeed atm, 3-6 months old from Germany( came strung with it).
 
For TE, what helped me, was an exercise I've read about here: straight arm lifts (of 20 LBS in my case, sets of 5, both laterally and in front, with both arms). The twinge is gone and going back to full bed poly for gut/poly hybrid.
It could also be that my technique improved due to taking two lessons per week, so for example I am hitting harder and having the ball more to my right on the FH.
 
6 days into the PRP injection and within the last 48 hours my elbow has become very stiff/inflamed and in a lot of pain. Apparently this is part of the healing process?
 
tennisralph4 said:
6 days into the PRP injection and within the last 48 hours my elbow has become very stiff/inflamed and in a lot of pain. Apparently this is part of the healing process?
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I have read that is the case.

I’m keen to see whether the PRP works for you, I’ve got chronic GE and I’m considering PRP myself.
 
Had my 6 week follow up today and everything is progressing as scheduled. Started PT three weeks ago and that has really helped to alleviate a lot of the inflammation. Have hit a few times over the last few weeks but very light and only for about 30 minutes. No serves or volleys yet.
 
tennisralph4 said:
Well, I have pulled the trigger and going in for my PRP injection tomorrow. What should I expect? Dos and Don'ts?
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tennisralph4 said:
Had my 6 week follow up today and everything is progressing as scheduled. Started PT three weeks ago and that has really helped to alleviate a lot of the inflammation. Have hit a few times over the last few weeks but very light and only for about 30 minutes. No serves or volleys yet.
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omg shocking. whoever scammed u doing this:?)) it's worse >prescribing ppl opiods n get them addicted to those horrible stuff:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:...........
 
tennisralph4 said:
Have tried the Babolat RPM Rough 17 in the mains and the Tecnifibre NRG2 in the crosses this week; both at 48 pounds. Definitely gives the stringbed a softer feel which I like. Have hit for 2 hours on it and the NRG2 is already very frayed and about to break. Any other crosses recommendations? Have read good things about IsoSpeed Cream as a cross string even though it is a poly. Head Velocity MLT also getting some good feedback.
Click to expand...

I would swap your frame for something much more muted. Think Blade or similar, the added weight also soaks up the vibration. Ditch the poly and forget the lead.

You may also consider adding an over-grip which, as I suspect, you're gripping the frame too tight.
 
Move said:
Take notice about what he says about Rotator Cuffs !
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Rotator cuffs are a real PITA once they start aching......

Had surgery there (supraspinatus tendonitis with calcification on the bone) 15 years go and it weakened it a lot. Immediately flared up again when I got back into tennis at the end of 2023.
Since then had a couple of infiltrations and physio and it has gotten better, but it never gets to 100%. It's fine during play when warmed up, but the day after there is still this little soreness that never goes away.

Since rebooting tennis I switched to lighter racket and customized it a bit and also adjusted my serve toss to lower the load on my shoulder. It's fine enough now, but again it never really goes 100% away. Gonna schedule for an MRI in the near future just to make sure that there isn't anything potentially serious lurking.


As for golfer's elbow, I got a tiny bit of that going lately as well. Very early stages though. Some tension in forearm muscles and a bit of stiffness in the morning in the elbow. It's manageable at the moment as long as I take a couple days rest after every match (interclub is in full motion right now). I try and take good care of it though... Before playing, I do a decent warm up and also use a massage gun on my arm muscles thoroughly for at least 10min before going on court. Also some stretching and ice packs every evening for 10-20 minutes. It makes a huge difference.

I never had golfer's elbow before and this one started to flare up a few weeks after I added 5gr to the throat of my rackets. Not 100% sure that that is the cause, but it's a bit too coincidental for my taste. I'm really loving the weight and balance of the racket at the moment though... But just to be sure, I'm seeing a professional racket tuner in a couple of days / weeks who's going to help me examine my technique, playstyle and rackets to see what's what. We'll see what he says, but I'm thinking of removing the 5gr in the throat and replace it with some silicone in the grip. I'ld maintain the overall balance and as an added bonus, get some more shock absorption. But I'll leave it upto the tuner. The guy knows what he's doing.
 
Find it a bit ironic that people won't take time off from playing to rest and do PT, but don't seem to have any issues with getting a medical procedure that forces them to take time off and do PT.
 
Check my advice here:

My prescription is clear: any weight-lifting exercise when recovering from TE must follow these guidelines:

1. Do you have pain when you do the flexibility exercises at:
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow
?

Only if the answer is negative should you proceed to this:

2. Do you have pain when you do the weightlifting exercises here
https://www.tenniselbowsecretsrevea...ctive-exercises-for-tennis-elbow-of-all-time/
with light weights, say 3lbs, say 3 series of
up to 20 each?

3. Only if the answer is negative to both of the above should you proceed with tennis and more serious weightlifting routines, such as the ones described here. And you should back off at any time pain reappears.
 
Last edited:
It has now been 3+ months since my PRP injection. Have started hitting groundstrokes again with little to no pain. Volleys and slices are still a little tender. Will hit a few overheads but nothing too hard. Going to wait until volleys and slices are pain free until I try serves.

Hate to say it, but wish I had not gotten the PRP injection. Feel like if I had just rested and rehabbed I would be back to 100% by now. IF I am able to come back and be 100% within a month or two and never have the issue again then you will hear no complaints from me. Live and learn.
 
tennisralph4 said:
It has now been 3+ months since my PRP injection. Have started hitting groundstrokes again with little to no pain. Volleys and slices are still a little tender. Will hit a few overheads but nothing too hard. Going to wait until volleys and slices are pain free until I try serves.
Click to expand...
u'r $pending more & more to ruin ur elbow......but if u'r playing in the wimby final it might b worth it or watava it takes:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D......
tennisralph4 said:
Hate to say it, but wish I had not gotten the PRP injection. Feel like if I had just rested and rehabbed I would be back to 100% by now. IF I am able to come back and be 100% within a month or two and never have the issue again then you will hear no complaints from me. Live and learn.
Click to expand...
only if u can rebuild techniques then $0+troublefree+happy everafter otherwise getting worse&worse till thoroughly pickled:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D.....
 
Been hitting groundstrokes a few times a week and elbow is maybe getting a little bit better but very slowly. Have been hitting with my PA98 strung with alu power vibe at 45 pounds. Going to try today with a friend's clash strung low to see if that makes a difference. If I'm not sore after and/or tomorrow then I may be considering a racquet switch.
 
tennisralph4 said:
Been hitting groundstrokes a few times a week and elbow is maybe getting a little bit better but very slowly. Have been hitting with my PA98 strung with alu power vibe at 45 pounds. Going to try today with a friend's clash strung low to see if that makes a difference. If I'm not sore after and/or tomorrow then I may be considering a racquet switch.
Click to expand...
Have you tried wearing an elbow support? I've been wearing the Bauerfeind Epitrain Elbow Support, and my GE seems to have resolved itself. That being said I also switched to a PK BAP and Gut/Multi hybrid, this was all after I got a wrist injury that took me off court for 2 months, so can't really tell what helped the most to be honest, but I keep wearing the elbow support even though I've changed my racquet set up again for other reasons.
 
Marius_Hancu said:
Check my advice here:

My prescription is clear: any weight-lifting exercise when recovering from TE must follow these guidelines:

1. Do you have pain when you do the flexibility exercises at:
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow
?

Only if the answer is negative should you proceed to this:

2. Do you have pain when you do the weightlifting exercises here
https://www.tenniselbowsecretsrevea...ctive-exercises-for-tennis-elbow-of-all-time/
with light weights, say 3lbs, say 3 series of
up to 20 each?

3. Only if the answer is negative to both of the above should you proceed with tennis and more serious weightlifting routines, such as the ones described here. And you should back off at any time pain reappears.
Click to expand...

yep pain=warning.........

they'dv stopped n change the direction of their travelling.......keep going further in the wrong direction further away from their destinaiton no matter how close it was n how poor dat plc is. $pending/$investing more in a wrong busi model'l only lose $more:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D........
 
Jono123 said:
I had GE last year which forced me to stop. I went for shock therapy which really accelerated the healing, so I would highly recommend it.

I'd also suggest you use a heavier racquet with a relatively high flex, so avoid the Babolats. Something like a Blade with a multi setup or similar.
Click to expand...
I'd second that. GE symptoms started (not too bad yet), so I grabbed an oldie (old Prince spectrum comp 110 + hybrid multi/poly strings) for interim healing plays. While I was able to still enjoy tennis somewhat (the Prince needed some technique changes), after about 2 months, my GE is under control. I was able to switch back to my normal racket.
 
Ended up selling my PA98s. Demoed several frames and ended up getting some PS100 16x20. Relatively soft for a Babolat (61 stiffness and 135 vibration frequency). Got my first hit in with them yesterday and like them a lot.

In my rehab work now I am focusing more on bicep, tricep, shoulder, and back and doing exercises/grips that cause very minimal pain. Taking this route as opposed to focusing directly on the forearm area.
 
I had golfers elbows first time I learn and trying WW forehead Thankfully it didn’t last long
I think technique is super important. I like stiff frame to reduce vibration and forehand follow through above the head to reduced tension on the inner elbow for simple forehand flick.
For forehand drives and poly strings I find looser tension and learning to use my hips and legs when driving the ball reduce pain on my arm. Especially true for power forehands where my follow through is over the left side neck/left side of the body.
 
tennisralph4 said:
Ended up selling my PA98s. Demoed several frames and ended up getting some PS100 16x20. Relatively soft for a Babolat (61 stiffness and 135 vibration frequency). Got my first hit in with them yesterday and like them a lot.

In my rehab work now I am focusing more on bicep, tricep, shoulder, and back and doing exercises/grips that cause very minimal pain. Taking this route as opposed to focusing directly on the forearm area.
Click to expand...
I’ve been struggling with golfer’s elbow for 11 months now. I’ve tried pretty much everything. For me, exercises that focus on the forearm work as long as the load is minimal. But as soon as I increase it even a little, I immediately get a setback. For the past two weeks, I’ve been doing it the way you describe in your rehab. I’ve moved away from focusing on the forearm and am also concentrating on biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, and core. So far, it’s working well.
 
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