golfers elbow - proper forehand technique

[zdepth]

Hi...

Can any experts point out the proper steps to hit a forehand so
that it wont hurt my elbow. My elbow is hurting on the inside &
I feel pain on forehand stroke & not on backhand. I searched
through the forum but cant find a clear explanation on the proper
hitting technique to eliminate golfers elbow... thanks in advance
for help.

 

[jrod]

http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/video-tennis-lessons/forehand/

 

[Majik]

Hi...

Can any experts point out the proper steps to hit a forehand so
that it wont hurt my elbow. My elbow is hurting on the inside &
I feel pain on forehand stroke & not on backhand. I searched
through the forum but cant find a clear explanation on the proper
hitting technique to eliminate golfers elbow... thanks in advance
for help.

You have a form of tennis elbow. I know, I had the same thing for about a year until I learned how to swing the racket correctly. The doctors will tell you that you have to lay off the tennis for about a month until it heals. It hurts because you have micro tears in the tendon that attaches to the elbow and the swelling associated with that injury is causing pressure and making it hurt. Ice it down when it hurts to reduce the swelling. Then start stretching and exercising the muscles and tendons in your forearm. Then learn how to stroke the ball correctly.

All tennis elbow (inside and outside elbow) is caused because you have too tight a grip on the handle during contact with the ball. The racket will suddenly recoil when you make contact with the ball. And that sudden recoil pulls the already too tight muscles and then the tendons away from the bones in your elbow. So the question becomes how to hit the ball with any pace without a tight grip on the handle. The answer is bring the racket back with your normal shoulder turn, then kick off with your foot, and as you start to turn your body, give the butt of the racket a quick pull towards the net in order to whip it around to the ball. The looseness of your wrist required to let the racket whip around to the ball will insures that your wrist is loose when you make contact with the ball and so it will not put extra strain on your tendons.

 

[Moz]

All tennis elbow (inside and outside elbow) is caused because you have too tight a grip on the handle during contact with the ball.

What a horrible generalisation.

 

[BillH]

Do you hit a one-handed backhand? When you serve, do you follow through completely or, instead, do you stop the racquet? These are also contributors to TE and Golfer's elbow. I suffered from Golfer's elbow off and on for several years - usually, my symptoms get worse when I notice myself hitting my forehand late and not out in front of my body, thereby forcing myself to "wrist" the ball more. Also, late backhands and stopping the racquet short on serves cause my problems. They're bad habits that I have to tend to occasionally.

 

[yellowoctopus]

Do you hit a one-handed backhand? When you serve, do you follow through completely or, instead, do you stop the racquet? These are also contributors to TE and Golfer's elbow. I suffered from Golfer's elbow off and on for several years - usually, my symptoms get worse when I notice myself hitting my forehand late and not out in front of my body, thereby forcing myself to "wrist" the ball more. Also, late backhands and stopping the racquet short on serves cause my problems. They're bad habits that I have to tend to occasionally.

I support BillH's point about the relationship between the serve and golfer's elbow and would like to add that mine was most likely due to the improper service motion that put too much strain on the wrist snap, which is one of the motion that medial epicondyle (golfer's elbow) is responsible for.

The forehand also caused some problem for me, although I don't believe it was the primary cause of my golfer's elbow. While suffering from golfer's elbow, the pain will appear when I, like BillH indicated, am late on the ball and have to compensate by using more arm than usual. Perhaps this is more of a symptom than a cause; I'm not sure.

Unless you are a touring player who play just about everyday, my guess is it is mostly your technique. I suggest working with a good teaching pro that can work with your style to establish motions, whether it's the service or forehand or both, that utilizes your whole body and put less strain on the elbow.

Best of luck

 

[zdepth]

Do you hit a one-handed backhand? When you serve, do you follow through completely or, instead, do you stop the racquet? These are also contributors to TE and Golfer's elbow. I suffered from Golfer's elbow off and on for several years - usually, my symptoms get worse when I notice myself hitting my forehand late and not out in front of my body, thereby forcing myself to "wrist" the ball more. Also, late backhands and stopping the racquet short on serves cause my problems. They're bad habits that I have to tend to occasionally.

I do hit with a single handed backhand. My pain usually comes when i play straight for 5 days without rest (2 1/2 hours every day). I follow through on all my strokes but hitting late forehands are a normal thing in tennis when our feet are not fast enough to move to a better position to hit.

 

[Majik]

What a horrible generalisation.

Is it possible to get tennis elbow by just swinging the racket without hitting the ball?

 

[Moz]

Is it possible to get tennis elbow by just swinging the racket without hitting the ball?

More pertinent to your post is the question, 'is it possible to get tennis elbow when hitting the ball with a "loose" grip?'....and the answer is yes.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Hi...

Can any experts point out the proper steps to hit a forehand so
that it wont hurt my elbow. My elbow is hurting on the inside &
I feel pain on forehand stroke & not on backhand. I searched
through the forum but cant find a clear explanation on the proper
hitting technique to eliminate golfers elbow... thanks in advance
for help.

I have posted proper technique all over the place. Look up "pat the dog on the head".

Chances are when it is on the inside of the elbow, your arm is not shaping through the stroke correctly or you are late which sends shock into the inside elbow area. You might be torquing some as well. Or your arm could be too straight like it is swinging like a gate. It could also be in your lack of use of your lower body and you are arming the ball too much. Or as some have mentioned, you have too tight of a serve.

Or the culprit could be your serve.

The remedy to accelerating the healing for tennis elbow or golfers elbow is old fashion and it hurts like hell. It was something that was prescribed to me by a Chiropractor that I used to see when I lived on the North Shore of Hawaii.

You ready? Okay. Take your thumb and bury it deep into the painful area. Move the thumb around and around. At first, if it is bad, it will hurt like hell. Bite down on something and go with it. If you are old enough, drink a shot or two of whiskey. Endure it as you move it around. Do not go lightly. In a little bit the pain will subside and it will feel sort of numb as you move your thumb around.

What you are doing is allowing fresh blood to circulate in the injured area so it can clear out the toxins that have built up there. You will speed up healing much faster than just leaving it alone. Bringing in fresh blood will heal the tears as well and will make that area stronger.

When I have played a lot and my elbow area is feeling it some, I immediately do this to remove any toxins in the area for about five minutes three times a day. I have never ever had another issue with tennis/golfers elbow again.

Check your strings, technique on both forehand and serve. Check your racquet. Get into strengthening the shoulder and forearm area.

 

[Majik]

More pertinent to your post is the question, 'is it possible to get tennis elbow when hitting the ball with a "loose" grip?'....and the answer is yes.

Actually I mean tight wrist, not grip, but they go hand in hand, right? How can you do one without the other? Maybe I should have included swinging with a tight wrist. But I assumed that if you swing with a tight wrist, then you also make contact with a tight wrist.

There are ways of making tennis elbow worse without actually hitting the ball, such as a takeback without the help of your non-hitting hand. Or not a complete follow through. But I don't think these would cause TE if your wrist is loose in these processes either. So bottom line, I think it is having a tight wrist/grip. Is this better?

 

[Majik]

You ready? Okay. Take your thumb and bury it deep into the painful area. Move the thumb around and around. At first, if it is bad, it will hurt like hell. Bite down on something and go with it. If you are old enough, drink a shot or two of whiskey. Endure it as you move it around. Do not go lightly. In a little bit the pain will subside and it will feel sort of numb as you move your thumb around.

What you are doing is allowing fresh blood to circulate in the injured area so it can clear out the toxins that have built up there. You will speed up healing much faster than just leaving it alone. Bringing in fresh blood will heal the tears as well and will make that area stronger.

Is this what they call deep tissue massage? Do physical therapist do this? How hard should you dig? Is it the case that if you don't cause any bruising to the skin, then you're not doing any damage to the tendons either?

 

[FH2FH]

loosen your strings, use softer ones, and consider using a more arm friendly stick (heavier and head light). also, it seems more comfortable to me when my elbow is bent more through a forehand stroke. i don't do any of this because i love pain! lol

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Is this what they call deep tissue massage? Do physical therapist do this? How hard should you dig? Is it the case that if you don't cause any bruising to the skin, then you're not doing any damage to the tendons either?

It is deep tissue massage. You need to go as deep as you can. I can go where I feel like I am massaging the darn tendon against the bone.

Well, I haven't noticed any bruising. However, what I do know is it hurts like a mother. Just go deep and often.

 

[NamRanger]

It is deep tissue massage. You need to go as deep as you can. I can go where I feel like I am massaging the darn tendon against the bone.

Well, I haven't noticed any bruising. However, what I do know is it hurts like a mother. Just go deep and often.

I do this also (and still do when I play tons of tennis). It in fact does hurt. And yes, I cannot even describe to you how much it hurts. However, it does help a tremendous amount too.



For me I get tennis elbow when I overplay with too stiff of strings. However, sounds like a technique problem if it's the inside of the elbow. I'd listen to BB.

 

[Moz]

Actually I mean tight wrist, not grip, but they go hand in hand, right? How can you do one without the other? Maybe I should have included swinging with a tight wrist. But I assumed that if you swing with a tight wrist, then you also make contact with a tight wrist.

There are ways of making tennis elbow worse without actually hitting the ball, such as a takeback without the help of your non-hitting hand. Or not a complete follow through. But I don't think these would cause TE if your wrist is loose in these processes either. So bottom line, I think it is having a tight wrist/grip. Is this better?

I'm not being pedantic but there are many other activities that can cause tennis elbow that don't fall under the reason you gave - suggesting it's not as simple as you are making out. From the nhs website:

"Activities that can cause tennis elbow
The tendons in your elbow can be injured by overuse of the forearm muscles in repeated actions such as:

using scissors, or shears,
gardening,
sports that involve lots of throwing,
swimming,
manual work that involves repetitive turning, or lifting of the wrist, such as plumbing, or bricklaying,
typing, and
racquet sports. "

In my experience (with golfers elbow) the physios I have consulted - some of whom work on the WTA tour and a physio for the male seniors tour all state it can be caused by:
- Poor shoulder flexibility
- Poor posture with shoulders
- Pec and bicep tightness
- Muscle imbalance between bicep / tricep and between forearm muscles
- Hyperextension of elbow during contact phase (more common with females)

My point being is that there can be a whole myriad of reasons and as such oversimplifications are very misleading.

 

[FH2FH]

oh... and hitting w/ dead balls can cause problems too.

 

[yellowoctopus]

The remedy to accelerating the healing for tennis elbow or golfers elbow is old fashion and it hurts like hell. ...

...Take your thumb and bury it deep into the painful area. Move the thumb around and around...

What you are doing is allowing fresh blood to circulate in the injured area so it can clear out the toxins that have built up there. You will speed up healing much faster than just leaving it alone. Bringing in fresh blood will heal the tears as well and will make that area stronger.

,,,Get into strengthening the shoulder and forearm area.

Bungalo made several good points here; I would like to add my take on it also. First, the kneading or massage is a definite plus for healing. What you are doing here is pushing the synovial fluid out of the inflamed area to allow proper healing (yes, via blood flowing). For golfer's elbow (medial epicondyle), this is not difficult to do because there's isn't much fat there.

In addition, you can also do several other things to speed up the healing process.
- Lay off tennis, or whichever stroke that causes pain.
- After you played (if you have to) or done your massage above, ice it. This will help minimize and prevent further inflammation.
- Stretch the muscle out, as often as you can.

- Take anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen or stronger stuff).

Bungalo also mentioned strengthening the arm and shoulder, which I support. I would recommend doing this without hurting your elbow (if there's pain in the doing the excercise, stop, find another exercise that will not cause pain).

If this problem persists after a few months, I would see a physician to figure out if you might be suffering from 'tendonosis', in which the treatment is quite different.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

I'm not being pedantic but there are many other activities that can cause tennis elbow that don't fall under the reason you gave - suggesting it's not as simple as you are making out. From the nhs website:

"Activities that can cause tennis elbow
The tendons in your elbow can be injured by overuse of the forearm muscles in repeated actions such as:

using scissors, or shears,
gardening,
sports that involve lots of throwing,
swimming,
manual work that involves repetitive turning, or lifting of the wrist, such as plumbing, or bricklaying,
typing, and
racquet sports. "

In my experience (with golfers elbow) the physios I have consulted - some of whom work on the WTA tour and a physio for the male seniors tour all state it can be caused by:
- Poor shoulder flexibility
- Poor posture with shoulders
- Pec and bicep tightness
- Muscle imbalance between bicep / tricep and between forearm muscles
- Hyperextension of elbow during contact phase (more common with females)

My point being is that there can be a whole myriad of reasons and as such oversimplifications are very misleading.

Yes, that is true. I also pointed out that the culprit can be the serve that rears its ugly head for some reason in the forehand. That has happened to me before.

Or hammering nails, etc...can aggravate the area which is maginfied in a tennis stroke.

 

[zdepth]

I started massaging the pain area & it actually works! ALthough it has not gone totally, I felt some relief but I didnt massage it really
deep because it is painful! U must be nuts to press it deep... the pain is so sharp

 

[Bungalo Bill]

I started massaging the pain area & it actually works! ALthough it has not gone totally, I felt some relief but I didnt massage it really
deep because it is painful! U must be nuts to press it deep... the pain is so sharp

Boy I know that painful feeling all too well. It is painful isn't it? Just massage it the best you can. You might have to use the pad of your thumb for awhile and just rub it around and around.

If you are having pain that bad and you have't gone very deep, you have an issue there. Keep going and I believe my Chiro said to do it 3 - 5 times a day. Eventually you will send that thumb deep and it will hurt like a mother but it will heal a lot faster.

You gave me memories of that pain. I haven't only had tennis elbow from tennis. I have also got by hammering nails and once lifting weights. However, you learn quick. at the first onset of tennis elbow, you get smart to take care of it quickly so you don't go through what you are going through.

I am really glad it helped and I know it will heal it quicker. That little deep tissue massage is a lifesaver and probably could get a lot of tennis players to stop wearing those tennis elbow gadgets.

 

[Finster]

I have posted proper technique all over the place. Look up "pat the dog on the head".

Chances are when it is on the inside of the elbow, your arm is not shaping through the stroke correctly or you are late which sends shock into the inside elbow area. You might be torquing some as well. Or your arm could be too straight like it is swinging like a gate. It could also be in your lack of use of your lower body and you are arming the ball too much. Or as some have mentioned, you have too tight of a serve.

Or the culprit could be your serve.

The remedy to accelerating the healing for tennis elbow or golfers elbow is old fashion and it hurts like hell. It was something that was prescribed to me by a Chiropractor that I used to see when I lived on the North Shore of Hawaii.

You ready? Okay. Take your thumb and bury it deep into the painful area. Move the thumb around and around. At first, if it is bad, it will hurt like hell. Bite down on something and go with it. If you are old enough, drink a shot or two of whiskey. Endure it as you move it around. Do not go lightly. In a little bit the pain will subside and it will feel sort of numb as you move your thumb around.

What you are doing is allowing fresh blood to circulate in the injured area so it can clear out the toxins that have built up there. You will speed up healing much faster than just leaving it alone. Bringing in fresh blood will heal the tears as well and will make that area stronger.

When I have played a lot and my elbow area is feeling it some, I immediately do this to remove any toxins in the area for about five minutes three times a day. I have never ever had another issue with tennis/golfers elbow again.

Check your strings, technique on both forehand and serve. Check your racquet. Get into strengthening the shoulder and forearm area.

Is it better to have a grip on the bigger side or smaller side with Golfer's elbow? What about type of grip, SW or Eastern, which is better for Golfer's elbow?

 

[Fintft]

Is it better to have a grip on the bigger side or smaller side with Golfer's elbow? What about type of grip, SW or Eastern, which is better for Golfer's elbow?

• Bigger grip apparently helps.
• So is using your whole kinetic chain (think starting the move with the hip first and pushing on the back leg) insted of just arming the ball.
• Also no tension neither in your arm, nor in your grip.
• Practice hitting losely via shadow swings.
• And no poly, no old ones, nor high tensions.
• Low stiffness racquets.
• Watch the ball/keep eyes at contact through contact, to have cleaner shots/with the sweet spot.

 

[LeeD]

I do hit with a single handed backhand. My pain usually comes when i play straight for 5 days without rest (2 1/2 hours every day). I follow through on all my strokes but hitting late forehands are a normal thing in tennis when our feet are not fast enough to move to a better position to hit.

There ya go, problem solved