I had considerable trouble with golfers elbow so i thought i'd post my experiences and research to help others.
I stopped playing for 2 years, and when i started again i developed considerable pain on the inside part of my elbow each time i played. This was golfers elbow. (Tennis elbow is pain on the outside part of the elbow). My Golfers elbow showed up when Ihit spinny forehands and when I pronated on serves. Tennis elbow usually shows up on backhands (especially single-handed). If i continued to play the then the pain could become excruciating to the extent that i had trouble picking up things.
Most medical sites suggest the cause is as follows. There are two muscles that connects your wrist to your elbow; one muscle allows you to bend your wrist as if you were doing a bicep curl, the other bends your wrist the other way. Where these muscles connect to the elbow there is a small fibrous connection point. It is this small connection point that basically sustains some wear and tear from forehand, serves (golfers elbow), or backhands (tennis elbow). Some sites suggest that lack of bloodflow to this fibrous connection exacerbates the problem by not providing enough nourishment to this connection point.
Treatment. First you will need to rest the area. No two ways about that. For some people that rest can be 2 weeks, in other instances it can be 3 months. Even for me sometimes it disappeared after 3 weeks rest, sometimes it was still there. However i have managed to bring it under control. My experience was the following:
1. A lot of websites tell you to perform strengthening exercises (easy to google them). For me i have very strong wrist muscles, but i still did the exercises. For me they didnt help very much at all. The only benefit i felt was perhaps it increased some bloodflow to that connection point. The actual concept of strengthening the wrist muscles doesnt make sense anyway, in that the problem is not with the muscles but with where they connect to the elbow.
2. Icing soon afterwards for 20mins. This definitely helped me. Again there is detailed science as to why this helps. Basically the ice minimizes bleeding in all the little capillaries and vessels around the painful area. Research says there is a trade-off here for the body. The body needs the bleeding and it is a natural response to pain. It means that more blood and nutrients are brought to the problem area that are needed for regeneration. Hoever the body tends to overcompensate and too much bleeding and clotting can slow the recovery period. Icing helps control this
3. Icing a couple of times a day for 2-3 days after. This speeds up healing by flushing blood out of the area, so that when it eventually warms up new blood and nutrients can flow in.
4. New Racket. Probably the biggest factor for me was switching rackets. I bought the most flexible racket i could find. The theory is that the racket absorbs the shock and not your elbow. I got the volkl c10 pro. Excellent stick all round and very flexible. Incidentially most sites list the volkl flex rating at 56 though tennis ware house lists a higher number (think TW is wrong). Also softer gut or multifilament strings are helpful, as is reducing string tension and using thinner strings (thinner strings are more elastic)
5. Neoprene elbow band. I find that if you wear one these elbow bands an hour before a game, it warms up your elbow and increases blood flow and is a little preventative.
6. Tennis Elbow arm-band. These usually work applying pressure to the muscle just below the elbow (towards your wrist). Theory is that it takes pressure of the connection at the elbow. Similar to a guitar string. If you apply pressure to a fret, then the pressure at the top of the guitar is reduced. Found this helped a lot, especially if i was starting to experience pain while playing. For me the best was the AirCell one.
7. Acupuncture. Don't think this helped me much.
Hope suffferers find this useful
I stopped playing for 2 years, and when i started again i developed considerable pain on the inside part of my elbow each time i played. This was golfers elbow. (Tennis elbow is pain on the outside part of the elbow). My Golfers elbow showed up when Ihit spinny forehands and when I pronated on serves. Tennis elbow usually shows up on backhands (especially single-handed). If i continued to play the then the pain could become excruciating to the extent that i had trouble picking up things.
Most medical sites suggest the cause is as follows. There are two muscles that connects your wrist to your elbow; one muscle allows you to bend your wrist as if you were doing a bicep curl, the other bends your wrist the other way. Where these muscles connect to the elbow there is a small fibrous connection point. It is this small connection point that basically sustains some wear and tear from forehand, serves (golfers elbow), or backhands (tennis elbow). Some sites suggest that lack of bloodflow to this fibrous connection exacerbates the problem by not providing enough nourishment to this connection point.
Treatment. First you will need to rest the area. No two ways about that. For some people that rest can be 2 weeks, in other instances it can be 3 months. Even for me sometimes it disappeared after 3 weeks rest, sometimes it was still there. However i have managed to bring it under control. My experience was the following:
1. A lot of websites tell you to perform strengthening exercises (easy to google them). For me i have very strong wrist muscles, but i still did the exercises. For me they didnt help very much at all. The only benefit i felt was perhaps it increased some bloodflow to that connection point. The actual concept of strengthening the wrist muscles doesnt make sense anyway, in that the problem is not with the muscles but with where they connect to the elbow.
2. Icing soon afterwards for 20mins. This definitely helped me. Again there is detailed science as to why this helps. Basically the ice minimizes bleeding in all the little capillaries and vessels around the painful area. Research says there is a trade-off here for the body. The body needs the bleeding and it is a natural response to pain. It means that more blood and nutrients are brought to the problem area that are needed for regeneration. Hoever the body tends to overcompensate and too much bleeding and clotting can slow the recovery period. Icing helps control this
3. Icing a couple of times a day for 2-3 days after. This speeds up healing by flushing blood out of the area, so that when it eventually warms up new blood and nutrients can flow in.
4. New Racket. Probably the biggest factor for me was switching rackets. I bought the most flexible racket i could find. The theory is that the racket absorbs the shock and not your elbow. I got the volkl c10 pro. Excellent stick all round and very flexible. Incidentially most sites list the volkl flex rating at 56 though tennis ware house lists a higher number (think TW is wrong). Also softer gut or multifilament strings are helpful, as is reducing string tension and using thinner strings (thinner strings are more elastic)
5. Neoprene elbow band. I find that if you wear one these elbow bands an hour before a game, it warms up your elbow and increases blood flow and is a little preventative.
6. Tennis Elbow arm-band. These usually work applying pressure to the muscle just below the elbow (towards your wrist). Theory is that it takes pressure of the connection at the elbow. Similar to a guitar string. If you apply pressure to a fret, then the pressure at the top of the guitar is reduced. Found this helped a lot, especially if i was starting to experience pain while playing. For me the best was the AirCell one.
7. Acupuncture. Don't think this helped me much.
Hope suffferers find this useful
