Yes, exactly. I do ice at night when I remember to do so. I was applying heat to try and loosen it up and dull the pain to get through the match- thanks for the tip.
I may have misinterpreted what you had said previously. It sounded like you had been applying heat for most of the morning
before heading out to the courts (later in the day). If so, it might have been better to ice in the morning and then switch to heat before heading out to the courts. On the other hand, if you were applying heat on-&-off while hitting in the morning, this would make more sense.
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Interesting that you put the strap on the forearm. I need to try that. I had tried to put it over the elbow and it was too constricting and seemed to make the pain worse.
Typically, most forearm straps intended for TE & GE are meant to be worn
just below the tender (tendon) area. The idea is to provide compression for the forearm
muscles so that less stress is applied to the inflamed tendons.
Such a strap can also be used as
feedback device to make you aware if your grip on the racket handle is too tight. The strap should be snug enough to provide compression to the muscle (not the tendon), but not so tight as to cut off circulation. With a snug strap, you should easily be able to feel if you are gripping too tightly. Between strokes, when you are not swinging the racket forward (to meet the ball), you should grip very loosely -- you should be able to feel tension in the forearm muscle (against the strap) if your grip is not relaxed (during the non-swing time).