Please Help

[john blackman]

Help guys, I Have been looking at the postings for a while and it looks like after 25 years of playing tennis you are the answer.
My 'problem' is at 65 yrs old, Iam still hitting the ball too hard. Have just
started having some elbow problems, so I switched to another racquet which
is a yonex rdid200 lite lead taped to 11.6oz. I need some soft and low powered strings, multi perfered, money not important. I play 6 days a week
nationally ranked in my age group, string at 58 lbs. I'm using gamma astrick
16 spin but when not in position or running for shots I hit the fence in the air.
When serving with strings with POP I cant seem to hit the lines when serving.

Any help to control and keep the ole elbow together is welcome

 

[mikeler]

Mantis Comfort Synthetic is the softest multi I've tried to date. You can read my reviews on quite a few other multis here:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=352048

 

[danno123]

Gamma Asterisk is one of the softest multifiliments made. If you're having elbow problems with it, your only solution may be using natural gut, which is softer than the softest multi. Natural gut is also supposed to be great for control (although I've never played with it because I'm too cheap . . . umm . . . thrifty).

What elbow problems are you having? Have you tried to alleviate them through rehab and conditioning?

 

[john blackman]

I'm resting my elbow now because of the cold and then will start a conditioning program. Do you think my problem is the strings or racquet. Like I said, I played for 25 years and never had a twinge until lately. Maybe a little bit of both

 

[danno123]

The problem could be the strings, racket, technique, lack of warm up, conditioning, or a combination of these factors.

It's still unclear what your elbow problem is. Is it tennis elbow or golfers elbow? You can search for threads on these topics (and there are many) and get lots of advice.

Some folks have reported success curing elbow problems with the theraband flexbar. I haven't used one but I have golfers elbow and did a bunch of research on the subject. Here's a link to a blog that reads kind of like an infomercial:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/phys-ed-an-easy-fix-for-tennis-elbow/

 

[Don't Let It Bounce]

If money is not an issue, the difference between the shock transmitted by natural gut and even a soft multi is noticeable, and it gets more significant at higher tension ranges like 58.

 

[john blackman]

Correct me, but tennis elbow is on the inside and golfers is on the outside of
the elbow right.

 

[theyhatethecans]

I've been back playing tennis for a year and a half now and have been searching for the right racket/string combo ever since returning to tennnis (like many on this board). I'm 40 and never played tennis in high school or college. I'm probably somewhere between a 3.5 and 4.0 player. I'm posting because I've recently settled on the Gamma Asterisk 16 gauge spin string. To me, this is not a soft string at all. It seems very low powered (55# on a RDIS 100 mp) and that is what I have been looking for for about 6 months now. I've dabbled with a few polys, but Kirschbaum (sp?) poly really hurt my arm and I occasionally play with black code (and will play with it more in the summer at lower tensions (probably around 50# or less). Wilson NXT 16 works well for me (just switched from that to Gamma asterisks spin) and NXT seems to be much softer on the arm but it is more springy. Also recently tried tecnifibre x-1 biphase, and at high tensions it seemed like a trampoline and lost tension quickly. Love the tension retension of the gamma asterisks spin.

Give NXT 16 a try. I'm gonna try out Wilson sensation soon. I'll post about it after I give it a try. All the strings I try are 16 gauge.

 

[danno123]

Correct me, but tennis elbow is on the inside and golfers is on the outside of
the elbow right.

Picture is worth 1000 words: http://www.balanceandbodyohio.com/page_19.html

 

[Carolina Racquet]

Help guys, I Have been looking at the postings for a while and it looks like after 25 years of playing tennis you are the answer.
My 'problem' is at 65 yrs old, Iam still hitting the ball too hard. Have just
started having some elbow problems, so I switched to another racquet which
is a yonex rdid200 lite lead taped to 11.6oz. I need some soft and low powered strings, multi perfered, money not important. I play 6 days a week
nationally ranked in my age group, string at 58 lbs. I'm using gamma astrick
16 spin but when not in position or running for shots I hit the fence in the air.
When serving with strings with POP I cant seem to hit the lines when serving.

Any help to control and keep the ole elbow together is welcome

Looking at lower powered, soft MULTI strings, there aren't many choices. Most multis offer good power because they are typically very elastic.

You might want to try HEAD RIP Control . It is very, very soft and you can also go lower tension on it without getting too much trampolining. I found it to also be very arm friendly, but as others have mentioned, might not be a cure-all for your tennis elbow.

To answer your other question, tennis elbow in on the outside of your arm whereas golfers elbow is on the inside. There are lots of posts on this in the Health and Fitness category. You might want to search those for more insight on treatment. Good Luck!

 

[markmdfw]

yonex black code hybrid tension suggestions

black code, and yonex 850 pro, any ideas, putting these together? good bad the ugly,

 

[john blackman]

Thanks for the picture. I def have tennis elbow. Going to order a set of gut, rip control, and mantis and a flexbar and the
nxt 16 and swing away and hope for the best. Again, thanks
for all the advice and anyone else who may have some thoughts. Wish I had the internet years ago for info. Oh well!

 

[mikeler]

Thanks for the picture. I def have tennis elbow. Going to order a set of gut, rip control, and mantis and a flexbar and the
nxt 16 and swing away and hope for the best. Again, thanks
for all the advice and anyone else who may have some thoughts. Wish I had the internet years ago for info. Oh well!

The Mantis is much softer than the RIP but both are low powered for multis. I've tested quite a few multis to date and plan to test another dozen or so in the next few months. You can read the reviews here:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=352048

 

[danno123]

Thanks for the picture. I def have tennis elbow. Going to order a set of gut, rip control, and mantis and a flexbar and the
nxt 16 and swing away and hope for the best. Again, thanks
for all the advice and anyone else who may have some thoughts. Wish I had the internet years ago for info. Oh well!

The flexbar is worthwhile. The key is to exercise your muscle and tendon eccentrically. Eccentric exercises are apparently good for your tendons, although no one seems to know exactly why. Personally, I believe eccentric exercise changes the affected muscle in a way that protects the tendon from damage. (Google the term "repeated bout effect" and you can find lots of articles showing that eccentric exercise results in changes to the muscle). I don't use a flexbar - I use the wrist roller machine at my club. I roll the weight up with both hands and then use my right (affected) hand to lower the weight and my left hand to raise it. My forearms are much stronger than they were 5 months ago when I started tennis. I attribute my golfers elbow on attempting to play too much tennis without doing enough conditioning of my forearm. I'm hopeful that, with conditioning, the golfers elbow will go away and my muscles/tendons will be in good enough condition to use a poly hybrid setup and see what all these kids are raving about. We'll see.

If you can afford natural gut, I'd use that first. Tendon injuries take a couple of months to heal. Apparently, the body lays down some collagen to repair the injured tendon and it takes about 3 months for the collagen to completely "harden" and get to full strength. (The body lays down Type III collagen and it takes about 3 months for all of it to turn to Type I collagen, which is the strong stuff). If you can afford it, I'd use natural gut for 3 months or so and then see whether you can transition to a soft multifiliament string without injury.

 

[rufusbgood]

OP mentions his current racquet and string but not the setup he was using when he began to have elbow problems. I don't see anything about the RDIS 200 Lite that says to me: "Hi, I'm the cure for tennis elbow."

Need more info.

 

[coachrick]

Correct me, but tennis elbow is on the inside and golfers is on the outside of
the elbow right.

As shown in danno's picture above, it's the opposite. In general terms, tennis elbow results more from 'backhand'-type strokes--putting more stress on the lateral components--either from late backhands or overuse.

It's sure easy to get 'golfer's elbow' from playing tennis. All it takes is some late forehands or serves/overheads hit from a position too far behind the body. Overuse/hitting too hard/'pulling' the forehand can all contribute to 'golfer's elbow', even though the player may never have touched a club!

Drive enough nails with a hammer or shake enough hands at an event and tennis elbow can result.

Ice, cross-fiber massage, NSAIDs and careful sleeping positions that allow maximum blood flow can all help repair the damage.

 

[kiteboard]

Thanks for the picture. I def have tennis elbow. Going to order a set of gut, rip control, and mantis and a flexbar and the
nxt 16 and swing away and hope for the best. Again, thanks
for all the advice and anyone else who may have some thoughts. Wish I had the internet years ago for info. Oh well!

Flex bar, ice it, and beat it, acupuncture.

 

[athiker]

Another vote for the flexbar for TE issues.

Gut is comfy but is not going to tame your power issues unless maybe if you string it quite high. Rip Control might, I agree it is low powered for a multi, but its pretty stiff at 58 IMHO so no big favor for your elbow. I would try stringing it lower. I've only used it once, in a Bab AeroPro and it happened to be at 58, and my notes are: much firmer feeling than MulitFeel and less powerful. Good spin and control. Others may disagree but I found the original Pro Supex Maxim Touch to be low powered, too low for me, yet with good feel and touch.

 

[Kevo]

Help guys, I Have been looking at the postings for a while and it looks like after 25 years of playing tennis you are the answer.
My 'problem' is at 65 yrs old, Iam still hitting the ball too hard.

With the right technique you could hit the ball as hard as you want and it would still go in. Even the pros hit the ball out when forced off balance or out of position. You have to play some shots defensively. There is no magic string fix for this.

Given that disclaimer, I agree with the Head RIP Control and Yonex 850 Pro suggestions. The RIP Control is more tension sensitive though, so you may need to try it at a few different tensions to find what you like.

 

[mikeler]

Another vote for the flexbar for TE issues.

Gut is comfy but is not going to tame your power issues unless maybe if you string it quite high. Rip Control might, I agree it is low powered for a multi, but its pretty stiff at 58 IMHO so no big favor for your elbow. I would try stringing it lower. I've only used it once, in a Bab AeroPro and it happened to be at 58, and my notes are: much firmer feeling than MulitFeel and less powerful. Good spin and control. Others may disagree but I found the original Pro Supex Maxim Touch to be low powered, too low for me, yet with good feel and touch.

What gauge of the Maxim Touch did you use? I found the 17g to be much more powerful than all of the 16g multis that I've tested out recently. Never tried Maxim Touch 16 BTW. Maxim Touch 17g is probably the 2nd softest string I've used behind Mantis Comfort 16.

 

[tes]

I'm 59. I never had TE until I had my rackets strung with Poly (Hurricane) at 60 lbs. I developed it really bad after just a few outings. I switched to syn gut but still had to baby and rest the arm for a lot of the season. Icing, massaging etc. End of season after resting a couple of weeks I started using a Flex bar and now it is completely gone. Come spring I'm going with natural gut M with RIP control X. The extra expense of gut is not even an issue to me compared to losing "uptime" on the courts.

 

[mikeler]

I'm always amazed at players I know locally that insist on using poly even at the risk of it knocking them out of the game for an extended time. I'd rather play with the worst soft string than have to sit out for a few months again.

 

[JT_2eighty]

Come spring I'm going with natural gut M with RIP control X. The extra expense of gut is not even an issue to me compared to losing "uptime" on the courts.

I agree!!!

Good luck with the Gut/RIP hybrid... it is an arm-saver and also long lasting too! Amazing control AND comfort... it's a win-win string combo with 2-4x the durability of most full-multi setups... so I find it to be as cost-effective if not moreso than any full multi. But even if you break it as quick as cheaper strings, Gut will save your arm... worth every Dollar!!!

 

[john blackman]

The first racquet is the one that started my problem, I think. It was a voqel 315 with a stiffness of 68 the next racquet was
a wilson team stiffness of 61 16x20, not bad but the 95 was too small of a head to use under not so good lights thus the yonex stiffness of 60 leaded to 11.6. Forehands seem to hurt
then backhand but no problem with serves or volleys. Thanks

 

[danno123]

I'm always amazed at players I know locally that insist on using poly even at the risk of it knocking them out of the game for an extended time. I'd rather play with the worst soft string than have to sit out for a few months again.

I'm planning on giving poly a whirl in 6 months or so. I attribute my golfers elbow to the sudden increase in the amount of tennis I was playing. I went from playing no tennis to playing 4-5 days a week and didn't get my muscles in condition beforehand. Once I get my muscles/tendons built up, I don't think I'll have any problems. That said, if I try poly and get the slightest twinge in my elbow, I'll have no qualms about immediately cutting the strings out.

 

[athiker]

What gauge of the Maxim Touch did you use? I found the 17g to be much more powerful than all of the 16g multis that I've tested out recently. Never tried Maxim Touch 16 BTW. Maxim Touch 17g is probably the 2nd softest string I've used behind Mantis Comfort 16.

It was 16g and was already strung on a racquet I bought used. I was told it was strung mid-50s. I restrung the same racquet with multifeel 16 and felt it livened up the racquet immediately. So that's what I based my comment on...that was my only experience.

I'm always amazed at players I know locally that insist on using poly even at the risk of it knocking them out of the game for an extended time. I'd rather play with the worst soft string than have to sit out for a few months again.

Agree, its too long a recovery period once you get TE; I've gone to full gut on my main racquet now. However I do still play around with poly/multi or poly/nat gut hybrids on back up racquets b/c those do seem to help my control and spin but I limit my playing time with them. I'm not revisiting my TE days if I can help it. Going back to my full nat gut stick is like sinking into a La-Z-Boy!

I've talked to some who feel its the racquet and not the strings nor even the tension so that could be one reason. I don't argue...to each their own...but I've felt the difference. I've also had someone tell me natural gut loses its playability faster than most other strings...faster than poly even. Again, I'm not a scientist nor carry around research to back up my view. I can only go by what I read and feel so I didn't argue then either.

I also know a guy that plays a stiff racquet with full poly at high tension and never has arm problems. Of course he is built like a Mack truck, but just goes to show everyone is different and may have different impressions.

 

[Don S]

My personal experience tells me that it's the racquet that is the source of my TE. I've used Gosen Micro 17 exclusively for over a decade in every frame I own.

About 18 months ago I pick up a Prince TT Warrior Midplus. Loved it, played great with it for about 2 weeks. Then I started getting that pain on the outside of my arm and I knew exactly what it was. Stopped using it, went back to my Volkl C10 pros and the TE went away. The Warrior was strung with the same Gosen Micro 17 off of the same reel as my other racquets, so in my case, it's definitely the racquet.

 

[jgtthd]

Help guys, I Have been looking at the postings for a while and it looks like after 25 years of playing tennis you are the answer.
My 'problem' is at 65 yrs old, Iam still hitting the ball too hard. Have just
started having some elbow problems, so I switched to another racquet which
is a yonex rdid200 lite lead taped to 11.6oz. I need some soft and low powered strings, multi perfered, money not important. I play 6 days a week
nationally ranked in my age group, string at 58 lbs. I'm using gamma astrick
16 spin but when not in position or running for shots I hit the fence in the air.
When serving with strings with POP I cant seem to hit the lines when serving.

Any help to control and keep the ole elbow together is welcome

I had terrible tendonitos playing with polys and moved to Wilson nxt tour. Arm was 100% ok within 2 weeks. Defo worth trying it saved my arm!