Tennis elbow possible from 1 doubles match after not playing/exercising for a while?

[EddieBrock]

Basically I hadn't played or exercised for 3 weeks and had a bad cold and hadn't really moved much the week before the match. It was one of these flex ones you had to schedule on your own and if I didn't play they'd cancel it. So the night before still with the end of a cold I hit really easy and felt stiff in my shoulder when I hit an overhead and in my hips running for shots, but otherwise felt ok physically. I hit a few serves, but didn't want to overdo it since my shoulder bothered me a bit.

During the match I served fine in the beginning, but towards the middle of the 2nd set my serve fell apart and I started double faulting again. I was stuffed up, extremely nervous and lost all confidence on the serve and tried to "spin it in" with slice for the 1st and kick for the 2nd, but think I was arming it. Even the 2nd serves I made felt off like my arm was a board.

Aside from my confidence/pride from losing I felt ok walking off the court and the drive home.

When I got home I tried to grab my tennis bag and felt pain in the elbow and since then it's sensitive to the touch on the elbow and has all the classic tennis elbow symptoms.

Is it really possible to get tennis elbow from just 1 doubles match after not playing/exercising for a while? I've been resting/icing it and started with rehab exercises today and it feels much better, but is still painful with pressure on the elbow

 

[esgee48]

Simple answer is Yes. All it takes is one wrong movement to injure a tendon, ligament or muscle. It can happen whether you are warmed up or not. Then when you continue to play (since you were not aware of the injury), the injury got worse. Rehab and rest it for a few days and see if you recover. That's all you can do unless you want to visit a doctor.

 

[dak95_00]

Drink more water too!

We forget to drink enough fluids during times when we are sick or it’s colder. This makes us stiffer and more susceptible to injuries as well.

 

[Rosstour]

I went to CITI—sorry, Mubadala—Open, and went to do the serve-speed thing.

Walked up and smacked a serve as hard as I could with one of their crap racquets with disintegrating grip. Not only was it only 80mph but I instantly felt a tweak/twinge in the TE area and within 5 mins had a bruise there. So yeah it’s 100% possible

 

[EddieBrock]

Simple answer is Yes. All it takes is one wrong movement to injure a tendon, ligament or muscle. It can happen whether you are warmed up or not. Then when you continue to play (since you were not aware of the injury), the injury got worse. Rehab and rest it for a few days and see if you recover. That's all you can do unless you want to visit a doctor.

I always thought it was something that developed from repetitive use so it happened over time.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I've had tennis elbow before so have some equipment at home to deal with rehab. After doing that for a couple days the pain is completely gone now, but it still feels a bit off.

My plan now is to rest or do these exercises a few more days before getting back into lifting light weights.

I went to CITI—sorry, Mubadala—Open, and went to do the serve-speed thing.

Walked up and smacked a serve as hard as I could with one of their crap racquets with disintegrating grip. Not only was it only 80mph but I instantly felt a tweak/twinge in the TE area and within 5 mins had a bruise there. So yeah it’s 100% possible

Sorry to hear that happened! I've been tempted to try those serve-speed things, but never done it.

I remember 2 serves in particular in my match where they went in, but felt very weird.

It's kind of a chicken or the egg thing with wondering if the injury caused my serve problems or the serve problems caused the injury. I was surprised to be so stiff moving the previous day and trying to hit an easy overhead to warmup.

The good news is it's feeling better now. Next time I'd be better off not playing or warming up easy against the wall so I could do everything at my own pace. What I did was a big mistake

 

[PKorda]

Most of the time it is from wear and tear but not always. I got tennis elbow from one forehand swing this summer. It was less severe than previous cases I've had so if take the time to rest and rehab a bit hopefully you aren't out too long.

 

[Chas Tennis]

DON"T STRESS YOUR ELBOW. TORN TENDONS TAKES A LONG TIME TO HEAL. MONTHS. See a well qualified DR.

I have posted on this many times. See thread Tendon Injury Nuthouse Read Posts #1 & #15

My information is dated so make some searches to check out what I found.

The tendon can heal defectively in 2-3 weeks. As stated in the publication of post #1 of the above thread.

Please don't stress it to see how you will do.

There are a great many chronic tennis elbow injuries that are painful, players stop for 6 months and then go back playing with a defectively healed tendon. It still hurts. See post #15 for Tendinosis (with defective healing) where Tendonitis is with inflammation, usually after a new injury.

Check out what is said above in many references.

Tennis Elbow is usually associated with the 1HBH. Golfer's Elbow is also in tennis. Search pictures to make sure what you might have by location on the elbow.

There are posts to describe how the 1HBH causes Tennis Elbow. Some involves Duane Knudson. A publication around 2011 or 2012 said off racket centerline hits had an effect. Knudson wrote a positive review on that publication. Newer causes? Search.

I was experimenting with a lame volley idea using ISR. It gave me a Golfer's Elbow Injury on about the 2nd attempt. I got that injury a few other times. I took off for that and the other GE injuries for 3 months. It still hurts when I returned, so 3 months was probably not enough time. It does not hurt now about 10 years or more afterward.

 

[Fintft]

I went to CITI—sorry, Mubadala—Open, and went to do the serve-speed thing.

Walked up and smacked a serve as hard as I could with one of their crap racquets with disintegrating grip. Not only was it only 80mph but I instantly felt a tweak/twinge in the TE area and within 5 mins had a bruise there. So yeah it’s 100% possible

It happened to me as well with the first serve on a public court two years ago.

 

[EddieBrock]

It happened to me as well with the first serve on a public court two years ago.

Before that match and reading these replies I had no idea it could happen with one swing. I always thought it only came from repetitive motion. So it would be something over months, not 1 serve.

Fortunately after rest and rehab for a few weeks I feel fine now

 

[Fintft]

Before that match and reading these replies I had no idea it could happen with one swing. I always thought it only came from repetitive motion. So it would be something over months, not 1 serve.

Fortunately after rest and rehab for a few weeks I feel fine now

Mine, like @Rosstour wasn't TE, but a tear.
But my first bout of TE happened years ago in the first couple of minutes of a warmup. Hard one.

 

[EddieBrock]

Mine, like @Rosstour wasn't TE, but a tear.
But my first bout of TE happened years ago in the first couple of minutes of a warmup. Hard one.

Some of these guys in these league matches get there early and do a full warm up 30 minutes before the match. Then they want to skip letting you warmup and get right to playing. In my last match they said they were ready and wanted to start after I hit 2 warmup serves.

I told them I need to warmup too and after hitting a few more on the deuce side they again said they wanted to start. I told them I need to hit a few on each side.

You can't go from sitting in the car or at a desk to playing full out. Trying to play after not really moving for 3 weeks was a mistake too