Tennis and Golfers elbow can be an extremely frustrating, debilitating condition that prevents you from doing the things you love. They usually start off pretty mild, but before you know it you’re struggling to lift a coffee cup without searing pain. Don’t let this be you! The faster you start taking care of it, the faster you can get back to your sport and life pain-free. This is the progression I take all of my patients through, combined with some soft tissue work and dry needling, it has helped many people get back into action!
Step one is to Find out the stressor and decrease or remove it, you can’t make progress towards recovery if you are continually irritating the area and causing trauma. We never want people to stop playing their sports or being active, but in this case modification to it at the minimum is a necessity.
Step two is Isometrics/stretching/nerve glides. Isometrics are the most basic form of strengthening, and they allow you to work the muscle without actually moving it/stressing it too much. Isometrics combined with some gentle stretching and nerve glides is usually what I give my patients on day one to do throughout the first week they see me.
Step three is to progress to Eccentrics only. This is a slightly more challenging way of strengthening the muscle group. If it feels better after week one, it is probably safe to progress to some eccentrics. Basically these work the lengthening phase of the contraction.
Step four is to add concentrics and eccentrics together. This is a normal muscle contraction and lengthening phase. In the case of a basic bicep curl, the curl itself is the concentric phase and the lowering/straightening of the arm is the eccentric phase. This same concept can be applied to the wrist/forearm.
Step 5 is to add in Shoulder/back strength. Typically tennis and golfer’s elbow come on due to weakness happening somewhere along the upper extremity, and often the shoulder is the culprit. If you have weakness in the shoulder, it can cause increased and unnecessary stress to be placed in the elbow. Adding in shoulder and back strength is a must to address the root cause of these conditions.
Check out the video below for demonstrations of all of these exercise progressions, and don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions/concerns!
