How to Make Sure to Avoid Tennis Elbow Injury

MayaTenney | Feb 15, 2010 |

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If you have ever suffered of a tennis elbow injury or know of anybody who has been dealing with this problem, you surely know just how unpleasant this condition can be. Tennis elbow can be very painful and it can leave you without being able to move your arm or lift any objects for quite some time so it is good to know there are quite a few things you can do in order to ensure you avoid tennis elbow injuries in the future.

The most important to keep in mind is that it is always better to avoid than to cure a tennis elbow injury so you better make sure you treat your body nicely. This way you are at lesser risk for this injury and possibly others. Beware, this condition can be very painful and it isn't always easy to solve.

So first things first, tennis elbow prevention. Tennis elbow basically is a muscular condition set off by repetitive movements and over stressing certain muscles. It is a very common condition for people that frequently play tennis, hence the name, because of this repetition in their moves, so what you could do to try and avoid it is to make sure that you get plenty of rest between two matches of tennis. In practice this means that you don't play too long in a row, like playing a tournament and meanwhile keep practicing without taking a break.

That is just a recipe for disaster so if you want to avoid tennis elbow pain, take plenty of rest and don't overdue it.

Another thing to take in account is that you prepare yourself correctly. This means that you can't start playing hours in a row without any preparation, rather you should do the proper warm ups and build up your muscle and overall condition little by little. A good tennis coach of fitness trainer can help you getting in shape without overdoing it. They can get you in real shape so that you will have less chance of a muscle condition like tennis elbow. The better shape you are in, the less chances you will have of getting muscular problems.

Another good piece of advice is to pace your self. This means that you don't go from not playing tennis at all to playing hours in a row without stopping. Also make sure that you go through a good warm up session before actually stepping on the court and fire away. Warming up your muscles and stretching them the correct way will greatly reduce your chances of tennis elbow injury.

Stretching your muscles will relieve the pressure on the tendons, which is what in fact causes de tennis elbow pain. The tendons become irritated when they are put under too much repetitive pressure all of a sudden, which in turn causes the pain you experience when suffering from tennis elbow pain. Stretching just a few minutes a day and especially before engaging in sports can go a long way when it comes to keeping you injury free and in a great shape.

Another thing you can do while playing tennis is to make sure that you don't keep doing the same exercise over and over again for a prolonged period of time. Like for example if you feel your service needs to be improved, don't go at it for a whole hour, repeating the same movement over and over again. Instead practice your service for a few minutes and adding some variation by changing your position and force you use when hitting the ball.

In the case you already have a history of tennis elbow injury you must take extra care to reduce your specific training sessions to only a few minutes to start of with and then skipping to another type of exercise. This way you can actively avoid repetitive movement but still practice all the techniques you feel you need to train.

Take smaller breaks just to relax your muscles and make it a habit to do a little stretching every now and then. If you really don't want to miss out on the fun of playing tennis, you could also talk with your trainer or physiotherapist about the use of braces.

There are different tennis elbow braces on the market that actually offer quite a bit of support for your elbow while playing tennis or doing any other movement that makes you feel uncomfortable. Your tennis elbow brace could greatly reduce this discomfort but it of course isn't but a patch and not a real cure for tennis elbow.

Last but certainly not least, there are very specific exercises that you can do in the comfort of you own home, without having to buy any special or expensive machines. These exercises are targeting the cause of tennis elbow and by starting these exercises you can rapidly reduce your tennis elbow pain as well as making sure you are training your elbow and arm muscles in such a way that you not only make the pain disappear, but you also avoid this type of injury in the future.

Make no mistake about it, tennis elbow injury can be a serious injury that causes a lot of pain and can make life a living hell, leaving you incapable of using the strength in your arm. So doing a few specific stretching exercises and a few others to strengthen particular arm muscles could very well be worth the effort.

Tennis elbow exercises when done correctly will concentrate on the cause of your discomfort and sometimes within as little as a day completely take away the pain. Make sure you talk to your doctor about the possibility of doing tennis elbow exercises before your problem becomes so big that you need cortisone shots and other invasive treatments to deal with the pain and problems.

Remember that the key is good preparation, not overdoing your tennis training, a good warm up and stretching program and when adding the tennis elbow exercises to your routine you will make sure to stretch and strengthen those muscles that normally cause tennis elbow pain.