Tennis Elbow Exercises, When to Try Them

11/2/2009 - Wellness and Diet Tennis elbow exercises are some of the best ways to relieve the pain of tennis elbow. Though the name might make it sound otherwise, you don't have to be a tennis player to have tennis elbow. Age can cause the condition, as can other repetitive movements that can put pressure on the tendon on the outside of the elbow.

But if you do play tennis, you are more at risk for developing tennis elbow and tennis elbow exercises are good to do even if you don't feel pain. The repetitive motion of swinging the racket to hit tennis balls can wear on that tendon over time and cause the pain the condition is known for, on the outside of the elbow. The pain usually occurs just below the bony part of the outer elbow. The wrist may feel weak when you do everyday things like open doors or cabinets.

You also may have pain when you extend the hand or bend it back a little at the wrist. You could have wrist pain, but more likely when you make this movement the pain will be in the outer elbow. Straightening the fingers, especially against a little resistance, can also cause the elbow pain. Pressing around the outer elbow can also reveal tenderness.

You might think that tennis elbow is caused from the repetitive motion of the elbow, but it actually originates at the wrist which is why tennis elbow exercises focus on this area. It's the wrist movement that causes the problem in the elbow, just as the symptoms and pain almost always involve movement of the wrist. So anytime wrist movements are a repeated movement in your regular life, you're more at risk for tennis elbow. Taking proper precautions against things like carpal tunnel syndrome by using good hand/wrist positions and taking frequent breaks from repetitive movement tasks can help lower your risk.

If you're a tennis player, you can lower your risk by doing tennis elbow exercises and taking a few precautions. Make sure your racquet isn't strung too tightly. This causes more reverberation and strain in your wrist when you hit the ball, and there's much less cushion for the impact. Also, make sure your racquet has a large enough grip to be comfortable. Gripping a racquet with a handle that's too small puts extra strain on the wrist.

Don't play with heavy, wet tennis balls. This adds to the wrist strain by adding extra weight to each impact. And work on your backhand technique, as this is the swing that can cause the most damage. If you make one movement and immediately feel pain, you've probably just caused tearing or damage. If you feel pain a couple of days after making repetitive movements like typing, using a screwdriver, painting or swinging a tennis racquet, this is called late onset tennis elbow. It's not likely you've done instant damage, but you have strained the tendon.

Tennis elbow exercises are a good first step to treating tennis elbow pain, but aren't the only option available.