What is elbow tendonitis and how can you stop it? I see people every week with elbow tendonitis, golfer’s elbow, or tennis elbow. They are basically the same except golfer’s elbow is on the inside of the elbow and tennis elbow is on the outside of the elbow. The clients are usually wearing an elbow band, wrap, or brace hoping it will help. Some clients have even had injections to reduce pain. The problem is, you are looking at the wrong place for the cause. This is a symptom-based mentality when you think the spot of pain is the cause of pain. Unless it is a broken bone or a tear, rarely is the site of pain, the cause of pain.
What is Elbow Tendonitis?
There are 24 muscles in your forearm running from your elbow to your fingertips. The forearm allows you to rotate, grip things, and wave with your hand. If you feel the outside of your elbow, you will feel a bony knot which is on the end of the bone of your upper arm. Feel underneath, and you will feel another bony knot also on the end of the upper arm bone. These are important because this is where 5 muscles attach on each side that allows you to open and close your hand. It is the opening and closing of your hands that cause the elbow area to hurt. For instance, a golf swing requires you to grip your clubhead. This can cause the inside of the elbow to hurt. A backhand in tennis will cause the outside area of the elbow to hurt. Something as simple as gripping your steering wheel, opening doors, painting, exercise, and stress if you hold stress in your hands. These muscles will get hard and apply pressure to the outside or inside of the joint. There are muscles in-between the forearm bones that, when hard and tight, can reduce the rotating ability of the hand causing tenderness on the elbow as well. To learn more https://stretchnrelease.com/2019/04/23/heres-a-quick-way-to-stop-elbow-tendonitis/.
How can you get rid of the Elbow Tendonitis?
Every day I massage my forearms on my way home because I use my hands all day. Now I am not talking about a little rub like you feel in a typical massage therapy session nor am I talking about digging down to the bone as in a deep tissue session. Use the pads of your thumbs and press in different spots on your forearm looking for sore spots, some people call them Trigger points, the bottom line is they are sore spots. Press down enough for your brain to feel it, then breathe out allowing your brain to relax the muscle. If you push too hard, it is hard to breathe out. Once it is relaxed, the pain will stop. Then move to another area and continue until the forearm is softer. Now, stand next to a table, place the palm of your hand flat on the table, and make sure the fingers are pointing behind you. Lean back gently while feeling a little pull up the forearm. More is not better so be gentle and breathe to release the muscles. Hold for 2 breaths and release. Holding for long periods of time will make it worse, not better. Next, bend the elbow and make a light fist. use the opposite hand and gently press down your hand feeling the stretch up the forearm and through the wrist. Remember to be gentle and not force the movement. Too much pressure on either stretch and the brain will fight with you and you will be strength training, not stretching. For the average person, doing these 2-3 times per week should be enough. If you use your hands a lot during your week, then I would suggest doing every day and maybe twice a day. This has kept my hands and arms from hurting in my practice. For more information go to https://www.musclerepairshop.com.
To see videos of these and other stretches, go to https://www.youtube.com/musclerepairshop. You can leave comments here and on my Facebook and LinkedIn sites.
