One of the most common questions I encounter is regarding tennis injuries, the most common of which is tennis elbow. Tennis elbow can be a serious and debilitating injury for tennis players which can sideline a player possibly even permanently.
Causes
Tennis elbow is caused by stress to the tendons in your forearm and elbow. The thing about tennis elbow is that by practicing proper form you can almost totally eliminate tennis elbow. The biggest flaw that causes tennis elbow is making contact with the ball with your elbow bent. When the elbow is bent and you make contact the shock of contact is absorbed by the tendons in your elbow, when your arm is straight (not locked but straight) the shock of contact is even distributed throughout your arm.
Stretches and Care
Prior to hitting, take an nsaid pain reliever such as ibuprofen or aspirin. This will help reduce inflammation relieving pain and allowing for a greater range of motion. If the pain is significant a topical analgesic such as BioFreeze or Gladiator Balm can help. Then some warm-up stretches for the forearm and bicep will continue to help loosen the affected tendons. After the match ice the injury going 10-15 minutes on, 20 minutes off for an hour or so. After icing do some cool down stretches.
Here is a video that shows the most common tennis elbow stretch:
Hardware
We offer a number of straps and bands at our pro-shop for the prevention and support for tennis elbow. Kineseotape (KTape) offers support without adding bulk. The downside to KTape is that it isn’t reusable and must be re-cut and reapplied every time. Neoprene sleeves offer more support than KTape and are reusable however they do add more bulk. These sleeves however can develop a bad smell if they aren’t washed regularly. Lastly air casts offer the highest amount of support but they also add a considerable amount of bulk.
LAST DAY FOR USTA Summer League Start-up Stringing Special
Get 20% off the purchase of any polyester or playability strings. Offer valid with print out of “restringing and racquet maintenance” blog entry. Offer expires June 10th.