“Tennis Elbow” is a common reference to lateral epicondylitis, the inflammation of the tendons connecting your muscles to your bones at the elbow joint. This is a very common injury when performing repetitive motions, such as gripping, lifting, and/or grasping, causing strain and stress to the elbow area over a lengthy period of time. When this happens, you will likely experience great pain and discomfort in your elbow area, often preventing you from even doing simple things like turning a doorknob, holding a television remote or grabbing small items. Despite its name being associated with tennis, anyone performing an activity or task that requires constant repetitive motion with the arm and elbow is at risk, such as ping pong, badminton, manufacturing/assembly line work, or repetitive clerical tasks.

What can I do if I have tennis elbow?
As with most injuries, time will be a factor in recovery, but the amount of time to heal can be dependent on age, pain tolerance, extent of injury, or the period of time before and leading up to your diagnosis. If this has been something bothering you for some time, we always recommend for you consult with a physical therapist or your primary care physician as this is one way your body is telling you something is not right. While pain medication and surgery are options to consider if your condition is quite severe, here are a few exercises you can do at home to help alleviate some of the pain and strengthen your muscles to prevent future injuries.

3 exercises you can do at home
Rest your injured tendon by refraining from performing any tasks that require your injured arm. If you continue to use your affected arm/elbow, this may prolong your recovery time and will continue to put more strain on an already weakened tendon in your elbow. Try not to grab, grip, squeeze, lift or make a strong fist. You can also relieve some of the pain by massaging the affected area, but seeking a physical therapist trained in manual therapy is highly recommended.

Wrist flexion stretch:
You can relieve some of the discomfort by doing this simple stretch. Extend your arm with your hand pointing down. With your other hand, GENTLY pull the hand of the injured arm towards you. Only pull until you feel a slight stretch in your forearm by the elbow. Hold this for about 30 seconds; repeat this six times. It may be very tender the first few times, but as you perform this stretch more, you should be able to feel a greater stretch.

These next two exercises will help to strengthen your muscle to help prevent future injury. This may be easier to do when sitting down with your arm rested on a table.
Wrist extension exercise:
Have your wrist hang over the edge of the table and lift the wrist upward towards you. Hold it for five seconds. Relax and bring your wrist back down. Repeat this 30 times.

Wrist supination and pronation exercise:
When your arm is strong enough to grip something, using a hammer or a light dumbbell weight, you can strengthen your muscle with this exercise. Grip the hammer by the handle with your arm rested on a table. Slowly rotate your wrist 90 degrees to the left, then rotate it all the way to the right. Repeat this 30 times.

While these techniques may not help in all cases or all conditions, we hope they can be helpful for you. If your pain persists, please be sure to seek a physical therapist for professional help.