Tennis Elbow: Exercises and Treatment
A case of tennis elbow can make any player want to toss her racket. For years docs blamed the injury – an inflammation of the tendons around your elbow – on using a racket with the wrong-size grip.
But a recent study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that a racket’s grip size doesn’t influence a player’s risk for the ailment; form does.
“Hitting a ball with unsteady wrists puts more tension on your elbow, causing inflammation,” explains George Hatch, M.D., assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
To bolster your strength, do this seated forearm curl from Mike Nishihara, head strength and conditioning specialist for the United States Tennis Association. It will save your wrists – and your racket.
Tennis Elbow Exercises: seated forearm curls. Sit with knees bent, feet shoulder-width apart and toes on the middle of a resistance band. Hold ends of band in hands and rest forearms on thighs, palms facing up [A].
Choke up on band until you feel tension. Curl palms toward forearms [B]. Return to start position; repeat. Do 2 sets of 20 reps three times a week. [via]
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