The best and worst exercises if you suffer from tennis elbow

What is tennis elbow?

In simple terms, tennis elbow is elbow pain when bending and straightening the elbow.

Most athletes describe worsening symptoms when they do this whilst holding an object such as a racket or dumbbell weight within the gym.

What are the best exercises for tennis elbow?

If you suffer from tennis elbow, or are worried that you do, you should be focusing on any exercises that don't require full grip strength, especially whilst bending and straightening the elbow, as these can exacerbate your symptoms.

The best remedy for actually treating tennis elbow is a deep tissue massage performed by a sports massage therapist, as it can relieve where the extensor tendons within the forearm have become overactive and painful.

The exercises to avoid if you suffer from tennis elbow

Exercises to avoid are:

• Pull-ups, press-ups and bench presses: All of these movements put a strain on your elbow’s flexors and extendors, which can lead to further irritation of the lateral tendons of your elbow.
• Wrist exercises: It’s best to avoid any wrist exercises, especially forearm dumbbell curls or barbell extensions. These moves can cause added stress to your elbow and forearm potentially worsening your tennis elbow injury and causing chronic pain.
• Straight-arm exercises: Any exercise that requires you to keep your arms straight and your elbows fully extended can put excessive strain on your wrist extensor muscles.
• Repetitive lifting or motions: Exercises that rely on repetitive lifting or repetitive motions of your elbow and wrist can agitate your injury. When you’re working out in this condition, do as few repetitions as possible.

The best support for tennis elbow

The best tennis elbow support has now been developed by iGD Sport.

It’s a lightweight, high compression elbow support which supports the important muscles associated with wrist extension and the elbow movements allowing them to rebalance, thus becoming pain-free.

Getting rid of tennis elbow really depends on the patience of the athlete and whether they can stick to a rehabilitation program whilst avoiding the normal stresses and strains associated with their normal high-intensity activities.