Tennis Elbow Rehabilitation
Posted: Wednesday, June 02, 2010
by Bruce Walseth
Return2Fitness
The tennis elbow rehabilitation process is essential to strengthen the muscles throughout the elbow to avoid future strain. Proper stretches before and after regular activities while using the elbow are crucial to help keep the muscles within the area flexible. I've occasionally forgotten the stretching part before playing tennis and have suffered the effects. The following stretches and strengthening routines are the most effective I've used during the last thirty years of participating in tennis.
Most physiotherapists will advise you to complete a simple warm-up before doing any stretching. My personal favorite is ten minutes with an stationary bike. In the event that's unavailable, jogging in position or jumping jacks work. The fundamental stretch is holding your arm straight in front of your chest and gently pulling you fingers toward your chest. You should be holding the stretch for the 10-20 count and repeating two or three times.
Advanced Stretch:
I learned the the advanced stretch through the University of Minnesota tennis team's orthopedic specialist. Extend your arm just like the basic stretch, but turn your finger out from your body. Then gently pull your fingers toward your chin for the 10-20 count. Repeat two or three times.
Easy Finger Extension:
This easy strengthening exercise can be carried out anytime or anyplace if you have a rubber band. Place the rubber band around your fingers and extend them. Your can feel the critical muscles within your upper forearm. I do three sets of 10-20 reps dependent on the sized rubber band.
Wrist Curls:
A really efficient way to improve the strength in the muscles surrounding the elbow is easy curls using small weights or possibly a can of veggies from the pantry. Be sure you begin with smaller weights before you build the elbows strength. Do two or three sets of 10-20 curls based on the sizing of the dumbell.The fundamental curl is the forearm extending over your knee and just raising and lowering your wrist slowly.An even more advanced curl technique would be to support the weight in a vertical position and twist your wrist back and forth
Forearm Curl:
The forearm curl is preferred by my club's head tennis professional. Support the weight vertically in your hand in front of your belly button. Keeping your wrist locked, lift the weight down and up between your belly button and chest.
Deep Massage:
Once the pain is substantially reduced, sports doctors recommend massaging the injured part of the elbow with your thumb. They usually recommend to use a a lot of pressure throughout the massage.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)This is great information. The photographs help a lot towards my understanding of the exercises.
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