Tennis Elbow?  Try Strengthening Your Shoulders

The term “tennis elbow” refers to a painful condition where the outside of the elbow becomes sore and tender, usually due to tiny tears in the forearm tendon.  Despite its name, tennis elbow affects many people who have never picked up a racket in their lives.  Whether your pain comes from tennis or not, treatment and prevention advice is basically the same.  According to Bob Donatelli, a rehab and performance expert who treated tennis pro Andy Roddick for eight years, tennis elbow often occurs when athletes begin compensating for untreated shoulder pain, leading to poor bio-mechanics and eventually, damage to the tendon.

“As my good friend Jeff Cooper, who was the head trainer for the Phillies for a long time said, ‘When you have elbow pain, you missed it six months ago.’  So an overhead-throwing athlete with elbow pain, you need to look at the shoulder — very important to get the muscles strong and good flexibility around the shoulder.”– Bob Donatelli, Ph.D P.T.

This video from the TennisMD website gives a great explanation of tennis elbow and the various symptoms and causes behind it.  In addition to shoulder conditioning, try this yoga pose to stretch and strengthen the muscles and tendons associated with tennis elbow. KT Tape also is a great solution to this debilitating injury by allowing you to not lose movement, aid the healing process and eliminate the pain.  And if you haven’t already checked out the instructional video on how to use KT Tape to treat tennis elbow, you can find a full instructional here.

Filed under: Shoulder Pain, Tennis Elbow | January 4, 2010
Tags :Andy Roddick , Bob Donatelli , KT , Shoulder Pain , shoulder strength , strength training , tendons , Tennis Elbow