Managing tennis/golf elbow while playing

[gammaxgoblin]

To get this out of the way, no medical advice being sought here =) I am looking to have a conversation about managing tennis or golf elbow while continuing to play, meaning for me, its not serious or injured enough to merit needed to be shut down. I have been icing after playing and at least once per day on days I dont play. I also do a series of stretches and massages for the elbow and forearm. Anyone else deal with this issue and how have you been working through it?

 

[txmxer]

It depends. There can be different issues that present with similar symptoms. Could be a pinched nerve as opposed to a soft tissue issue.

One thing is certain, if it goes on for some time without improvement it likely requires a proper diagnoses.

 

[jeffmonty]

I've gotten tendonitis elbow before. I continued playing for some time and it eventually got to the point I asked my Dr. about it. It wasn't throwing drives that got unbearable, it was my putting stroke. The Dr. told me the only way to resolve it I had to completely stop playing for awhile. I stopped for 3 months, did lots of icing and the stretches. I got a 'band-it' elbow brace, and eventually felt I was good to go. That was 3 years ago, no problems since, but I take more days off now. I was playing like 5 days/week, multiple rounds before, so no wonder my elbow was complaining. Now I don't play more than 2 consecutive days. Then again, I'm 66 y/o, so injuries take longer to heal.

 

[@CD-]

I purchased a Theraband FlexBar (the green/heavy resistance version) to rehab my tennis elbow/forearm issues a while back. I don't use it all the time now but it is nice to go through the different motions/activities with it to warm up and/or stretch out. There is a specific motion to address Tennis Elbow which I find very effective. Not a bad thing to carry with for a pre-round warm-up routine along with some resistance bands. Making sure I warm-up a little bit with some active stretches before every round is pretty key.

 

[Spectacledbear]

I switched out all my usual discs for 150 gram¨s to continue playing this summer, along with an elbow compression.

 

[txmxer]

I've had a variety of forearm issues. As I understand it, tennis elbow relates to swollen tendons which require you to stop using them for the most part.

OTOH, I had an issue in 2000 with " arm pump". It came on w/o warning and was always there for a few years. After being off my bike for a few years it seemed to have gone away. Then in 2005, I was having issues again. I saw a sports therapist some and was given various exercises. Over the years I've had MRI's which showed nerve impingement in my lower back and my neck. Surgery is not uncommon—but, so far I've had decent success through physical therapy.

In my first post I mentioned nerve pain because it can feel like anything. It's like having a fake signal inserted in the path to the brain. Your busy trying to stretch tendons and do all the the things you need to do to treat the apparent issue, when the real issue is in the signal pathway.

Obviously, this is anecdotal—my experiences can't diagnose someone else's experiences. But you can waste a lot of time trying to solve something that s not the actual problem.

 

[Brychanus]

All of these helped me:

1. Listen to your docs and shut down if needed.
2. Form improvements.
3. Rest.
4. Flexbar like CD said. Also good for swing drills.
5. Stuff a light resistance tube in your bag. You can get 'em cheap. Integrate this in my warmups to get my arm/shoulders as fluid and limber as possible. At 3:22 (YouTube link in the new forum format seems to go directly there if you click it to play):


I really came to love this next one and do it for a minute or two every time I throw. Feel the rhythm and pump thru the whole body. Swing it forward and back. Nice tight circles and hear the *swish* as it swings. Elbow and shoulder feel way better the next day. Yes, Simon, Eagle is warming up to throw "80 feet" after injury. At 3:45 :


6. Lots of specialized stretches, especially borrowed from pitching. The better the lower body moves, the less the elbow tends to take a beating.

 

[ChrisWoj]

My experience with tennis elbow is weird... the pain showed up in 2017 and lasted into 2018. I stopped throwing entirely for weeks, with brief rounds to see if the pain was gone. And it was sporadic. Sometimes I'd be good for a week, and then it'd return. Sometimes a few weeks of rest did nothing. After a while I started to look into other things I was doing in life, because although I spent months thinking disc golf was the problem... well... maybe it wasn't?

Ultimately, after weeks of trying to remember to reflect on my injury any time I was doing anything with my arm, I realized that when I played tug of war with my 20 lb dog I was allowing serious stress to be put on my elbow. I was doing that thing where you just grip the tug toy and let the dog whip it and your arm around. I would just let my arm hang loose, and he'd go to town. I thought it was harmless - light weight doggo, arm just dangling, can't be too much stress... and I was totally wrong.

As soon as I stopped playing tug of war like that with my dog the improvement came. Within a few weeks I could feel a difference. Within a few months it was like I'd never been injured.

Maybe this doesn't apply to you. Maybe you can be absolutely certain your backhand is causing the issue. But if you haven't taken time to rule out other causes you should take a little time to reflect on what else you're doing that might seem innocuous but puts stress on the elbow.