Tennis elbow is a painful condition, where the outer side of the elbow becomes sore, tender and painful to touch and move. Commonly associated with tennis players, because it affects the tendons used in wielding a tennis racquet, it can happen to anybody, and many sufferers may have never touched a tennis racquet. Similar to tennis elbow is golfers’ elbow, which affects the anterior part of the forearm. Again, this is associated with golfers, but may easily affect those who have never teed in their life.
Tennis Elbow Symptoms

Symptoms include elbow pain on the outer side, tenderness on the prominent part of the bone on the outside of the elbow, pain when gripping and moving the wrist, especially when extending it and morning stiffness. Because of the intense pain, it can often feel like tendonitis.

Tennis elbow treatment

For most tennis players, the best treatment is resting the elbow. For severe cases, heat or ice may be applied to the elbow. Medical interventions include anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections and surgery, among others. Doctors also advise wearing a tennis elbow brace. Certain exercises can also help to strengthen the elbow muscles and tendons. Yoga is very effective in the long term treatment of tennis elbow.

Tennis elbow exercises

Here are some exercises that can help ease tennis elbow. Remember to do them slowly, and never to the point of pain. If you feel any pain, stop immediately.

Stretching. Start with extending the elbow to the point where it does not hurt, and hold for 20 seconds. You can do this 5 to 10 times a day, and gradually increase the extension. A prayer stretch, when you put your arms in front of your chest, and join your palms as if in prayer, will help you increase flexibility of your wrists. Slowly stretching the wrist will help you regain movement in your wrists.

Flexibility exercises. With your arm on a table, palm facing up, try to touch your little finger to your thumb. Repeat with the forefinger and all other fingers, holding each time for 10 to 20 seconds. Next, make a fist, and rotate your wrist slowly, stretching as much as you can. Finally, with your palm facing down on a table, flip it so that it’s facing up. Repeat this 20 times.

Strength training. This will help your arm recover sooner, and make it stronger so the injury does not reoccur. Remember to warm your arm well, using a heating pad if needed, or you will injure it again. If you need to, wear a brace. With your arm on a bench, and a light weight in your hand, curl your wrist to bring the weight towards you. Do 10 -15 reps everyday, gradually increasing the number of sets. Next, you can try reverse curls, with your palms facing the floor. You can also move your wrist laterally with a weight. Do a maximum of two sets a day. Another favourite exercise is to squeeze a tennis ball as much as you can, many times a day.

Yoga poses that will help you include the Bhujangasana or Cobra Pose. Do this slowly until you can do a complete cobra pose. Other poses like the push up pose and wrist side body stretch will also help your arm heal faster

These exercises can also be used as golf elbow exercises.