Tennis Elbow and support braces.

Hi

Got a bad case of Tennis elbow at the moment, about four years or so old, but has become very painful since April after further damage whilst working. I’ve seen a physio and the options were a plasma injection or acupuncture. I went with the latter as I’m not a fan of injections or anti-inflammatory drugs.

What I’m after is a brace for when I have to use the arm i.e. hammering, lifting, drilling, mauling, chainsawing etc. I’m aware of the type that offer some arrest of the tendon prior to the damaged area but I want something to hold the joint in place whilst stressing it.

Your advice, linkys and any experiences of good or bad products will be happily received…

Is it definitely tennis elbow? Or do you have a neck problem which is referring pain into your elbow.

Definitely the elbow. The pain is so intense that I can easily locate it with a little pressure to the affected area.

I suffered from TE for around 18 months, trying different supports and various other things. One cortisone injection fixed it permanently. It was bloody painful, but I’d not hesitate to go straight to that option if it happened again.

Yeah, I’ve been advised that the injection is a painful one. Have you suffered any side effect in any shape or form…?

Useful article

I’d be staggered if my physio had narrowed it down to two treatments, both unproven to the point of quackery.

You’ll get a better spread of opinion on UK Climbing forum.

teasel – no side effects whatsoever. Like I said, I’d not hesitate to go down the same route again. What is it about the injection that you’re in some doubt about?

i have the jections every 6 months or so both ankles via ultra sound , both shoulders, and was right elbow which got so bad that i had to have a opp which seems to have made it 90% better, so yes mate have the jabs they do work , but as in my case do wear off and need to be done again and again and again. no side effects tho.in the meantime put an ice cube on the sore bite.

Its a right pain. Had it bad at the start of the year when writing my shopping list was too much. I tried sports remedial massage from these guys http://www.lssm.com luckily my Mrs is doing a course with them. 2 treatments later hand grips forearm etc are ok. Still occasional pain in elbow but not too much to worry about. Its a painful session but worked for me. Still can’t climb much but at least I can work and do my shopping list now.

To add to the stuff I posted earlier, I had a nasty case of tennis elbow a couple of years back. Left it about a year before I sought out some help, as it was getting increasingly painful doing day to day stuff – lifting pans etc, and starting to keep me awake at night.

I went to a sports physio who did sessions at my local climbing centre. Combination of deep tissue massage, stretching and exercise turned it around, and although I can still feel the weakness, I’m back climbing and there is no day-to-day pain.

I had tried a conventional elbow brace, with no effect, but the physio did use taping to relieve the stress on that particular area, which appeared to make some difference to pain levels.

I’d advise getting a second opinion off a different physio, preferably one with some experience of sports or even climbing injuries. Perhaps I’m doing your physio a disservice, and he/she exhausted the massage/strapping/exercise route completely.

I’m not sure there is any magic bullet in terms of strapping that will completely isolate the tendon, and in the case of tendonosis, which is most likely what you will have, it’s not necessarily a good idea to try to stop working the tendon completely. By the sounds of it, it will be difficult for you to ease back on the work-related stresses on the joint to help the recovery process.

Good luck.

As above I was getting tennis elbow pains and sore spots in my forearm muscle up near the elbow.

I had 3 ‘sports massage’ sessions where I got the guy to focus on my forearm, which he said was very tight, and he bashed the hell out of it.

I then used some grip exercisers regularly to strengthen up the muscles:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/York-Fitness-60029-Strong-Handgrips/dp/B000N3T1AO/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1343298815&sr=8-11

occasionally I can feel the sore point coming back again so I just have another go on the exerciser and it goes away.

You need to see a NeuroKinetic Therapist.

The will do some NKT voodoo and fix you in a jiffy.

Less than 30 of these body detectives throughout Europe, mind.

This modality will gradually filter into the publics awareness as the Go To chronic soft issue dysfunction fixer upper.

But seriously,we are trained to do specific muscle tests at varying intensities,affecting different muscle fibres to figure out which muscles are facilitated, inhibited then sussing out which muscles up and down the kinetic chain contribute to these imbalances.

The tests light up the motor control centre in the brain so that it improves neural connectivity to the lazy muscles.Manual techniques inhibit or relax the overworking muscles [ which are neurally over stimulated]

In this case you would want to down regulate the finger flexors and amplify the signals to the extensors.

You’d be amazed at the seemingly unrelated muscles that contribute to inhibition in any given area.

Bear in mind that many injuries are the manifestation of global compensations.

NKTs look for the cause rather than just treat the symptoms,then re educate the brain to restore normal function.

King of the upper cluster fux is pec minor [which is also a major contributor to shoulder joint capsule adhesion, aka frozen shoulder…which incidentally I usually fix in minutes…]

Good luck if you decide to take the brace option…

Podium NKT MISRM CNHC NASM BOGOF 🙂

Martin – Yep, the physio did a little more than those two and demonstrated some exercices and massage techniques for easing the pain and strengthening the area. As you wrote, though, the recovery process is and has been hindered by having a heavy work load.

Thanks for the replies and advice, guys. Much appreciated.