Tennis elbow – ouch

Had tennis elbow since just after xmas – seemed to be as a result of lifting a heavy object at arms length in the loft. Been having physio for the past 5 weeks but not a lot has changed.

Any tips? The physio has suggested getting a steroid injection on private medical insurance which I have through work.

Try a strap on your forearm. Seemed to help me, plus lots of forearm massage, shoulder massage etc.

Try and get as relaxed as is possible, also consider laptop and phone usage which can cause postural and rsi problems

Do a different sport for a bit, anything that changes muscle usage, that sort of thing

Thanks – does the strap likely prolong recovery? It seems to hurt when i pick things up (e.g. a mug at arms length) rather than a specific sport 🙁 Also diy is a bugger with it.

Straps help me when my jobs gets very physical but don’t bother otherwise. Also hands on physio and acupuncture. Happily mines fading off after about 2 years. Had to give up climbing it got so bad which was a real downer for me.

This helped dial back my elbow pain quite a lot – not a miracle cure, but would 100% recommend.

Get one of these comedy dildos (link actually safe for work): Twist Bar Resistance Band Strength Training Exercise Equipment Ease Muscle Pain | eBay

Do these all the time for a few weeks:

How To Use FlexBar For Tennis Elbow Prevention and Relief – YouTube

Ah I do actually have one of those green things from when I had golfers elbow from climbing. Will try that.

Cool. FWIW I got the x-strong/firm one (also ribbed for pleasure 😀 ) and I wouldn’t have wanted less resistance.

Watching this thread with interest, I’ve had it for over 2 years now and have not been able to shift if fully. Very annoying and very persistent.

I found massage with a Lacrosse ball or Theragun type thing sorted mine.

I ended up with a steroid injection when I somehow managed to get it in both elbows at the same time. Left was worse but I’m right handed so went for one there as I was only allowed one. I nearly passed out as the doctor drew a target where the lump was and he proceeded to miss it then did what I can only describe as stirring soup or porridge with the needle in my arm until he found the lump.

To be honest I’m not entirely convinced it helped.

I had it for years, had the steroid injection which wasn’t a pleasant experience. I have quite a high pain threshold and it hurt like f*** when injecting it and then continued to do so for 2-3 days and only really worked for a few months before it came back again.

The only thing that worked/works for me is the flexbar. Did it for around 12 weeks twice a day and that sorted it. Very occasionally I might start to get some slight tenderness again but I just start using the flexbar for around a week and all good again.

I had Golfers Elbow in the right arm, joined a year later by Tennis Elbow in the left. Both persisted, regardless of doing the recommend physio, until I caught a nasty bout of Covid and was laid-up for 6 weeks. Both arms are much improved, so I can only assume the complete break from exercise allowed them to heal.

Well this is odd. I’m just back from the doctors, about various things, and I’ve been having this pain for a couple of months now. It’s tennis/golf eblow, or medial epicondylitis 😉

Been recommended an elbow strap. Tell you what though, on some days it really is painful. Effects me on road rides, but not so much on the MTB.

+1 for the elbow strap.

I had issues with both golfers and tennis elbow, with straps on both arms I was able to train in the gym and found working on my wrist/forearm strength fixed it in a few months.

Have got an elbow strap now. Is it meant to sit on the bit that when you poke it hurts the most or just below it?

Also did the twistbar thing, that actually gave quite a bit of instant relief tho it’s only temporary. Doing 3 x sets of 15 at the moment, figured three times a day.

Its sits a few inches below your elbow

Mine started a few days ago.

Didn’t know what it was until I googled it.

Absolute agony.

Shook someone’s hand the other day and nearly squealed!

Even lifting a mug of tea is painful.

I’ll try one of those elbow straps.

Is this the sort of thing?

Straps can offer some relief, but if it’s a longer term problem, they don’t resolve it.  A structured programme of physio massage and targeted exercises were the only things that actually worked for me.

https://drjuliansaunders.com/dodgy-elbows/  This is aimed at climbers, but it applies to anyone with tennis/golfers elbow.

It seems like you can do something similar with the twistbar, but what you have to watch out for is making sure you are doing the exercise in one direction only.

Try this :

I’ve got a proper blade tool now – I used a powerful massage tool which gave relief but not complete – doing is technique worked very well. Look up Graston technique as well. Tried straps and therabands but not really effective for me. Alsp tried a rice bucket.

If your physio suggested injections then try finding a decent physio…

Try a strap on 

Well, it might take your mind off the elbow pain I suppose.

OP – I had tennis elbow briefly some years ago, I found that starting strength training saw it off (touch wood).

If you don’t do any of that already, maybe give it a try. If not, sorry.

Literally just seen an orthopedic consultant about my wrist issues and mentioned it to him in the consultation. He said I had tennis elbow along with the other issues, and also he has it!

He said he doesn’t recommend steroid injections, not even for himself, but to fairly aggressively massage the tender bit you’ll find in the outside/top bit of your elbow if you dig enough, do exercises where you’re stretching your wrist down with a light (1lb) weight, and use the forearm straps when you need to (they definitely help me). Said it can take 6 month to 2 years to go away :'(

I used local physiotherapist to ‘cure’ mine. 3 yrs ago was my right elbow, this year my left.

Pain started in early May, early June first physio, then kept going with bi weekly ish through June and July. Was caused by carrying too many heavy things repeatedly at cub camp.

Early on the strap definitely helped to reduce the pain (esp the ‘ache’ at weird times of the day)

Really intensive physio massage (i.e. bloody agony!) and ultrasound at my appts, and several different targeted exercises at home. Noticed by end of August it had mostly gone. Now 99% fine and not doing any thing specific for it.

acupuncture did not make any difference for me, but N=2 elbows of above mentioned intense physio massage, ultrasound + exercises eventually worked.

So 5 months roughly from onset to gone. It’s a tough bugger to shift, but being consistent rally helped.

Yeh, it’s sore, and when it’s really sore you have the right spot lol! I actually have a handheld ultrasound massager so I’ll be giving that a blast daily too.