Most elbow pain is Tennis Elbow. If you get pain towards the outside of your forearm, closer to your elbow than your wrist, and the pain is felt when lifting things with a knuckles-up grip - you've probably got Tennis Elbow.
If you've had pain for two weeks or less - avoid gripping and lifting with your hand knuckles up (change to lifting things with a palms-up grip) and your pain may settle on it's own. Even if it settles, still do the broomstick exercise (instructions below).
If you've had pain for two weeks or more, or the pain has settled already, do the following exercise to fix the cause of your elbow pain - a weak tendon.
- Hold a broom with your knuckles up, the brush at the thumb end of your hand, and the stick horizontal
- Hold it far enough away from the brush so that it's a real struggle to hold
- Hold if for at least 45 seconds to a minute.
- Then rest for a minute - better yet - do the same thing with your opposite hand to strengthen the tendon on that side. It's not uncommon for people to get Tennis Elbow on the other side too, so do this to prevent it.
- Make sure when you get to the 45 to 60 second mark, that you don't just let the broom drop. This can twist your elbow and hurt the tendon. Take the broom using your other hand, keeping it horizontal.
- Repeat this five times, as many times a day as you can.
This exercise will strengthen the tendon and your pain will cease. If it doesn't cease, we advise booking in a Free Assessment with one of our Physios, because something else may need to be addressed to fix your problem. MAKE A BOOKING
WHATEVER YOU DO - DO NOT GET A CORTISONE INJECTION. THEY SOMETIMES HELP THE PAIN BUT NOT ALWAYS. BUT THEY ALWAYS WEAKEN THE FIBRES OF YOUR TENDON AND OVERALL MAKE YOUR PROBLEM WORSE.