3 Helpful Exercises for Tennis Elbow

Lateral epicondylitis, more commonly known as “tennis elbow”, is the inflammation of your tendons connecting your muscles to your bones at the elbow joint. This type of injury typically happens over a period of time due to performing repetitive motions, such as gripping, lifting, and/or grasping, causing strain and stress to the elbow area. When this stress occurs, this can lead to great pain and discomfort, often inhibiting you from doing simple activities like grabbing an object, turning a doorknob or even holding a remote control. While this condition is often associated with tennis, anyone performing an activity or task that requires constant repetitive motion with the arm and elbow is at risk.

What can I do if I have a tennis elbow?
The time it takes for this condition to heal can vary depending on your age, pain tolerance, the extent of the injury, or the period of time before and leading up to your diagnosis. If you suspect that you are feeling a great sense of discomfort in your elbow, we always recommend for you to seek a professional consultation with a physical therapist or family physician. While pain medication and surgery are options to consider if your condition is quite severe, we have a few exercises you can do at home to help alleviate some of the pain and strengthen your muscles to prevent future injuries.

Help is on the way: 3 exercises you can do at home
Rest your injured tendon by refraining from performing any tasks that require your injured arm. Continuing to use your arm will continue to prolong your recovery time and continues to put stress and strain on an already weakened tendon in your elbow. Try not to grab, grip, squeeze, lift or make a strong fist. You can also relieve some of the pain by massaging the affected area, but seeking a physical therapist trained in manual therapy is highly recommended.
Wrist flexion stretch: You can relieve some of the discomforts by doing this simple stretch. Extend your arm with your hand pointing down (see the top image below). With your other hand, gently pull the hand of the injured arm towards you. Only pull until you feel a slight stretch in your forearm by the elbow. Hold this for about 30 seconds; repeat this six times. It may be very tender the first few times, but as you perform this stretch more, you should be able to feel a greater stretch.

Wrist extension exercise: These next two exercises will help to strengthen your muscles to help prevent future injury. This may be easier to do when sitting down with your arm resting on a table. Have your wrist hang over the edge of the table and lift the wrist upward towards you (see picture above). Hold it for five seconds. Relax and bring your wrist back down. Repeat this 30 times.

Wrist supination and pronation exercise:

When your arm is strong enough to grip something, using a hammer or a light dumbbell weight, you can strengthen your muscle with this exercise. Grip the hammer by the handle with your arm resting on a table. Slowly rotate your wrist 90 degrees to the left, then rotate it all the way to the right (see picture above). Do this 30 times.

I hope these exercises will help you if you have elbow discomfort from the tennis elbow. If pain continues to persist, make sure you seek a physical therapist for professional help.