5 Tennis Elbow Exercises to Help Push Recovery

October 20th, 2020

 

5 Tennis Elbow Exercises to Help Push Recovery

If you have tennis elbow, there are a few exercises you can do to relieve pain and push recovery. Here are 5 tennis elbow exercises to help push recovery.

Have you been experiencing immense throbbing pain in your elbow? Do you find it difficult to play recreational sports or lift items with the pain in your arm? If so, then you might be experiencing tennis elbow.

Luckily, there are several tennis elbow exercises that you can perform in order to help your arm heal and get back to usual. Knowing these exercises can give you relief while you seek out physical therapy for tennis elbow down the line.

See below for several tennis elbow exercises that you can do to minimize the pain. Be sure to use them all in order to have the best results.

1. Ball Squeeze Exercise

A lot of people experience the most tennis elbow pain when they fasten their grip, such as when lifting dumbbells or trying to squeeze something. 

Believe it or not, there’s an exact connection between your tennis elbow and your hand. In fact, it might be a hand injury that leads to the tennis elbow you’re now experiencing.

If you believe that to be the case, then be sure to reach out to a certified hand therapist in order to get your health back on track. In the meantime, you can perform a ball squeeze exercise to reduce the pain and inflammation.

First, you’ll need to find a tennis elbow, stress ball, or some other soft ball that has give to it. Hold the ball in your hand with your arm fully straightened out in front of you.

Quickly squeeze the ball, then slowly release your grip. Perform this exercise around 20 to 25 times before stopping. You’ll want to perform this exercise two to three times a day in order to get the most relief possible. 

While this exercise will be strenuous, it shouldn’t be painful. If you start to feel pain, stop the exercise, and find a softer material to squeeze.

2. Wrist Turn Exercise

Contrary to what its name would imply, tennis elbow occurs more frequently than during athletic performance. It’s very common in workplaces that require repetitive motions in your arm such as carpenters, HVAC workers, and so on.

This wrist turn exercise can help you reduce your pain and symptoms. Start by bending the elbow at a ninety-degree angle. Open your hand and have your palm facing up, as if you’re holding a dinner plate in your hand.

Slowly twist your wrist around until the palm is now facing the ground, hold it for 5 to 7 seconds, then turn it back up to it’s starting position.

You’ll want to 3 sets of this exercise, performing 10 reps each time. Be sure to do it with both hands so that you aren’t creating an imbalance in your body’s function.

It’s important to do this exercise slowly in order to the muscles in your forearm and your elbow to stretch. This will help strengthen your arms and give more protection to your tennis elbow moving forward. Try to do this exercise every day.

3. Elbow Bend-to-Extension Exercise

To perform this exercise, stand up straight, placing both arms directly at your slide with your hands open and palms facing in front of you. 

Take your arms and slowly bend them up until your palm and fingers are touching the front of your shoulder, as if you were doing a dumbbell curl. Once your hand is touching your shoulder, count to 30 before slowly lowering back down to full extension.

When your hand is at the bottom of this exercise, try to focus on flexing your triceps to ensure full extension. Hold your arm there for 15 seconds before bringing it back up again.

Do this exercise 2 times a day, with 10 repetitions each time. Keep in mind that these exercises can be a great way to maximize your lunch break.

4. Wrist Flex Exercise

Start by putting one arm fully extended and facing outward, starting with your palms facing down towards the ground. Take your other hand and use it to pull the fingers (on the hand that’s extended out) towards your body.

Slowly pull the fingers back while focusing on your breathing. Once you feel your wrist being extended, hold the fingers there for 30 seconds. After that time is up, release the fingers back to their previous position.

You can take this exercise one step further by pulling your fingers down towards the body as well.

Contrary to the other exercises on this list, you’ll only want to perform this exercise in 2 sets of 3 repetitions. Any more than that, and you might start to feel pain in your wrists.

5. Wrist Lift Exercise

Grab a small item, such as a can of soup, and place it in your hand. Bend your elbow at a 90-degree angle with your hand (and the object you’re holding) facing the ceiling. 

Start the wrist in a neutral position, slowly bending it up towards your body. Hold it there for about 5 seconds, then slowly release it back down while exhaling. 

Perform 3 sets of this exercise with 10 repetitions each. Only do this once a day. If you have some free time at your desk at work, you can do it by grabbing a stapler, can of soda, or anything of equal weight.

Use These Tennis Elbow Exercises to Your Advantage

Now that you have seen several tennis elbow exercises that you can use, be sure to use them in combination with treatment from a reputable tennis elbow therapy expert.

Be sure to read this article for more information on hand therapy and how it can help you with your tennis elbow pain.

For more inquiries, please begin by requesting an appointment online and we will be happy to assist you further.