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Health, Lifestyle and Injury Prevention
This section of the webpage has the most popular questions
and answers by Dr. Michael Lee on
health and injury prevention related to tennis players. Have a
read and email your questions to tennis@unsw.edu.au and
we will pick the most popular one every month and post the answers
here.
 Dr.
Michael Lee - September 2010
Management
of tennis elbow
If you have symptoms of “tennis elbow” (see last edition of the
newsletter), it is important to start taking some actions before
it becomes chronic........ Here are some simple, do it yourself
tips:
| 1. |
Cryotherapy – just a fancy medical term
for topical application of ice. Tenderness and / or pain in
the wrist extensor muscles, their common tendon or the elbow
bone (epicondyle) may indicate an inflammatory process. Applying
ice to these tender areas will help reduce inflammation and
therefore encourage the healing process. Apply ice for 5 minutes
at a time, rest for 5 minutes and repeat this process 2-3
times. At the end of this, the skin should be cool to touch
and slightly red. I would encourage everybody who plays tennis
regularly to ice their elbows after a game of tennis. |
| 2. |
Stretch the wrist extensor muscles regularly.
Regular stretching encourages optimal flexibility and will
reduce the risk of injury caused by eccentric loading (when
the muscles are forced to stretch and contract at the same
time). To stretch the wrist extensors, simply make a loose
fist with one hand (the wrist to be stretched) and use the
opposite hand to bend the loose fist and wrist down. Hold
this position while slowing straighten the elbow. Hold this
position for 15-20 secs, and repeat 3-4 times. |
| 3. |
Perform proper warm up exercises before
playing tennis. Warm up exercises can improve range of movement
about a joint by raising body temperature. Warm up can be
achieved by applying a hot pack to the joint or muscles for
5- 10 mins, or by performing small active movements, such
as circular movements of the wrist, bending and straightening
the elbow and wrist, or light jog around the court! |
| 4. |
Modify activities of everyday living which
involved repetitive use of the wrist extensors. This included
use of computer mouse, typing on laptop, painting and cutting
etc. By adopting a better ergonomic work environment, you
will substantially reduce the risk of tennis elbow. |
| 5. |
Have a tennis coach check your swing and
gripping techniques. |
Finally, if you have symptoms of tennis elbow for longer
than 3 months, you must consult your local physiotherapists and
get it checked out!
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Dr.
Michael Lee - June 2010
If I play
tennis, will I get tennis elbow?
If you play tennis regularly, you are at risk of developing “tennis
elbow”.....unfortunately..... What is “tennis elbow”? Well, “tennis
elbow” refers to a medical condition which involves inflammation
of the wrist extensor muscles (forearm muscles that bend your
wrist backwards) and their common tendon which attaches to the
outside of your elbow bone (epicondyle). Symptoms of tennis elbow
include pain and swelling around the epicondyle, “weakness” and/or
pain with gripping (e.g., holding a tennis racket). Tennis elbow
is typically caused by repetitive, forceful bending movements
of the wrist (single-handed back hand in tennis is a good example),
which leads to recurrent inflammation of the wrist/forearm muscles
and their common tendon. However, interestingly, not everybody
who suffers from tennis elbow play tennis! In fact, clinically,
we see more non-tennis players with tennis elbow than tennis players!
So why is this? The truth is, activities which involved repetitive
use of the finger muscles (e.g., typing on a laptop, clicking
on computer mouse) can also cause repetitive strain and subsequently
inflammation of the same wrist/forearm muscles that give rise
to “tennis elbow”! In addition, people who are required to do
a lot lifting, painting, packaging and cutting movements at work
are more prone to developing tennis elbows. As you can start to
appreciate, there are many factors that can contribute to tennis
elbow. If your work or occupation involved prolonged use of computer
and/or repetitive wrist movements and you are a keen tennis player,
you are more likely to get tennis elbow.........Don’t despair,
in the next issue, I will give you some tips on how to prevent
tennis elbow as well as some advice on what to do IF you already
have tennis elbow.
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