8 Best Exercises to Recover From Tennis Elbow

As you probably know, one can hardly treat certain diseases simply with medication. Doctors suggest exercising and working out to get a long-term cure. One such condition is tennis elbow. A tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is a painful condition in your elbows. It occurs when your elbow tendons are highly overloaded because of repetitive motions of the wrists and arm.

Curious to find out the best exercises for tennis elbow? This piece will provide you with proper guidance regarding the same.

What Are the Causes and Symptoms of Tennis Elbow?

Overuse of the arm muscles is likely to cause tennis elbow. Moreover, repeated contraction of the forearm muscles can cause muscle strain injury, ultimately resulting in such a condition. As the name suggests, constantly playing tennis with a repeated pattern of backhand strokes is a possible cause. Other causes might include the following.

Painting regularly
Using plumbing tools
Driving screws
Repetitive use of computer mouse
Cutting and chopping of cooking ingredients

You can identify this condition if you experience the following symptoms in your body.

Pain in the wrists while shaking hands and turning the doorknob
Inability to hold up something heavy because of the pain

What Are the Best Exercises to Recover From Tennis Elbow?

Getting proper exercise can be beneficial if you are suffering from tennis elbow. The following exercises can help you get rid of this condition.

1. Finger Stretch

This is one of the simplest exercises to avoid tennis elbow. Take a rubber band and place it between your fingers and thumb. Then, slightly cup your hand. Gently start spreading the fingers and thumb apart, and then bring them back together. Repeat this pattern at least 10 times. It will help to get pain relief in the fingers and increase blood flow through the fingers.

2. Wrist Turn

For this exercise, start with bending your elbow at a right angle and extending it outwards. As your palm is facing up, twist the wrist until the palm faces down. Hold this position for at least five seconds before returning to the original position. Repeat this at least ten times. It will stimulate blood flow and help you avoid wrist pain.

3. Wrist Extensor Stretch

This is one of the easiest stretches to avoid tennis elbow. Raise your arm before the body, keeping your palm facing down. Now, slowly bend your wrist downwards. Next, gently pull the stretching hand back towards the body using the other hand. Keep holding this position for about 30-45 seconds. Repeat this exercise at least twice in one set.

4. Wrist Lift

For this exercise, you need to lift light weight. It can be a small dumbbell or a tin of food. Next, bend your elbow at the right angle. Now, extend your hand out, with the palm facing upwards. Bend your wrist towards the body and hold this position for at least five minutes. Start releasing the position slowly and continue this exercise at least ten times.

5. Supination

This is another exercise to avoid a tennis elbow that one can complete with a dumbbell. The supinator muscle is a major part of your forearm connecting to the elbows. You can start this exercise initially as isometric supination without weights. Rotate your palm up and hold for at least 30 minutes. Once the pain starts fading, practice the same exercise with a 1-pound dumbbell. It will help avoid a tennis elbow by maintaining blood circulation in the supinator muscle.

6. Fist Clench

One of the major reasons behind tennis elbow can be poor grip strength. Take a sock, tennis ball, or rolled-up towel in your palm to revive the strength. Grip the cloth or ball through your fingers to form a fist. Now, squeeze it tightly in your hand, and hold this grip for at least ten seconds. Repeat the same position at least ten times. Better grip strength will help you control a tennis elbow.

7. Towel Twist

This is a similar exercise as the previous one. Start with holding a fluffy rolled-up towel in your palm. Keeping your shoulders relaxed, start twisting the towel, moving your hands in the opposite directions. It will replicate the position of wringing out water from a wet towel. Perform ten or more repetitions of this exercise to increase your grip strength.

8. Elbow Bend

A final exercise that reduces tennis elbow pain is the elbow bend position. To reach this, stand straight and lower your arms to one side. Now, bend your arm upwards slowly until the hand reaches the shoulder. Hold this position for about 15-20 seconds, and keep repeating it further.

How Does Exercising Help Relieve Tennis Elbow?

The best way to treat a tennis elbow is by reducing inflammation of the elbow muscles and resting the irritated muscles and tendons. While ice, compressions, medication and physiotherapy for a tennis elbow might be helpful for some time, they will not benefit you in the bigger picture. They can ease the pain but not control the condition.

Once the inflammation subsides, doctors suggest light exercises to avoid the recurring occurrence of this condition in the future. These will help strengthen the muscles of your forearm and increase blood circulation in these. As your muscles are rested but strong, they will not fall victim to tennis elbow.

Which Exercises to Avoid for Tennis Elbow?

While there are multiple exercises to treat tennis elbow, one should be aware of certain exercises they must avoid. Such exercises can worsen your condition. Here are a few of these that you should never consider if you suffer from tennis elbow.

Push-ups and bench press: Heavy workout is usually not recommended for people suffering from tennis elbow. Constant push-ups and bench presses can cause strain to your wrists and elbows. It can increase the pain and inflammation in the elbow muscles.
Repetitive lifting or motions: Heavy weight lifting can cause major strain and pressure on your wrists, which will worsen your condition. Moreover, repetitive motions can also end up causing pain and strain to the elbow muscles.
Chopping ingredients and using a computer mouse: Constant chopping of food ingredients can cause strain on the wrists. Hence, it would help if you avoided such activities while suffering from a tennis elbow. Moreover, constant computer mouse use can also cause a similar condition.

Thus, as you can see, multiple beneficial exercises for the tennis elbow exist. If you are suffering from such a condition, do not rely simply on medication. Consider these exercises as listed in this article. It will help you cure faster and avoid the recurrence of the pain in your wrists and elbows in the long term.

What Precautions Should Be Taken While Exercising With a Tennis Elbow?

While exercising can be beneficial to control tennis elbow, it is essential to know about the precautions that can trigger the pain. For instance, you should avoid heavy workout and weight lifting in this condition. This is mainly because weights can pressurise the elbow muscles, causing pain in the forearm.

Apart from that, straight-arm exercises like planks, pullovers and L-sits can also be harmful for people who are suffering from tennis elbow. Overall, tennis elbow can easily trigger pain in the wrists and elbow muscles. Therefore, you should be cautious to avoid any pressure on these muscles. Heavy workout can worsen the situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

✓ How long does a tennis elbow take to recover?

If you undergo the right treatment with proper diet, medication and exercise, it takes 6 months to 2 years to recover from tennis elbow. However, you should avoid activities that can trigger this situation.

✓ What happens if I avoid exercising while having a tennis elbow?

In such a case, your condition will take a long time to cure and has chances of reoccurrence. Moreover, you might feel constant and recurring pain in the wrist and elbow muscles.