Causes of Tennis Elbow
Tennis Elbow got its name of course due to almost all avid tennis players experiencing elbow pain at some point in their lives. Tennis elbow pain, however, can be caused by many different activities. A number of causes of tennis elbow are:
- Gardening
- Swimming
- Fencing
- Knitting
- Carpentry
- Golfing
- Bricklaying
- Using scissors or shears
- Racquetball
- Squash
The list of causes of tennis elbow goes on, but can be broken down into the categories of occupational or recreational. Regardless of the activity causing tennis elbow symptoms, the root cause of tennis elbow pain is damage to the tendons that attach muscles of the forearm to the elbow. Tennis elbow will normally occur in a person’s dominant arm but is possible in either or both. Increasing age is a factor in a person’s susceptability to getting tennis elbow as tendons lose their elasticity as we get older. Tennis elbow is generally not considered a repetitive motion injury, but an injury due to overuse. Changing occupations, picking up a new sport and starting a new hobby all can lead to a case of tennis elbow.
Specific to tennis there are a number of factors that can lead to or aggravate tennis elbow pain.
- Technique: Keeping your arm straight and stiff on backhands, using “all arm” on serves, maintaining a “death” grip on the racquet are examples of technique issues that can cause tennis elbow pain.
- Equipment: Too large a grip size is #1, followed by a racquet that is too stiff. Kevlar strings may not cause tennis elbow and they last forever, but they will increase the severity of forearm pain. Proper grip size and a good racquet/string combination go a long way in avoiding tennis elbow.
- Schedule: Laying off all winter then joining multiple leagues or playing several tournaments back to back are good ways to end up with tennis elbow. If you never played tennis before or haven’t played for awhile it is best to take it slow.
- Training: Playing tennis as the only form of physical activity can lead to tennis elbow from the overuse aspect. No matter if you are a weekend player, a league player or a tournament player, strength training and cross-training can be very beneficial.
- Warm-up/Stretching: Not stretching and warming up can contribute to tennis elbow as well as other injuries. As we get older, stretching and warming up become increasingly important in preventing injuries.
You do not have to have bad technique or be a couch potato to develop tennis elbow, but eliminating as many causes as possible may be your ticket to Cure Tennis Elbow Now.
