Elbow pain is a common injury we see at Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine. It is often located on the outside of your elbow and can make things like carrying your kids, cooking dinner, yard work, or exercising difficult and painful.
Often called tennis elbow, this happens when your the tendons of the muscles that lift your wrist become irritated, inflamed, and degenerated. This might sound scary, but it can be solved with some consistent and targeted exercise.
Here are 3 easy exercises you can do to get out of elbow pain and live an active life again.
Wrist Extensor Stretch
When your elbow starts hurting it can cause the muscles on the top of your forearm to tighten up, which makes it hurt even more. Stretching these muscles can help to reduce the tension and provide elbow pain relief.
Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Make sure to keep your elbow straight. Do this 2 to 3 times a day to help provide short term relief of your pain.
Wrist Extensor Strengthening
Strengthening the wrist extensor muscles is what will provide elbow pain relief for good. It stimulates healing in the tendon better than anything else. The key is to do it consistently and at the right intensity level.
Initially do this exercise with your elbow bent to 90 degrees. Start with 3 sets of 10 reps. Go slow on the way down. Use 1 to 2 pounds to start.
To get the best results find a weight that either gets the muscles really fatigued or causes some mild pain. Some mild pain at the elbow with this exercise is actually a good thing and stimulates the healing response. But you don’t want to overdo it. On a 0 to 10 scale where 0 is no pain and 10 is going to the hospital, the pain should be about a 2.
Every other day is the optimal frequency to do this exercise.
Once you can do more than 5 pounds, you can progress to doing this with your elbow straight. When you do this, drop the weight back down to 1 to 2 pounds again.
Reverse Curl
This exercise helps to strengthen your wrist extensors as well. Make sure to hold your wrist in a neutral or slightly extended position throughout the movement. You don’t want your wrist tipping down.
Start with 4 or 5 pounds for this exercise. Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions. Do this every other day.
2/10 pain is ok with this exercise as well. If it doesn’t hurt, then you should have enough weight that you elbow is tired enough by the end of each set that you feel like you can only do 1 or 2 more reps.
If you’ve tried these and you’re still hurting, we can help you!
At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, our physical therapists are experts at treating elbow pain and will develop a plan to help you stop it.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to request and appointment.
A member of our team will schedule you an appointment with one of our expert physical therapists.
What happens if you don’t have a plan to get out of elbow pain?
- Your need help for basic tasks because your elbow hurts
- You avoid playing with your kids because you’re afraid of hurting your elbow
- You get out of shape and are more likely to get other diseases and injuries
But WITH a plan to get out of elbow pain you can live the life you want again.
The exercises above are a great way to get started. They don’t require a ton of time and are pretty easy to do correctly.
But if you want an expert to listen to your unique problems and guide you to success, a Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine physical therapist will create a plan specifically for you.
You’ll feel confident that you have the knowledge and get elbow pain relief and do all the things you want.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to schedule your appointment and start your path to healing.
Working to keep you living your best life,
The Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Team
