How to Relieve Tennis Elbow Through Massage
Did you know that you don’t have to be a tennis player to get tennis elbow? The condition is officially called lateral epicondylitis, but it gets its nickname of tennis elbow because it’s a common injury for tennis players. Even if you’ve never picked up a racket of any kind, you may find yourself with tennis elbow.
What Does Tennis Elbow Feel Like?
For those with tennis elbow, pain surrounds the outside of the elbow around the outer portion of the upper forearm. You’ll feel it the most when you bend or lift your arm. Some people with tennis elbow have trouble with gripping and twisting motions, like when you hold a pen, turn a handle, or open a jar.
How is Tennis Elbow Caused?
Whether you play tennis or not, you could wind up with tennis elbow. It’s most commonly caused by doing something you’re not accustomed to doing. For example, perhaps you’ve decided to paint your house or your fence, or engaged in another DIY project.
Typing can cause tennis elbow too if you suddenly take it on in extreme amounts without ever really having done it before. Even hand-washing clothing in large amounts can cause tennis elbow.
Of course, tennis and any racket sport can lead to tennis elbow if you’re not careful with how you work those backhand movements. Even golfers can suffer a similar fate with golfer’s elbow which features pain on the inside of the elbow.
Basically, it’s overuse of the muscles that are attached to the elbow joint. When you strain them and their tendons, it can become inflamed, tear, and cause you pain.
Massage Therapy to the Rescue
It’s bad enough that tennis elbow is painful and can make it difficult to do the most simple of tasks. But this kind of injury easily reoccurs. When you let your elbow rest and heal, it can take 6 months at minimum and as long as 2 years. That’s why it’s so important to prevent reinjuring yourself or your recovery time will be considerably longer.
If you have tennis elbow, alternating with hot and cold compresses can quell inflammation. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can help minimize your pain too. But if you want to help your elbow heal faster and feel better altogether, you should try deep tissue massage.
Don’t try to do it yourself though. You should have a professional massage therapist apply this form of deep tissue massage to ensure you don’t accidentally cause worse damage. With regular visits, you’ll find your recovery is easier.
There’s no need to take the time to drive across town to wait your turn in a waiting room every other week. Instead, give us a call and we’ll come to you with one of our licensed and insured massage therapists. You’ll enjoy deep tissue massage in your home when it’s convenient for you so you can get back to doing the things you love sooner.
