Tennis Elbow Medication

In the short term and for severe pain see your doctor or pharmacist who can give you the appropriate anti-inflammatory medicine and / or pain killers.
Although Tennis Elbow Lateral Epicondylitis is not generally an inflammatory condition anti-inflammatories still have a role to play in their pain-relieving role.
There are some anti-inflammatory gels and rubs that you can apply directly to the skin if you don’t want to or are unable to take oral anti-inflammatories.

Ice Therapy for Lateral Epicondylitis

You can apply Ice packs to your elbow and forearm for 15 minutes at a time.
If you have sensitive skin your can apply a layer of oil to the skin first but be careful not to get an Ice-Burn.
You can apply an Ice pack every two hours or so.
If you have no access to Ice than a pack of frozen ‘vegetables’ is a good substitute. I say ‘vegetables’ because about 20 years ago I told a patient to get some frozen peas and use them. (This was around 5 o’clock and in the days in Scotland when not too many shops stayed open past this!) I got a phone call several hours later from his wife who told that she had searched everywhere in the local shops and could only find ‘mixed vegetables’ and asked “would that do?” So to honour this lady I always say ‘vegetables’ now!

Ice Block Massage for Tennis Elbow Relief

The method I prefer for your elbow pain is to make up an Ice Block and then rub this over the affected Tennis Elbow area.
You should do this for a good 10 minutes or even longer.
You can repeat this every hour in the early stages if necessary.

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Back to Tennis Elbow Top 10 Questions

Tennis Elbow pain is very easily aggravated by Pull Ups.
There are a few reasons:

• gripping bar too tightly
• overhand grip
• wide grip

I will explain each of these

Gripping Too Tightly

Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis is caused by over-use of the muscles that position the wrist to allow a strong grip, see Tennis Elbow – Get to Grips! if you have not already read it.
The harder you grip the greater the stress on the wrist extensor muscles – the more you aggravate the problem!

Overhand Grip

With an overhand grip there is a tendency to further extend the wrist to move your chin away from the bar. Also in this position the Brachioradialis muscle is used to help bend the elbow. This muscle has an attachment very close the Tennis Elbow muscles and they are recruited to help flex the elbow – remember that they cross the elbow joint see Essential Anatomy of Forearm Muscles

Wide Grip

A wide grip pulls the wrist into radial deviation as you perform your pull up. The main muscles that do this are Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus and Brevis. The Brevis muscle is the main culprit in causing most Tennis Elbow pain! So you can see why it is not too smart to work it excessively if you want your elbow pain to settle.

How Not to Aggravate Your Tennis Elbow Pain

Hook Grip

Use a ‘hook grip’ on the bar. This involves using the ends of your fingers to grasp the bar rather than making a fist around the bar and squeezing.
This relaxes the wrist joint and take the stress of the wrist extensors – relieving the aggravation.

Narrower Grip

Moving the hands in from the wide position reduces the pull of the Flexor Carpi Radialis muscles again easing the stress.

Underhand Grip

Using an underhand technique makes it possible to perform some pull ups when your Tennis Elbow is severe. I know that it works your Lats differently and that you use your Biceps more but it’s better than doing nothing or aggravating your elbow to the extent that you can’t do other weights!
Even better use an underhand grip with a ‘hook grip’

Good Technique

Make sure that the prime movers of the exercise are your back muscles and not your arms!!

The tips should allow you to train around Tennis Elbow – even better take my “Elbow and Forearm Assessment Tool” and cure your elbow!

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