Tennis Elbow (AKA lateral epicondylitis) is a tendonitis of your wrist extensor muscles. This form of tendonitis causes pain at the outer, bony part of your elbow. It is typically worse when lifting objects especially with the palm facing down. This problem is frequently best treated with therapy. Need more background info? Click Here.
Know someone suffering? Make them the perfect care package to help them feel better.
Below our hand therapist shares the best gift ideas to show your love and provide pain relief to those suffering from Tennis elbow. Click the links to go directly to Amazon to make the shopping even easier.
KT Tape- KT tape is a great tool to help relax the overly tight muscle that becomes so irritated with tennis elbow. By just placing a single piece of tape, pain can significantly improve. The best part if this tape is it can be worn for several days and will say on with hand washing and in the shower. It does not restrict motion and is barley noticeable.
Flexbar- This tool is highly researched to help tennis elbow. It allows you to complete eccentric exercises which force an elongating the irritated muscle. This not only can improve pain but also prevent it from returning. This tool can be used in many different ways and comes with an instruction guide. They come in a variety of resistances. Red is a good starting point!
Massage Ball- Tennis elbow is caused by tightness in your extensor or supinator muscles of your forearm. These go from your hand, wrist and forearm up to the bony part of the outside of the elbow that hurts. Getting these muscles to relax is crucial to feeling better and massage does just that. These message ball rollers make it easy to self massage this muscle group. Massage the “meaty” part of forearm, a few inches down towards your hand from that outter part of your elbow.
Pain relief creams or topical gels- There are a ton of different options. My personal favorites are Biofreeze, Voltaire Gel and Arnicare Cream. Each has different ingredients and uses based on what your loved one is experiencing. These are all over the counter with no prescription required. They can just rub it onto the painful spots for immediate pain relief to help them do what they need to.
Small Hand weights- 1-3 lbs dumbbells are crucial when starting to strengthen these small muscles of the forearm. It is important to isolate individual muscle groups with exercise and this is best done with small weights. Having a few different weights is great to be able to progress to higher weight as you improve. Provide them a guide of how to use these weights here.
Counterforce Strap- This strap is used to apply pressure to that meaty part of your forearm we talked about above, that leads to the outside of your elbow. These strap can be applied at the widest part of your forearm with the bubble being placed directly over the muscles. This bubble will prevent a full contraction to limit further irritation. This strap can be worn with almost any activity to decrease pain!
Resistance Bands- Tennis elbow can actually be caused or worsened by weakness in your upper arm and shoulder. Resistance bands can be a great tool to strengthen your big shoulder muscles to ensure your whole arm is strong give your elbow better stability. They come with a variety of resistances making them versatile for full body work outs too!.
Give the gift of pain relief! Your loved ones will use these everyday and think of you when their pain is finally under control…Nothing shows love like helping someone feel their best.
Share this post with them and check out our recourse page to download a free exercise guide.
Needing more? Ideas for stocking stuffers? Check out our gift guide for Hand Pain or Shoulder Pain here!
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