Tennis season is right around the corner.  With many leagues and tournaments in Garland, TX about to start, now is the time to prepare for upcoming games and ensure you’ve fully recovered from last season’s nagging injuries.

What Is Tennis Elbow?

If you have a pain on the outside of your arm where the forearm meets the elbow, then you likely have lateral epicondylitis, more commonly known as “tennis elbow.” Even though it’s called tennis elbow, many non-tennis players also get tennis elbow. The pain is caused by a repetitive motion that puts stress on those tendons, and they slowly start to develop small tears over time.  The pain that results is just simple overuse of the muscles and tendons around your elbow.

How Can Chiropractic Help?

Chiropractic care maximizes the body’s ability to heal itself and repair injuries. It restores alignment in the spine, improving communication between the brain and the rest of the body, helping bring about healing, health, and wellness. Any pain or discomfort in your body can often be improved upon with chiropractic care, including tennis elbow.

What Part of Your Game Is Causing the Pain?

There can be multiple reasons you develop tennis elbow when playing tennis.  The weight of the racket may be the culprit.  Surprisingly, the lighter the racket, the more stress you place on your elbow.  The heavier the racket, the more it absorbs the impact from the contact made with the ball.  The strings also play a role.  The softer the strings, the better the racket receives the ball and the less pounding your arm takes. Lastly is the technique; when making contact with the ball, the racket should be several inches in front of your body, not on the side of or behind the body. Making contact on the side or behind the body puts more strain on your shoulder and elbow.  When you make contact in front of your body, the momentum of the swing is what is pushing the ball back, not the arm’s muscles and tendons.  Also when you make contact behind or on the side of your body, you lose ball spin and power on your shot because you no longer have a full swing.  Thankfully, if you take care of your swing and improve the motion of it, you’ll minimize your tennis elbow pain. You’ll also reap the additional benefit of having extra power behind your spin, as well as the topspin you create by making a full swing.

Get in Touch with Us!

Garland, TX has a chiropractor that can treat many sports-related injuries, tennis elbow being one of them. The longer you wait, the more painful tennis elbow becomes, and the simple task of picking up a glass of water becomes difficult.  If you’re in Garland, TX, come visit us at Smiley Chiropractic or give us a call today to learn more about how we can help you.