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Tennis elbow exercises have been circulated for many years. So why is there so much disagreement as to which exercises are correct? The simplest approach to exercise in regards to preventing and rehabilitating tennis elbow must be (as in any condition) based on having knowledge of the involved joint and the muscles that affect it.
Simply stated, the muscles that act on the joint must be strong and balanced – and there must be maximum blood flow to the joint and it’s tissues. To accomplish this, the muscles that act on the joint must be exercised properly – i.e. through as full of a range of motion as possible, in balance. This is true of any joint. To delineate good information from bad, simply look at the joint and it’s muscle anatomy.
The elbow joint has three main sets of muscles that cross it and thus affect it. These are A) finger/hand muscles, B) wrist muscles, and C) forearm/arm muscles.
A. The finger muscles that cross the elbow joint on the outside of the elbow are the common finger extensor muscles and the pinky extensor muscle. These two muscle tendons make up part of the common extensor tendon that is aggravated and inflamed during a tennis elbow case.
Finger extensor muscles must be a key focus of tennis elbow exercises because these muscles are depended on heavily to stabilize any grip activity. If they are not strong they can be easily overworked and aggravated. I believe weak finger extensor muscles are one of the key underlying causes and indeed one of the most overlooked exercises in traditional tennis elbow exercise routines.
Finger flexor muscles cross the elbow on the medial side of the joint by way of the deep and superficial finger flexing muscles. Both of these muscle groups originate at the medial epicondyle, the area where inflammation occurs in golfers elbow. It is important to note the hand muscle imbalance contributes to both tennis elbow and golfers elbow.
It is a super-common occurrence that we see hypertrophied, shortened finger flexor muscles and weak, static finger extensor muscles. The muscles that close the hand (there are 9) and the muscles that open the hand (there are also 9) must each be strong and balanced through full ranges of motion resistance exercises in order to have proper tone and blood flow.
B. The next main muscle group to address are the wrist muscles. Historically, these muscles help been well represented and included as tennis elbow exercises. Wrist muscles are generally made up of wrist extensor muscles and wrist flexor muscles. These can be easily exercised using hand weights, weighted cans or water battles. Wrist muscles also are key in radial and ulnar deviation. Radial deviation and ulnar deviation can be strengthened using a dumbbell bar or a garage hammer.
C. The third muscle groups to consider for tennis elbow exercises are the forearm flexors and the forearm extensors.
The forearm flexors can be strengthened easily using traditional weights, such as arm curls, arm curls with supination and arm curls with the thumb pointing up (hammer curls). The forearm extensors can be strengthened easily also using traditional weights, such as in common triceps exercises.
Indeed it is this author’s belief that all tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) cases are linked to the same cause – that being poor or no training for activity. If you are at risk of or are intending to rehabilitate from tennis elbow, be sure that the following exercises are included:
1) Finger flexor and extensor exercises – strong and balanced
2) Wrist flexor and wrist extensor exercises – strong and balanced
3) Wrist pronator and supinator exercises – strong and balanced.
4) Wrist radial and ulnar deviation exercises – strong and balanced
5) Forearm flexor and extensor exercises – strong and balanced.
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Source by Dr. Terry Zachary