I hate our most common treatments for tennis elbow. Many people who suffer from it may never encounter a PT as part of their treatment journey. Most will be treated with meds, injections, and told to stop the aggravating activity. This is wrong on a lot of levels, but we won’t get into that today! What I want to talk to you about is one exercise that should be incorporated into your routine if you are participating in activities that might put you at higher risk for overuse of those tendons leading to pain in the outside of your elbow.
It might shock you- the exercise itself requires very little from your wrist.
It’s ROWS! Can you believe it? Rows can help you recover from OR prevent tennis elbow. I’ll tell you how.
If you’ve worked with me at all, you’ve heard me say, your body is a chain. The area you are feeling the pain is important, but may not be the source of the problem. Oftentimes when I’m working with patients dealing with tennis elbow, I find significant weaknesses in the muscles around the shoulder blade, particularly in the ones that pull the shoulder blade closer to the spine (scapular retractors). These are so important for creating the good foundation in the shoulder that the rest of your arm needs to move well. When these are weak, the break down is happening at the shoulder, but the pain is felt in the elbow.
If I’m fortunate enough to be working with someone preventatively (before any pain shows up), I ALWAYS program some variation of rows in their exercise routine. Keeping these muscles nice and strong is a priority for someone who uses their arms a lot.
So if you use your arms a lot for tennis, for work, for hobbies- start rowing! Choose your favorite piece of equipment (kettlebell, barbell, dumbbell, bands) and your favorite variation (single arm, double arm, bent over, on your belly, standing… the options are endless) and add these in a few times a week!
If you have more questions about dosing and progressing, holler at me!
Rachel Atufunwa PT, DPT