- Why these conditions are not sports related
- The four simple ways to ease the pain naturally
- Maybe this therapy isn’t for everyone after all…
A year ago how many of us had heard of either Emma Raducanu or Cameron Norrie?
Now they are basking in success on the world stage.
It’s been great to see British Men and Women win recent tennis tournaments – I love watching the game, but I’m pretty bad at tennis.
You know that grisly television footage where the killer whale whacks the seal up into the air and knocks it about?
That’s more precise and elegant than me with a tennis racket.
Or…
You know the sound of a woman’s Wimbledon champion grunting as she lunges to volley the serve with all her might?
That’s me putting my tennis shoes on.
Unsurprisingly, I don’t have tennis elbow. But that doesn’t mean I won’t get it one day, especially with all my newsletter writing antics.
Why?
Well, of course, it’s because tennis elbow has nothing to do with tennis. It’s actually a common problem called Lateral Epicondylitis. You can get it from any repetitive action, any time in your life.
I’ve had a lot of requests from readers recently, asking me to look into this.
As usual, I’ve managed to dig up some brilliant, simple, DRUGFREE ways you can help ease the pain.
No more nasty side effects. No more expensive chemical gunk. And not a snake oil salesman in sight.
First, let me explain the condition…
How to tell your tennis elbow from your golfer’s elbow
Tennis Elbow or lateral epidcondylitis is a form of tendonitis.
You’ll know you have it if you get pain around the elbow, when stretching your fingers, lifting objects or bending your hand. Also if you get tight, painful muscles on the back of your forearm.
Continuing the sport agony theme, there’s also a similar problem called ‘golfer’s elbow’. This is like tennis elbow, except the pain is on the inner side of your elbow.
There are some other forms of tendonitis to look out for…
- Achilles tendonitis pain above the back of your heel.
- Patellar tendonitis pain below the knee.
- Rotator cuff tendonitis pain near the shoulder.
These three forms of tendonitis don’t get sporting nicknames.
Shame.
So I’m going to step up to the plate and give them some catchy, sports-based monikers:
- Achilles tendonitis – Overpaid Football Player’s Foot
- Patellar tendonitis – Dancer’s Knee
- Rotator cuff tendonitis – Bowler’s Shoulder.
Whatever form you may experience, it’s not pleasant.
So here are 4 techniques you should try out…
Simple drug free therapy
- Place an ice pack (or a pack of frozen peas!) over the joint for 20 minutes every three hours
- Alternate this with a heat pack. My tip is to get a buckwheat pillow (available in many shops or look for it online by typing it into Google). Heat it for 3 minutes in the microwave, wrap in a cloth and apply to the joint.
- You can even freeze the buckwheat pillow and it will be equally good as an ice-pack. Perhaps buy two, one for hot, one for cold.
- As always, diet can help, too…. here’s 3 dietary tips for joint pain and inflammation
Add some omega – 3 fatty acids to your diet. Take high quality, sustainably sourced fish oil supplements if you can’t abide fresh oily fish like mackerel. This should help reduce your pain over time
Berries are packed with antioxidants. They decrease the levels of TNF-alpha – a substance that worsens inflammation. Obviously we aren’t in the traditional berry season (unless you still have a few blackberries around) but even frozen ones are great to use.
Cherries contain also melatonin which relieves pain. They also contain anthocyanins, which lower your levels of cyclo-oxygenase. This helps to reduce inflammation.
A range of spices are also great for controlling inflammatory pain, but the best has to be turmeric, which I have talked about before in these newsletters.
Finally, here’s another interesting idea for tendonitis sufferers…
The mystery of ‘Transverse Friction Massage’
Some people use a deep massage technique called ‘transverse friction massage’. They claim it can help reduce pain and improve blood flow when applied to the tendon.
I’m open minded, as usual. But I should tell you that I’ve looked at a 2002 a paper which examined studies on transverse friction massage for tendonitis pain.
Two of the studies found no benefit of transverse friction massage over the ice-pack methods such as I’ve shown you above.
But even the researchers admitted that larger studies were needed before proper conclusions could be made.
The information is there. So it’s up to you.
A word of warning…
If you think you have any form of tendonitis, talk to your doctor. Get a proper diagnosis first.
Then, if you DO try transverse friction massage, go for a trained and licensed therapist.
Beware that this kind of deep massage should not be used for rheumatoid tendonitis, bursitis, and nerve disorders.
