Elbow Pain Rehab (Tennis & Golfer's Elbow) for BJJ | Part 2 (17 min)

We're loading the muscle and tendon. And we're just going to hold that as a static contraction. So again, if you remember, as we said in day one, these isometrics are one of the fastest ways to get in control of that pain and start anything to settle down before we do any more strenuous strengthening work. So we've done this.

We're going to go back to those flexors again. And we're going to repeat this one again. Once I get to that point of stretch, I'm just going to put a bit of tension. So I'm going to push my fingers back.

So I'm doing this movement here and pushing back the other way. Again, I should feel a bit of tension. And I've got soreness in the elbow. I might feel a little bit of discomfort there.

Again, it should be mild. I want to keep it at that level. Okay, we're going to continue to hold that. And then we're going to switch for this one.

Again, I'll take it to the point of stretch. It's not just a stretch. I'm pushing back, so I'm engaging the muscles as well. And the great thing about these is because I don't need any equipment, you can do these through the day.

So if you get a few minutes here and there, you can do a few extra. And isometrics tend to be very well tolerated, so they're unlikely to flare anything up. Okay. That's two on each side.

And again, we're going to go for three on each of these exercises. So I'm pushing back with the fingers. And I say, in some cases, you know, if you're in a lot of pain, you may only be able to get to here, and that's absolutely fine. You're just going to hold it at whatever level you can get to reasonably comfortably.

I say we're expecting a little bit of discomfort. That's nothing to worry about. That's to be expected. We don't want any sharp pain or any severe pain.

And then I'm going to switch up again. Again, just make sure you're pushing back a little bit there. So the difficulty with these exercises sometimes is because they're not that interesting, it can be difficult motivating yourself to do them and to stick with them. And a lot of the time, I see people who, they've got rid of the pain, they've done the exercises, everything's better, and then a few months later, they'll come back, and so the pain's come back.

And very often, it'll be because they've stopped doing the exercises. So I say, well, you know what the answer is then. So you find when you're in a lot of pain, it's easy to motivate yourself to do these things. But as things start to get better, that's when it becomes maybe a little bit harder to just keep with that routine.

And with tendons especially, it is important to keep doing the exercises for a good while after the pain's gone. So you want to keep going for a few months. Maybe not at the same volume, maybe not at the same intensity, but it's important to put some of those exercises into your warmups, into your everyday routine, so that they're all in there. So the next thing we're going to do, again, this is where the stick comes in.

And again, where you hold this is going to depend on how sensitive the elbow is. And if you're in a lot of pain, I suggest you start somewhere close to the centre. If you're in a bit less pain, you can hold it closer to one of the ends. Okay, and I'd say if you want to go heavier, you can use a hammer, which has got a weight at one end, or you can use a dumbbell and hold it at the end, just to put a bit of extra load on it.

And what I'm going to do is I'm going to keep the elbow bent, again, and I'm just going to turn the arm. So this is what we call pronation and supination. So this direction is pronation. I'm turning my palm down.

I'm going to turn it back. I'm going to turn it back the other side. And I'm just going to do that nice and slowly and under control. Like I said, if it feels like you're not doing anything, then maybe try and find something with a bit more weight.

So a larger hammer, perhaps. If it's feeling quite sore, then move closer to the centre of gravity. So you've got a little bit less tension going on there. And I'm just going to repeat that.

Again, nice and slow and under control. And the ideal point is where you can feel some discomfort, but it's not really painful. So as with all of these, we're looking for that goalie lock zone. Because we want to put some load on those muscles and tendons, but we don't want to put so much that we're going to aggravate it.

I'm just going to repeat that. Just keeping the elbow nice and tucked in. And one more. Okay.

Then you put the stick down and give your arm a bit of a shake. We're going to go back and we're going to do it again. As I said, there's nothing to stop you doing this on the other side as well. I'm just focusing on one arm for the moment because otherwise the routines can get quite long.

Now, as we're moving away from more of the isometric exercises, so these involve a little bit more movement, it's particularly important to get the amount of exercise right, the volume right. So if you find that you're doing a few of these and it's starting to become painful, just keep your arm down and give it a little shake. And then you're going to do the same thing on the other side. So you're going to do a little bit of a shake and it's starting to become painful.

Don't be afraid to cut the set short. So don't feel like you have to do as many as I'm doing. If you get halfway through and cut it short, then the idea is that next time you come back to it, we hope that you manage to get a few more each time. Okay.

But the important thing is to, as I keep saying, pay attention to how your body's responding and how it feels so that we're hitting that Goldilocks zone. You're not doing too much, but you're not doing too little either. And we're going to go back and do one more set of these. So when I write rehab plans for people, I'm never that prescriptive about exactly how many reps I want them to do.

I'll usually give them a range. I usually say I want you to aim for between eight and 12 on this. And then it will depend on how the injury is responding. So I'm always encouraging people to pay attention to how things feel and how they feel afterwards as well, because sometimes they might feel fine at the time, but then people will wake up the next day and be really sore.

So I'm always quite keen to make sure people increase the amount they're doing gradually rather than aiming to do too much and then flaring things up. Okay. And we're going to stop there. So when we're dealing with elbows, we don't just want to focus on the elbow itself.

Most of the exercises we've done have been centered around the muscles in the forearm and the elbow, but we also want to look at the whole pitch. We want to look at the whole chain. So this one is a little bit more for the shoulders, but depending on what stage of injury you're at, you may feel it in the elbow as well. So for this next exercise, I want you to take the band.

We're going to hold it palm up. And again, which strength band you use, that's up to you. I'm using the green one here. I want my arms straight out in front of me.

And again, I can adjust how much tension I have by where I hold it. Okay. What I'm going to do is I'm going to set my shoulder blades down and back. So I'm going to feel a bit of tension just between my shoulder blades at the back.

And then I'm just going to take the band to me. Take the arms out to the side and back to the middle. So if that's sore on the elbows, I'll just give myself a little bit more slack there. So there's a bit less tension.

If it feels easy, I can put a bit more tension on or I can move to a stronger band. Okay. And we're just going to repeat that. And as I do this, I want to make sure that my shoulder blades are staying down and back.

So I'm not shrugging my shoulders. I'm pinching them together. And we're going to rest there. Give your arms a little bit of a shake off.

And then we're going to go again. I really like this as a warm up exercise as well. So if you've got a bit of band and you can throw it in your training bag, it's one of those exercises that's quite good to do before you get on the mat. Write your name on your bit of band though because they go walking.

Okay. And give your arms a shake out again. And we're just going to go for one more set. Again, maybe take a little bit more tension if we can manage it.

Let's look at that. And rest there. Okay. And then, and finally, because if we're lacking mobility at the shoulder, we can end up putting more strain on the elbows with some of the movements that we do frequently.

So this is a good mobility exercise. You can do it either standing against a wall or you can do it lying on your back on a mat, which is the version we're gonna do for now. So I want my lower back flat to the mat. I'm gonna start with my arms up and out to the side.

Now I'm gonna keep my arms touching the mat as much as I can. I'm just gonna pull the elbows down towards my hip as though I'm trying to put myself into an Americana. And then when I get to the point where I can't take it any further, I'm just gonna reverse the direction and go back up again. I'm gonna repeat that.

Again, this is a great warmup exercise for your shoulders. Some of you will be able to get a lot of movement here. Some people will be just doing a little bit in the middle before the arms start coming off the mat. That's fine.

Just go as far as you can in each direction. And you should find that you start getting a little bit more movement as you go along, but don't force it. And then again, just give your arms a bit of a move around, shake out, and we're just gonna go for one more of those. Again.

We'll see more of this kind of shoulder mobility in the shoulder series, but it's definitely a worthwhile exercise to be doing for any kind of upper body issues. Again, what you'll tend to find is if you try and take your elbows a bit too far, the backs of your wrists will come up. You wanna make sure that you're not pulling your elbows and the backs of your wrists will come up. You wanna try and keep that down as much as possible as you're doing this one.

And then don't forget to keep breathing as well. And just one more. And starting with this one lying down, it's easier to do lying down if you have any issues with shoulder mobility. Starting on the floor is definitely easier than doing it against a wall, but once you've mastered that, if you want to do it with your back against a wall, I recommend that version as well.

That's it. And then we're gonna come back tomorrow and we'll start having a look at some more wrist strengthening to go along with this.