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Elbows

Yoga Cures: Tennis Elbow

By Nicole Kwan

Whether you play the sport or not, tennis elbow is nothing to love—pun intended. The irritation of the tendons in your forearm where they attach in the elbow joints could be a result of overusing your arm or a direct injury. Guard your elbows in your yoga practice by keeping an eye on your elbow creases. “When you’re in a weight-bearing arm pose like table, don’t let your elbow creases face the front and hyperextend,” says Nicole DeAvilla, an Ananda-certified RYT with a background in sports medicine. “Hyperextending can make the joint less stable and overstretch ligaments, meaning tendons have to work harder.”

If you do get inflammation and pain in your elbows, healing with yoga is ideal because you can do pretty much everything except weight-bearing poses on your arms. Those extended warrior II arms and overhead chair arms will strengthen you without straining the tendinitis. If you can’t make it to yoga class, try this cure below.

The Cure: Arm Tensing
“As a treatment, arm tensing works the muscles on either side of the elbow to keep them strong and avoid reinjury. It’s also a safe way to prevent injury because it doesn’t stress the arm,” says DeAvilla. Since you shouldn’t do weight bearing poses, this will prevent your tendons and muscles from getting weaker.

How to: With your arm relaxed down by your side, make a fist with your right hand and tense your right forearm. Imagine you’re tensing the center of your forearm to isolate the muscles. At first, hold at low intensity for 5 seconds and repeat 5 times. If that feels good, work up to medium tension (5 secs/5 times), then high tension (5 secs/5 times). Don’t worry about getting up to high tension on the first try, this cure is all about taking your time. After you work your right forearm, move to your right upper arm. Visualize tensing the middle of your bicep. Again, hold for 5 seconds at low tension, repeat 5 times. When you feel ready, work up to medium, then high tension. Repeat for the left arm.

Comments

Frank
30 Oct 2008, 10:35

Interesting that you recommend avoiding weight-bearing poses. You are probably right, but I have suffered from intermittent "tennis elbow"/epicondylitis for years, have had success with exercises, but I failed to continue them. I have enjoyed yoga and pilates for some time, and I recently added the plank (essentially a static pose representing the top of a traditional push-up). I hold it for about 8 breaths. I was surprised to find that my epicondylitis quickly cleared. I even found that I tolerated activities that previously would have aggravated both my epicondylitis and shoulder tendinitis, such as working overhead installing blinds, with repetitive rotation/twisting against resistance as I screwed in the hardware. May be a fluke, but I have continued the plank with no adverse effects for weeks.

jane
08 May 2008, 04:17

This article suggests a few things that might help, and alternatives if the yoga class includes lots ot weight bearing on the arms!

Lxx