8 simple physiotherapy exercises for tennis elbow you can do at home

what is tennis elbow?

Tennis elbow, which is medically known as lateral epicondylitis, occurs when you suffer from the inflammation of muscles of your forearms which are attached to your elbow. It is basically an overuse injury that you may suffer due to repetitive activity which involves muscles of your elbow. Tennis elbow complaints are most common among players playing racquet sports, carpenters, painters, and plumbers. Pain, weakened grip, and burning sensation near your elbow are prominent symptoms of this injury. However, you can minimize the pain and discomfort of tennis elbow and strengthen your forearm’s muscles by practicing some easy yet highly effective physiotherapy exercises at home. Let’s have a look at them.

elbow bend

Performing elbow bend exercise helps mitigate the pain you experience due to tennis elbow and prevent the aggravation of this injury.

• Stand straight upright by keeping your affected arm on the side.
• Slowly, bend your arm in the elbow and bring it upwards till the level of your shoulder.
• Stay in this position for 20 seconds.
• Bring your hand down to the initial position slowly.

fist clench

One of the most common troubles you face when you suffer from tennis elbow is poor grip strength. Fist clench exercise can help you enhance grip strength by strengthening your forearm’s muscles effectively and improve your hand’s ability to carry out routine activities efficiently. All you need to do is

• Sit in front of a table by resting your forearm on the table.
• Roll up a towel and hold the rolled up towel in your fist.
• Squeeze the rolled up towel in your fist by trying to close the fist, and hold it for ten seconds.
• Open your fist and again repeat this exercise for ten times.
• Practice this exercise with your other arm too.

wrist extension

Wrist extensors are a group of muscles that are connected to your elbow. They play a vital role in bending your wrist. When you play racquet sports, wrist extensors are overused, at times, and you may suffer from tennis elbow due to them. Wrist extension exercise helps minimize pain and discomfort due to these muscles.

• Sit on a chair, rest your elbow on your knee comfortably, and hold one dumbbell of two pounds in your affected hand.
• Let your palms facing the floor and stretch your wrist by curling it to your side. If you find curling your wrist by holding the dumbbell difficult, then try curling with no weight.
• Return to the initial position and perform this wrist extension exercise ten times every day.
• Make sure your rest of the arm remains still while you perform wrist extension.

wrist flexion

Wrist flexors are important group of muscles that are connected into your elbow and function opposite to your wrist extensors. Overuse of wrist flexor may cause pain and inflammation aggravating your discomfort due to tennis elbow. So, practicing wrist flexion exercise can alleviate your discomfort.

• Sit on a chair, rest your affected elbow on your knee, and hold a dumbbell of one kilogram in your hand.
• Let your palm face up the sky and bend your wrist by curling it to your side.
• Get back to the initial position and perform this exercise ten times daily
• Ensure that you keep the rest of your arm still

towel twist

Towel twist exercise is a simple exercise that works on your wrist flexors and wrist extensors and helps reduce the discomfort due to tennis elbow substantially.

• Hold a towel in your both hands, sit on a chair, and relax your shoulders.
• Now, twist the towel using both your hands in the opposite direction and wring out the water.
• Perform this towel twist ten times and then repeat it ten times in the other direction.

supination with weight

When you suffer discomfort due to supinator, which is your forearm’s big muscle that is connected into your elbow, performing supination with some weight can help alleviate the troubles due to tennis elbow.

• Sit on a chair, rest your elbow on your knee, and hold a one kilogram dumbbell vertically in your hand.
• Let the dumbbell rotate your arm outwards by moving your palm up.
• Rotate your arm back inwards by moving your palm down.
• Make sure your elbow and upper arm are still while doing this exercise.
• Follow this exercise twenty times every day.

tricep stretch

Tricep stretch helps ease your affected arm and minimize your discomfort due to tennis elbow.

• Stand straight upright and slowly bend your arm to your back.
• Hold the bent arm with your other hand placing it on the elbow of the bent arm and give it a little tug.
• Stay in this position for half a minute and then get your arms back to the initial position.
• Perform tricep stretch with your other hand by repeating the steps on that hand.

wrist turn exercise  

Wrist turn exercise is another effective exercise that you can do at home to get relief from the tennis elbow and improve your wrist and hand movements

• Stand upright, bend your elbow, and keep your palm facing up.
• Turn your wrist in a manner that your palm now faces the ground.
• Hold this position for five seconds and slowly get back to the initial position.
• Follow this exercise ten times on each wrist.

Did you follow any physiotherapy exercises at home to get relief from tennis elbow? Share the exercises and how you found them beneficial by leaving a comment below. Also, if you are looking for the effective physiotherapy exercises and treatment, what better place to look than Portea. Avail Portea Physiotherapy exercises and heal at the comfort of your home.

Manjiri Kochrekar

Manjiri loves to explore various facts, ideas, and aspects of life and pen them down in her own words. Writing is her passion, which means she enjoys writing on a vast variety of subjects, and health care is just one among her several specialty areas. She works closely with the Portea Health care team to churn out informative health content.