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 AUGUST 28, 2009 At-Home Strength Training Exercise Helps Treat Tennis Elbow If you have tennis elbow, adding simple exercises with an inexpensive rubber bar to traditional treatment may alleviate your pain more quickly. Adding in at-home isolated wrist strengthening exercises led to significant pain reduction for those with tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, in a study presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, in July by physical therapist Timothy Tyler from the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City. In fact, the results were so dramatic the study was stopped early so everyone could get the more effective treatment. The study randomized 21 patients with tennis elbow into two groups. Both groups received traditional therapy with wrist extensor stretching, ultrasound, cross-friction massage, and heat and ice treatments. One group performed isolated eccentric wrist extensor strengthening using the rubber bar, called the Flexbar, while the other group performed standard wrist strengthening exercises. Each group performed 3 sets of 15 repetitions daily and increased the intensity progressively. The bar-based exercise involved twisting a rubber bar with one hand and resisting the bar as it untwists using the injured arm. This eccentric contraction causes the muscles in the wrist extensor muscles to contract while they lengthen. The FlexBar by Thera-Band comes in 3 levels of resistance from 10-25 lbs. The cost is between $10-20 per bar. If you suffer from tennis elbow, ask your physical therapist to show you how to use the Flexbar to help speed your recovery. |
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