Are you regularly found on the padel court? Then you are not the only one. Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, also in the Netherlands. With padel, as with other sports, there are also injuries lurking. Common injuries include shoulder injuries, knee injuries, ankle sprains and elbow injuries. In this blog, we focus on elbow injuries, especially tennis elbow. Want to know more? Then read on!
What is tennis elbow?
Padel, like tennis, is a racket sport. The difference is that padel is played on a smaller court and the court is surrounded by glass walls and fencing. Complaints when playing tennis are similar to complaints when playing padel, including, therefore, tennis elbow. Tennis elbow is one of the most common complaints in padel.
It is an injury that occurs when the wrist and fingers are overloaded.
As you strain the extensor muscles of the wrist and fingers too much, inflammation or irritation develops at the attachment of two forearm muscles (the extensor carpi radialis longus and brevis). These come together at the attachments on the outside of the elbow. Besides pain when paddling, you already experience pain during all daily activities such as lifting an object, turning a key in a lock, wringing out a cloth or giving a hand.
Physiotherapy for tennis elbow
How tennis elbow is treated is based on the results of the examination performed by the physiotherapist. Ultimately, a treatment plan will be drawn up to repair the complaint and improve the tendon's load capacity.
Rest
We cannot say it often enough, but the first step in recovering from tennis elbow is rest. For tennis elbow, you can count on an average of nine months of rest to recover. Acts that cause this pain should therefore be avoided as much as possible. Padellers often experience the most pain from tennis elbow when hitting a backhand. So this stroke should be omitted from the game anyway.
Stretch
Targeted stretching exercises can stretch the tendon/muscle. This reduces tension in the tendon and promotes blood flow.
Exercise
Try to fully extend the elbow. Then bend your palm towards your wrist and turn your hand outwards. With your other hand, you then try to bend your hand further. You will then experience a stretch in your wrist and forearm. Hold this for ten to 15 seconds.
Shockwave therapy for tennis elbow
Recovery from tennis elbow can also be promoted with the help of shockwave therapy. Giving shockwaves speeds up the healing process by activating self-healing properties in the body. This promotes blood circulation and stimulates metabolism.
Building up load capacity
Ultimately, the goal is for you to regain pain-free paddling. To do this, the load capacity of your arm must improve. Doing certain exercises will make the arm stronger. You can consult a (sports) physiotherapist for these. Below we give you an exercise you can do. In explaining the exercises, we assume that you have tennis elbow at the right elbow.
Exercise
Rest your right forearm on a table. Your palm is facing downwards. In your hand, you hold a weight of half a kilo. Slowly lower your weighted hand, from an upright position. When your hand is down, bring it back up to the starting position with your left hand. Repeat this thirty times in a row. Do this exercise three to four times a day.
Do you suffer from tennis elbow?
You can visit FriskFysio for complaints around the elbow. Our (sports) physiotherapist will examine your complaints, look for the cause and draw up a personal treatment plan for you. Make an appointment now by calling 085-5000333 or send an e-mail to info@friskfysio.nl.
