Exercising despite tennis elbow

Epicondylitis – emergence and basic information

With each movement of the arm, fingers or wrist tensile forces of the forearm muscles act on the tendon attachments (Epicondyli) at the elbow. Unusually high loads, strenuous or repetitive movements of the arm can lead to microcracks in these tendons and they may become inflamed.

Unfortunately, repetitive movements are exactly what we want and what we perform when exercising in the gym.
Many reps, many sets – no pain, no gain.
Additionally, aching muscles are something we willingly accept after an exhausting training session even though we know that this is nothing less than small torn muscle fibres.
In conclusion, overloads and repetitive movements are the main reasons the epicondylitis is very common and widely spread among bodybuilders, weight lifters and the whole fitness-scene.

Especially when doing professional bodybuilding or weight lifting the risk of developing an epicondylitis at some point is extremely high due to the heavy dumbbells and forces impacting on the muscles and tendons.

With increasing age, chances grow that the injury / illness will be chronic, because starting at age of about 40, the production of collagen automatically decreases and tendons are significantly less elastic and resilient.

Colloquially epicondylitis is also known as tennis elbow, golfer´s elbow or mouse arm.
The terms depend on the muscles and tendon affected. In the outer tendon, the radial epicondyle, the common name is tennis elbow, at the inner tendon, the medial epicondyle it is called the golfer’s elbow.
Basically, however, epicondylitis can occur in all activities that strain the arm, not only when doing sports, even a wrong sleeping position can trigger the injury.

Tennis elbow and bodybuilding / weight lifting

If the epicondylitis occurs in the outer tendon, the radial epicondyle, the common name for the injury is tennis elbow.
It is often triggered by exercises such as biceps curls or comparable exercises. Especially when using straight bars/rods the angle for the tendons is relatively unfavorable and the tensile forces are exceedingly high. This can speed up the process of developing the epicondylitis or aggravate its forms.

Nevertheless, an epicondylitis can occur in all activities that strain the arm, not only when doing sports, even simple chores in the household or a wrong sleeping position can trigger the injury. Weight training often just worsens the symptoms and pain and speeds up the development of the injury.

When suffering from a tennis elbow, severe pain especially occurs during all exercises for the biceps, on the bench press etc. – in general when doing exercises where the main movement consists of stretching/extending the arm or holding heavy weights with the arm for a longer period of time.

Golfer’s elbow and bodybuilding / weight lifting

When playing tennis, experience has shown that the handling of the racket is improved. The stabilization of the elbow leads to an increased power. Some even have benefited from the Cuff in other sports such as javelin, handball, and volleyball as well as golf in particular, where the cuff functions as a “guide” for the arm, improving the continuity of the swing for mid-handicappers especially.

As said, bodybuilding and weight lifting can be resumed quickly with our cuff. But even if you don’t suffer from an epicondylitis we highly recommend using the Masalo® Cuff as a preventive measure when preparing for a competition. This will ensure your constant performance efficiency and drastically reduces the susceptibility to injury of the tendons.

The unique and patent pending construction keeps the upper arm strap in place regardless of the movement or the flexion of the arm. Slipping of the belt is prevented by an additional element with silicone nubs (which can optionally be easily removed as well). The tensile forces are reduced or completely stopped by the proven counter-traction principle, the affected area is relieved immediately. The negative tractive forces are diverted to the redesigned upper arm strap.

As a result, the affected tendons have the chance to heal, although the arm can be used at full strength again.

Standard treatment options

Immobilizing the arm for a long time is of course not an option for an ambitious bodybuilder, weight lifter or friends of the gym. That sport is often a crucial and essential part of the everyday life and of real significance for the personal well-being. Sometimes life is even tailored around exercising, so not being able to exercise would mean a deep indentation in life.

Additionally, not using the arm over a longer period of time may lead to shortened tendons and inelastic muscle fibres, meaning the injury could reoccur very quickly when resuming exercises later on. So – immobilizing the arm for weeks and than having the same pain again – worst case scenario, right?

Common braces or clasps all work with compression on the muscles and therefore use a totally different operating principle/mechanism of action.

The Masalo® Cuff does NOT work with compression but with a unique counter-traction principle. Therefore it can be worn permanently, even at night.

Practical advice for exercising

If you have ordered our Masalo® Cuff and decided to keep it, we would like to point out some recommendations in order to achieve a rapid recovery whilst resuming your training as quickly as possible:

• When your cuff is a snug fit and you feel the relief in the affected area, you should be able to master your everyday life and use your arm normally again very soon. If that is the case then there is no reason to not resuming to exercise. Nevertheless, we recommend to not stretch/extend your arm fully at the beginning and to start your training with light weights and easy exercises.
• At the gym for example, try using lighter weights than usual and rather increase the number of repetitions.
• When you are working out, do not swing but rather execute the exercises extremely slowly and precisely. Try taking at least 4-5 seconds per movement. That leads to an intensified workout, maximized muscle strain while minimizing the load on the injured tendons and the area affected by the epicondylitis.
• If you cured your epicondylitis continue using the Masalo® Cuff in order to prevent possible relapses und to furthermore relieve the elbow area. A lot of our sporty customers even use a second cuff for their training und wear it way longer than the actual injury period lasts.
• When you completely cured your epicondylitis try executing the common stretching exercises for your body and your arm. This may improve the elasticity of your tendons and reduce the possibility of the epicondylitis to reoccur.
• But be careful, do NOT stretch your arm or do these exercises when still having acute pain or still suffering from your tennis elbow/golfer’s elbow. This would mean you intentionally overload and overstrain your tendon insertions again and this may aggravate the injury and pain under certain circumstances.