I would really love some constructive ideas to help me out on this one.
I have been suffering very painful tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) for the last 2 months, following a stonking week out on the water in 25+kn, 3+hrs a day for 7 days over New Year at Lancelin this year 
. Was awesome at the time, only when driving home at the end of the week suddenly found I couldnt change gears! I guess it was payback for such great wind that week.
Since then I have been trying to rest it as much as I can going out only a few times a week for shortish sessions with lots of breaks, but really Kiting is the only thing keeping me sane, so I cant stop completely.
I get chiro treatment weekly, do stretches and massage at least 2 times a day, use an elbow brace, taking antinflams and panadol, and started icing it as well.
But I still find it very sore (just about passed out when I just bumped it last night 
) and havent got much grip or strength in my hand. Makes kiting a bit of a challange, let alone driving, work or sleeping!
Any suggestions on how to deal with this, eg other things people have found that helps?
Also, though I love my kite (10m 07 Rebel), I am wondering if I may have to look at a kite that is lighter on the bar, but I dont want to lose what I like about this kite- a direct feel with predicable and stable movement in the air, and a good wind range for me. Does anyone have suggestions on kites that I might want to try out?
In the meantime, I guess I will push through on drugs till the end of the season, then give it a good rest while I go quietly insane over the winter 
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I didn't read saffer's link (i am too lazy at the moment) and it probably has all the answers. However.........
I suffered from exactly the same when I got into the sport. Too much bar pressure and constantly sheeting in was the cause. I used alot of ibofuren (spelling??) in the form of tablets and creams which worked to some extent but apparently is no good for the liver and only recommended in small, infrequent doses. What did the trick for me was to add a stopper ball on the CL line and ride with little throw so to ride against the ball and not your arms and could ride 'hands free' with very light touch to steer.
Cheers
I am getting old I know, and it sucks! Wish I knew about kiting when I was young and robust 
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I forgot to add I am already on glucosamine (a good one) and omega 3 for my arthritic fingers, which has helped.
Saffer- nice link! Only thing I can change is grip the bar with thumb over the top, or a new kite, as the rest I pretty much have/do (except the tricks to avoid, the only one I can do that hurts is starboard toeside- I am not that good yet!)
Cpt Gumby- Stopper ball- good idea! My kite's stopper ball was broken when I got it, will get this replaced, not too expensive, and a start to a solution.
Rik- Dumbells- will do this in rehab phase, not ready to do weights yet, as it hurts doing wrist curls with just the weight of my empty hand 
, but I saw a great rehab picci on the net, using a can of Red Bull instead of a dumbell: Now thats what I call multifunction- to be used after wrist curls to make for a better session on the water!
2 things.
fingers together, touch tip of shoulder.
then keeping elbow in same point in space and hand and wrist in same position
move forearm down so finger tips brash past hip and back as far as you can go.
then back again.
2nd thing. forearm and hand flat on table.
reach over to the forearm bone away from you and dig your fingers into the gap between bone and muscle. the muscle in search for extra blood supply from the over working, starts to leach itself to the bone and instead of moving freely is now attached at points along the bone. This is pretty much an old masseurs tale, but a theory that when put into practice helped me.
the other 2nd thing.
Glucosamine, Condroitin, and 2 other compounds are now shown to work together to help joint pain, they are the compounds that assist in cushioning and lubrication of cartilage and joints.
I use a gel formula with all four ( i hate pills and a pill that would have enough of all four would be the size of a walnut).
I won't name it for commercialization reasons but will respond to emails.
don't know if it works for tennis elbow but it is Fckn brilliant for back pain. you know the type where you ache to straighten up, and the 2 bone spur things at the back of your hips feel like someones inserting a screwdriver.
The stopper ball is the go, But you will probably find that it just stops the constant muscle strain holding the bar in one place, you still have to move the bar (and your elbow) to sheet, and I assume that movement is the one that does the damage? But not sure as I have never had the ailment.
But if you are looking for a change in kite, then I would highly recommend you demo a Vapor II. These are great kites. I have one already and am about to order another.
I won't bother going though all it's features as they are outlined here:http://www.airush.com/products/pdkt_vaporII.asp click on kite technology.
But a key one is that you can dial bar pressure to pretty much nothing if you want. That would have to help?
powerballs.com/
Never tried one, but some motorcyclists swear by them to cure their throttle arm pains.
They look cool also.
They are much cheaper on ebay.
the bad news is it takes 18m to2years for a full recover may be less if you dont kite.the prob is it feels good so you go out kiteing and your back to the start again pain
Hey i had it in my early years kiteing just keep a ice pack in the freezer strap it to your elbow till it melts worked for me ALL THE OTHER STUFF DID JACK FOR ME
Liquid Force Havoc - incredibly low bar pressure, in fact a really odd kite initially because of the non existant bar pressure, you can't feel where the kite is or what its doing through your hands, but i imagine that it is something you would get used too in time.
Sorry, my elbow also hurts, but not as much as the pain I feel since there has not been KITEBOY. 
My whole body is falling apart. Tennis elbow is ugly, but on my joins I use Michale's Midi Rub, out of the tube is handy.
Glucosamine, fish oil, and switching between toe side and heal side will all help.
Hi Knickers,
I used to get nasty tennis elbow from excessive kiting. Ibuprofen is excellent as it kills pain and reduces inflamation, but this is a band aid fix. I found the Rebel is quite heavy to steer, bar pressure is moderate, not heavy, but the turning is heavy.
Try the 2008 Ozone Instincts. Direct feel, no pulleys, stable as ..., and most importantly, very light on the bar. All of the ladies who demo'd them at Kitestock, loved the Sport II, 9m and 7m.
I'll be bringing the kites to other beaches over the next weeks or you can come and try one at Pinnaroo.
Tennis Elbow sucks! A light bar pressure kite and some Ibuprofen should see you right though.
Good winds,
I had it bad couldnt open a door with out using both hands couldnt hold a coffey cup
I managed to burn mine out over three seasons and have not had it for the last two seasons now.
Try this:
roll up a towell so you can grip it with your fists like you would a kite bar but make sure the roll is big enough to keep your grip open (eg fingers are not touching palm and thumb)
Twist the towell untill it is tight and wont twist anymore then with arms and fists straight flat and level. holding arms straight out squeze the towell as hard as you can without causing pain rotate the problem arm-fist forward and hold for 15 secs. keep adjusting grip of problem arm so that everything remains flat straght and level. build it up by 5 secs a day until you reach 1 min
Unless you have suffered from it you cannot understand how painful it can get good luck it TE sucks big time
Tennis elbow in kiting is caused by poor technique. You are riding around with your arms bent too much. You are probably riding in a bit too much of the poo man stance as well.
The simplest fix is to simply straighten your arms. Straighten your arms and your back and do all the steering and sheeting from your shoulders. Bend your back leg a little and straighten your front leg. You might have to adjust your trimmer to get the power setting right.
You end up with a much better stance and it is much less stress on your low back and elbows. You also look cooler and ride faster. :)
You can tell when you get it right because all the strain goes out of your back and arms.
Using a stopper will help in the short term but it won't address the basic problem of poor technique.
Knickers,
tennis elbow is a repetitive use injury.
I had a really bad case a few years ago from gym work (weights) which cleared up after 12 months of rest and swimming instead of wieght training.
It came back after I started kiting and after taking Diclofenac for about 6 weeks hadn't cleared up.
Eventually I had a cortizone shot, which eased it up for a while but didn't cure it.
I then had a second shot (about 3 months later) AND continued with the Diclofenac AND iced my arm several times a day every day for two weeks with NO kiting.
That has pretty much cleard up the symptoms and pain, and I can now surf and kite again, but ice my arm after ALL exercize and try not to over do things and it is pretty much under control (although I still feel fatigue in the muscles).
Aside from that I'd concur with other advice above re: technique and sheeting your kite so that you're not puling on the bar with elbows bent.
ive also taken to riding my vapor almost exclusively over other kites as I can tune it to keep bar pressure to a minimum without losing feedback.
hope this helps....
hey knickers i have the same problem, i have had it since before xmas, i find ice helps 20mins on, then i use this gel called rapidgel it is used for racehorses and is available from vets, i think it was $30 for a tub 250g, it hasnt fixed the problem but it helps manage the pain. hope this helps
Hi Nic,
I had really bad RSI (tendosinovitis) for 24mths mainly from audio editing on a puter all day long, but also aggrevated by kiting, playing guitar and probably heaps of other factors that all add up.
I hate to say it but there is likely no other remedy that will be as effective as a complete break from kiting for a while, whilst you do the physio/anti-inflams etc etc.
My 1st 2 kites (220+2003 models) were both very heavy on the bar (added to by my bad technique) and after a session I would be further up the pain scale than the week before.
I gave virtually my whole 2nd season a miss (well i did have 2 sessions cause i just couldn't help myself). It was frustrating as all hell but it gave me the time to really get the injury under control and to a stage I could manage and control it from there. If you go down the road you are currently on you will not ever get any release from it and it will force you off the water for more time probably anyway.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The good news is the at the season is nearly caput, so if you just give it a complete miss over winter and don't follow the breeze to a fairer location you may well knock it on it's ugly head.
Oh heat packs for 10mins before any stretching is a must. Like most typical blokes I went too hard on the stretching and worsened the situation.
Best of luck Nic.
Sorry but it's my turn to disagree with you Gorgo, some people do oversheet and choke their kites but I think most people learn to trim it via depower strap or pigtails at kite etc so that the sweet spot is reached with the bar nearly fully/fully sheeted in. This then allows heaps of depower and makes it hard to oversheet/choke the kite as you run out of travel on the bar IMO. I have not had any elbow problems and I kite with the bar just about right in and elbows bent most of the time, perhaps I'm just lucky (and maybe I look like a kook when I kite) but it works for me.
I think the type of kite makes a lot of difference as well, my last kites had to be powered up/sheeted in hard to turn fast but my current ones still turn just about as fast when depowered.
Hi, When I am riding I let the bar rotate so it is verticle and find this changes the pressure on your elbow wich helps me. I sometimes hold the bar with a reverse grip as this also changes the pressure on my elbow. I only ride like this when making up lost ground and revert back to normal just befor riding a wave or doing a trick. It takes a bit of getting used to and may look a bit odd but it keeps me out on the water.
Hey thanks everyone here and at the beach for your concern and help!
Update- RICE is doing a lot to help, and doing stretches, and just about right to start doing rehab soon. I am working on stance and bar techniques as well.
Still managing to get my fix when the wind is right!
I do think rest is important, I will make force myself to have a bit of a break from kiting soon (when there really is no SW'ers left) but I have to be on form for August (whole month kiting in Cocos, yay!).
I found this website http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow/ very helpful for those with an interest, theres a lot of other sites but this seemed to have the best info.
Also the link from saffer www.ikiteboarding.com/kiteboarding/articles/kiters-elbow.aspx was good- and now the official term for my issue is Kiters Elbow!
Nic
Your mum was right Nic - "rest, rest, rest"
Yeh, I never listened either 
A couple of months may well be enough to break the cycle, especially if your getting intensive physio.
Best of luck
I've got a fkd shoulder at the moment and it's the same sort of injury. The dude who scanned it described it as an 'overuse' injury, but conceded that it was probably primarily caused by the huge tweak it got a few weeks ago now. It's been officially labelled 'Calcific Tendonitis' in the report.
The good news is that apparently the symptoms and calcium build up tend to disappear spontaneously. The bad news is that it can take 12 to 18 months to happen
Hey Nic
You need to find a friendly vet to get some of that horse stuff from and might as well get a few vials of steroids too!!! Hahaha
Acupuncture/massage combo worked really well for me. Did about 4 1hr sessions and it's fixed. Tried a variety of other remedies beforehand which helped but didn't cure. Had the problem for approx a year.
Cheerz Guy
Well I know only to well about this injury , I've had it now for a year and a half maybe a little more.
It suxs bigtime anyway mine was caused through weights and I knew when it first happened.
I even lost full extention in my arm and it is still like that and won't straighten , I went for x rays ultra sound MRI trying to find why I had lost extension of the joint.
I have just been putting up with it this whole time and tried everything.
I can't bring myself to stop kiting and haven't been able to do any weights since I did it in the firsat place , it is pissing me off no end , I have been to doctors and they just say rest rest physio etc.
Well I just think it's something more , but hell these guys are supposed to know.
Anyway a friend of mine recently had the same as in lost full extesion of his arm he had every test done as I did , except one more called a Nuclear Barium test or something with the dye , anyway they found scar tissue at the elbow so he had an opp to remove it, he says pain is gone but apparantley if you get the opp it will never quite be 100 % again???
I would so love to see the ass end of this injury go..................
