Golfers elbow/ medial epicondylitis advice

Hit search,there was a great thread on here about this with some sound advice. Should be made a permanent thread

Theres a good YouTube video,which I can't find it ,shows how to grip the paddle.One of the causes of golfers elbow is gripping to tight causing pain where then tendons join.Cup your top hand over the T piece (don't grip or hold)and use your cores and twist your body to push the paddle,use your pointer and middle finger to grab on to the shaft,no strain on your elbows.Go to Rebel sports buy a "moon ball" (sorta like a plastic ball with craters in it)only $5-6 bucks use one hand to hold it on the sore point wiggle your fingers and wrists.Can be done in the water buy using you opposite thumb,elbow guards to put pressure on the tender parts while paddling (trigger point therapy)or cortisone injections.Like the rest of us welcome to old age.

I tried everything. including rest. Still flares up.

Acupuncture. I couldn't believe how fast it worked. I scoffed when it was recommended and did everything else but.

I will go against the grain here. I have medial and lateral tendon damage with a bone fragment embedded into the medial tendon.

I was first advised on physio,didn't work as they were rubbish. Some are.
Then I got some cortisone,worked for most other ailments I have,so I was confident of a good outcome....was painful and did not work.
Gave acupuncture a whirl,waste off money and time,also did not help me stop smoking.
Then the surgeon gave me the drill on what he was going to do. I opted to keep.searching for a bit as he scared the **** out off me.

Then found my go.to.sports therapists. Exercise saved me from a massive operation and a even bigger rehab phase.

I must stress that this will not work for all,yet my surgeon is amazed at where I am.

.I did.try and search for the previous thread,but Laurie and his anti spam and new.fandangled system, plus my lack of memory have not helped me find it. Surely someone will.remember as one particular person gave advice on what I was paying big coin to help me.

Google sup medicine and there are some good exercises suggested at the end of the article.

yes acupuncture is the reason I can even do sup as my back and neck stuffed from footy. but even with the 17 needles every few weeks the elbow problem comes back , so looking for more ways to avoid reoccurrences . strength exercises/ flexibility options. ordered band-it elbow brace from states $20 del off fishpond looks like the best brace out there. any one got any exercises or stretching that is effective.??

Thanks Rockmagnet that works

I've had a bad case of both golfers and tennis elbow - same arm. May sound crazy, but I (along with Jankie in Bali) have found that lifting the board on and off the roof racks is much more irritating to these conditions than paddling. If you lock your elbow almost straight throughout the stroke, there isn't too much pressure on the elbow. However, lifting a board awkwardly on and off the roof racks is. Take your time to get a good hold of your board and don't reach too far whilst taking the weight of the board with the bad arm. FYI, Jankie pretty much stopped delivery service with his SUP hire as it was the lifting on and off that stuffed his elbow - not the paddling. So watch that technique as well.

try using the other hand

I currently have tennis elbow (lateral epicondilytis). This is the 4 fourth time it's flared up.

Caused by overuse - previously got it from playing too much guitar, too much kitesurfing, and this time to much supping+surfing. Last summer I pre-trained my arms before summer, and got through without pain, but somehow it came back.

I used every technique to cure it each time, and each one worked differently:

Different combinations of rest, massage, acupuncture & cortisone. My research say no diffinitive fixes. It's a bugger of an injury.

Once, a week of solid rest fixed it - i.e. bandaged the arm up like it was broken & didn't move it/use it. It's hard to treat a hurty elbow seriously, whereas a broken arm, nobody questions putting it in a cast until it's healed.

Other times, it's lasted 12 weeks. Acupuncture halved the pain. Once, it just wouldn't heal, so went the coritsone and that got it over the line, but not a fan of cortisone.

This time, trying rest... acupuncture next week ... shall see how it goes...

I windsurf and sup and also work many long hours as a chiropractor. I treat many patients with golfers elbow and tennis elbow. I also have suffered with it on occasion. Obvious all the avoidance techniques are very important to limit it happening in the first place. I get very good results from deep localised pressure on the insertion of the tendons ( epicondyles). Sometimes deep massage up and down the length of the forearm muscle and onto the epicondyles. Use a lot of pressure. Can use localised ice wrapped in a damp towel afterwards. Repeat every 3-4 days to allow healing of the tissues. Can use a anti-inflammatory cream like neurofen or voltaren gels to do the deep massage. A gentle rub (of your arm!) before sport can also warm up the arms, as can a gentle stretch with a flexed wrist and then an extended wrist as described before.

Dont discount the effects of flicking through the web on an ipad or using a computer mouse without a wrist rest on your elbows either. Using computers etc has a surprising strain on your finger and wrist tendons which connect through to the elbow. Might sound silly, but if you get wrist rests for your keyboard and mouse and avoid typing or finger-flicking on an ipad, you might be surprised how it lessens the symptoms of elbow issues.

As an ex carpenter I have suffered from "tennis elbow" in my right arm at various time in my life. The most recent and debilitating developed into a chronic condition that lasted over 12 months.
I managed to let it get to the stage where I could not pick up a coffee cup with my right hand.
I eventually sought help and headed off to the physio where he gave me a 50-50 chance of getting over it as I had let it develop to the chronic stage.
The most recent onset was caused by my fitness campaign, joining the gym and getting back into weight training.
Gripping the bar like a lunatic reignited the previous injuries to my elbow.
The physio applied acupuncture needle and connected a TENS machine (mild electrical impulses), he also gave me a reverse forearm exercise (muscles utilised are opposite of the gripping muscles) and a rubber band to perform them.
I religiously performed the exercises and noticed an immediate improvement, it appears to be an overuse, muscle imbalance problem.
I read where the TENS machine works best when used at the maximum bearable setting so when the physio left the room I turned it up and put up with the electrically induced contractions.
In short I fully recovered in about 8 weeks.

I have since purchased my own TENS machine as I have now developed tennis elbow in my left arm (different area). I believe that it is cased when you reach for the catch phase of the stroke.
To engage the paddle in the water your thumb position is pointing skyward and you contract the the forearm muscle to get maximum extension and reach.
A few days after a paddle if I perform the same forearm contraction, the muscles and particularly the tendons in the forearm are extremely sore.
I have stopped paddling and started TENS therapy as well as performing opposite muscle contraction exercises and have already experienced reduced soreness.
I will keep you posted of my progress.