Tennis elbow is a prevalent issue among players, but seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams shares tips and tricks that will help curb the problem.
Venus is one of the most decorated tennis players of all time and has an impressive fitness record throughout her career. Her longevity is a testament to that, and now at 43, she hasn't given the slightest hint she is ready to retire just yet.
Venus answered a common question from her fans on the best practice to stop tennis elbow. For context, tennis elbow is a painful condition caused by swelling of the tendons that join the muscles of the forearm to the outside of the elbow. Strenuous and repetitive activities such as gripping, wrist movements, and lifting can exacerbate pain.
The golfer's elbow is the opposite. It affects tendons that connect forearm muscles to the inside elbow. In her YouTube video, Venus breaks down the mechanisms of the tennis elbow, highlighting the important drills in a 9-minute video. She issues a disclaimer, advising fans to seek medical advice from qualified doctors before any training or treatment plan.
"So the reason that you get pain there, this pain is typically coming from tendons. So there is a lot of load that is happening in the tendons and they are taking a lot of pressure because your muscles are not strong enough to deal with the load you are requiring from it playing tennis or golf. So what you have to do is strengthen it because what you developed is tendinitis."
"Those are really painful, it's just a pain in the tendon. They can be super, super painful. It is nothing that requires surgery or anything, but they can really stop you in your tracks. How you wanna treat those when they are acute: ice, heat to warm up before your play, maybe some anti-inflammatories to deal with pain, but please talk to your doctor about that."
The secret equipment of the exercise is getting a theraband which Venus recommends as you'll need some sort of resistance to strengthen the muscles. And in case you don't have a band, you can get weights she says, but advises not to go too heavy.
Williams also suggests to viewers watch her video on how to strengthen the rest of the body so that it can create general coordination with the muscles in the elbow.
"You are going to want to see my film on how to strengthen the rest of your body because you just can't strengthen your forearm, you have to strengthen the whole chain, you're gonna need to strengthen your upper back, all these muscles here, your shoulder. Please check that video you need to do that in tandem with this."
0 Comments