Leeches Are Being Used As A New Tennis Elbow Treatment

What? Leeches used for tennis elbow? Just the thought alone may be enough for some people suffering from tennis elbow to get better overnight.

Who would want their doctor to come into the exam room and say, “We’re ready to start the leech therapy. Nurse, bring the leeches in right now!”

That’s enough to terrorize any tennis elbow patient and cause post traumatic stress disorder!

But seriously, should you be considering leeches as a new tennis elbow treatment for your lateral epicondylitis?

The answer may surprise you.

First, let’s get a background of medicinal leech therapy so you understand it better.

1. Leech Therapy Has Been Reported In Medical Literature Over 400 Times

This year – 2012 – scientists in Australia reported on studies that used leeches during the process of plastic and reconstructive surgery.

As you know, in some cases that are quite severe, these same types of surgeons may perform tennis elbow surgery. There are different procedures that reconnect the tendons of the elbow.

The scientists in Australia found that 461 articles, which were medical journal reports or studies, were published between 1966 and 2009. That’s a lot of ‘barbaric’ scientists or researchers willing to use the little critters.

2. The Medical Profession Has Standards For Using Leeches

These reports were quite detailed, including the numbers of leeches used in the treatments, the medications that accompanied the leeches, and the details on the blood transfusions afterward.

Of the 461 reports, 67 of them had enough details in them to make sense of it all. This reduced the population of those who had received leech therapy to 277. The ages were as young as 2 years old and as old as 81 years old.

And no surprise that there were twice as many males receiving the leech therapy as females.

3. Success Rate Of Leech Therapy?

The overall success rate was 78%! That’s a shocker in itself. But there were some other things you should know. 50% of the people receiving leeches needed to have blood transfusions.

Seventy-nine percent received antibiotics and another 54% had to take anticoagulants, which are blood thinners.

Complications were experienced in a full 21% of the patients. The source for this information is Microsurgery, March 2012, Volume 32, No. 3.

Specific Leech Study As A Tennis Elbow Treatment

German researchers at the Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine at Kliniken-Essen-Mitte wanted to find out what would happen if leeches were used for tennis elbow.

They knew that other doctors had used leeches for arthritis of the hand and knee and had been pretty successful.

So the doctors found patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis – 40 of them – and got them to agree to have either 2 or 4 leeches put on their elbow for 30 days. The control group had the topical ointment of diclofenac.

By day 7, the patients who had the leeches reported significantly less pain. They also reported a higher quality of life after 45 days and had less disability.

The researchers concluded that a single course of leech therapy effectively reduced pain in those who had tennis elbow. Leeches might be considered an option for tennis elbow, they said.

The report can be found in the Clinical Journal of Pain, June 2011, Vol. 27, No. 5, pages 442-447.

Commentary On Leeches As A New Tennis Elbow Treatment

Well, I don’t know about you but reading these reports makes me want to rush and try every other natural alternative. The first place I’ll go is to the ebook, Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed .

This ebook uses methods that are simple and don’t involve leeches! The author discovered that simple exercises can be performed to improve the muscles and tendons associated with tennis elbor or chronic lateral epicondylitis.

I’d rather do the exercises than stare at a leech on my elbow for a month. And I shudder to think what my kids would think if they saw leeches on me, or if my business colleagues found that one of them escaped onto the conference room table during some important meeting.

What about you? What do you think? Would you consider leech therapy for tennis elbow? Tell us your comments.

Questions About Nitric Oxide For Tennis Elbow

You may be wondering who thought of using a free radical – nitric oxide – for tennis elbow?

Is this a sane type of tennis elbow treatment? What type of results can someone expect from using nitric oxide?

And how is it that you would add this potentially harmful free radical to your body to see if it might work?

These are all the questions that tennis elbow sufferers are asking about nitric oxide treatments for lateral epicondylitis.

The research comes out of Australia for nitric oxide and tennis elbow. But before you read about that, it’s important to know a little about nitric oxide.

What Nitric Oxide Is

Your body generates free radicals on its own as a part of everyday living. By breathing in oxygen, your body simultaneously has to break it down.

When the oxygen combines with hydrogen, you get hydrogen peroxide, a free radical. When the oxygen combines with other molecules of oxygen, you get the free radical called superoxide.

When the oxygen combines with nitrogen, you get nitric oxide, another free radical. These free radicals are generated by enzymes that synthesize them.

The enzymes to synthesize free radicals can be found in the brain, in the nerves, or in the individual cells of the body. Really, these enzymes are everywhere.

The enzymes help the body by processing the oxygen in the body.

What Early Studies On Nitric Oxide Found

Scientists in Australia discovered that after tendons were damaged in rats, the enzymes that synthesize the free radical nitric oxide went crazy and started producing nitric oxide in large amounts.

They found nitric oxide synthetase activity in cells called fibroblasts that are related to healing the tendon injury. Fibroblasts are a specific type of cell found in skin and tendons that start the healing and repair cycle.

The nitric oxide enzymes were not found in normal tendons, the type that were healthy and didn’t have any areas that needed to be repaired.

Real Hope For Using Nitric Oxide For Tennis Elbow Surfaces

This was a big discovery for the scientists because it meant that they could test the hypothesis that nitric oxide could potentially work for injuries such as tennis elbow.

The next step was to see if they could stop the nitric oxide enzymes from working in a damaged tendon, and what would happen in this case.

To the scientists’ delight, when they added a chemical that blocked the nitric oxide enzymes from working, there was no healing of the tendon.

This was good news because it led them to conclude that there was something about the nitric oxide enzymes that was helping tendons heal.

The studies were repeated in human cells and similar results were found. The scientists found that collagen synthesis increased and healing was evident.

Randomized, Double-Blind Trials Proved Nitric Oxide Worked

Next it was time to test their hypothesis about this potential new tennis elbow treatment in actual humans.

They set up three randomized, double-blind trials and used a patch that delivered nitric oxide to the area that had damaged tendons, including patients with tennis elbow, Achilles tendonopathy, and a type of tendonitis that affects the shoulder blade.

The patch contained a chemical called glyceryl trinitrate, which breaks down to nitric oxide in the body. The presence of nitric oxide would then stimulate the production of the nitric oxide synthetases.

A positive benefit was found, and researchers reported that it was significant.

However, when the researchers followed up five years later, they found no difference in those who had used the glyceryl trinitrate patch compared to those who didn’t. They concluded that it was useless.

What’s Wrong With This Deduction?

Often, medical researchers are short-sighted. It’s the actual scientific process they must follow that makes them this way. They have rules that must be followed.

One of these rules is that they can’t conclude that something should be tried if certain requirements are met.

It’s good to have standards but when the process takes 25 to 50 years to approve of something, this is of no help to those suffering from tennis elbow now.

The answer has to be figured out from those with tennis elbow sometimes, not the researchers.

Questions You Should Be Asking

Now if three studies proved that there was a significant benefit, then why not use nitric oxide for tennis elbow?

The fact that it didn’t show improvement is meaningless and only means that if you have tennis elbow, you should use something else in conjunction with the nitric oxide to get healed. And also don’t depend on the nitric oxide as a sole, new tennis elbow treatment for five years.

The healing that was started should not be discounted.

So if you used a patch and if you used proven tennis elbow exercises together, you would drastically increase your chances of healing, wouldn’t you?

Of course. It only makes sense.

The book I like for these exercises is Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed. It’s a downloadable ebook and you could get started on the proven exercises today.

Do more than think about it. While you look for nitric oxide for tennis elbow, start healing with the exercises.

What’s all the talk about botulinum toxin for tennis elbow? Is it something you should know about?

Well, if you believe in the wisdom of understanding what’s happening in your body, this tennis elbow treatment is something to know about.

If you enjoy reading up on the possible treatments because you know doctors may not have time to look up new information on any new tennis elbow treatment, this article could help you immensely.

This way, you won’t ever be surprised when a doctor tells you that the next tennis elbow treatment for you is XYZ.

Knowing the options before you go in to the doctor is a smart way of taking ownership for your health and well-being, no matter which way you look at it.

Here are the basic facts about botulinum toxin for tennis elbow that you should know:

Botulinum Toxin Is Not Without Potential Side Effects

The use of Botulinum toxin in medical therapy is always questioned by alternative health practitioners. Who would want to take a known neurotoxin and inject it into the body, is what those in natural healing ask.

The neurotoxin could have other effects in the body. Whatever is injected in the body ends up in other parts of the body; it is transferred to other parts via the blood.

And what they are saying does have some merit. The botulinum toxin has caused some serious side effects in some people when the neurotoxin affected other parts of the body.

If you research the side effects of botulinum toxin, you’ll find a whole list. Yet these are rarely discussed by doctors who get the brainy idea to use it.

Instead, they’ll send you off on your own way to find the research yourself. Hopefully, this is before any damage has already occurred.

Possible Side Effects Of Botulinum Toxin, Even For Those With Tennis Elbow

Warning form the manufacturer: The botulinum toxin contained in this medication can spread to other body areas beyond where it was injected. This has caused serious life-threatening side effects…

List Of Common Side Effects Of Botulinum

• headache
• migraine headaches
• bronchitis
• musculoskeletal stiffness
• muscle weakness
• muscle spasms
• high blood pressure
• nausea
• fatigue
• cross-eyedness (when injected in face)

But You Do Have Less Pain

Finnish scientists reported that one of the definite responses of the body to botulinum toxin injections is pain relief. Clinical trials on using this neurotoxin that paralyzes the body’s muscles from working have been completed on numerous types of health issues.

Some of them include the following:

• grinding of the teeth at night, called bruxism
• lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)
• bladder dysfunction
• shoulder pain
• migraine headaches that occur and reoccur
• neuopathic pain
• post-stroke recovery when there’s pain

How Botulinum Toxin Works In Tennis Elbow (And Other Diseases)

Botulinum works to decrease pain because it inhibits the release of pain mediators in the body such as substance P.

But again, natural healing practitioners report that other substances, such as cayenne in an ointment form, can do the same thing; why use a neurotoxin?

The alternative health practitioners keep reminding patients that botulinum is a neurotoxin, was a neurotoxin, and will always be a neurotoxin. You cannot contain the neurotoxic effects to one part of the body.

Botulinum Is Temporary At Best

And besides that, the use of botulinum is always temporary.

This was even stated in a research report in Lancet, November 2010, Vol. 20, No. 376 where BK Coombes et al in Australia found that botulinum was only effective for pain control in those with tennis elbow for the short term.

No Serious Side Effects Really?

In another study, this one from Iran, reported in CMAJ May 2010 issue, 48 patients were given either botulinum or a placebo. The toxin was injected into the area of the posterior interosseus nerve. The patients were then followed for 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks.

Sure, those given botulinum toxin had significant reductions in pain at all their follow-ups. Once you paralyze the nerve that is crying out in pain for you to notice it, you won’t get pain. No surprise there!

But the grip strength of those who received the botulinum toxin versus those who got the placebo was no different. Luckily, no serious side effects were felt.

Well, that’s what the researchers said.

I’d hardly call it no serious side effects when all but one of the patients who received the botulinum had weakness in their 3rd and 4th fingers that lasted over a month.

That means you can forget the playing ball with your kids, any sports that involve gripping something, and even writing with a pen.

Using botulinum toxin for tennis elbow will always be your choice and your doctor’s choice. But for many people, they’ll go the more conservative route and do their exercises for tennis elbow which have been proven to be helpful.

You can find them in Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed, a downloadable ebook that reads quickly.

Resources: Duodecim. 2011;127(22):2425-30.

If you have tennis elbow, it’s difficult to think about following all the rules for a good tennis serve. But you must. Cringing because of pain from tennis elbow will disrupt your normally good form and seriously affect the speed of your serve.

Record Tennis Ball Serves Clock In At Over 100 MPH

And as you already know, a tennis ball that is only moving at 20 mph rather than 50 mph or 70 mph is much easier to return to you.

How fast is a good tennis serve? What’s the fastest tennis serve ever recorded?

Recently – in 2011 the tennis serve of Ivo Karlovic clocked in at 156 mph. The event was the Davis Cup doubles match.

And just in case you’re relatively new at tennis, the Davis Cup is the world’s largest international team competition in tennis. It’s held annually and occurs over four weekends. Sixteen nations compete. Here’s the latest rankings:

#1 Spain with over 39,000 points
#2 Argentina with over 24,000 points
#3 Serbia with over 22,000 points
#4 Czech Republic with 16,438 points
#5 France with 16,405 points
#6 USA with close to 11,000 points
#7 Croatia with over 6000 points
#8 Austria with almost 5000 points

Now compare the speed of the tennis serve from Ivo Karlovic to the speed of the tennis serve from Venus Williams which was clocked at 130 mph.

If you’re not a tennis professional you’ll be lucky if you hit 70 mph after about a year’s worth of training.

How To Improve Your Tennis Serve

The keys to a good tennis serve are:

1. Think Farther

Aim your serves on a target much farther back than the other player. The best time to do this is when no one else is on the court.

2. A Good Tennis Serve Requires Your Whole Body

Use your whole body, especially your legs. You may be able to add another 7 to 10 mph just by driving with your legs.

3. Inhale Or Exhale? Which Is Correct?

Don’t inhale when you serve. Just like in weight lifting when you exhale at the most difficult part of the motion, it’s the same in tennis. Let out that air – and let go of all the tension. This is one of the primary keys to a good tennis serve.

4. Loosen Up In The Area Of Your Upper Body

Loosen up your shoulders. The more mobile your shoulders are, the more you’ll be able to whack the ball.

5. Loosen Your Grip, Too

Loosen your grip on the racquet. Otherwise, the tension contributes to slowing down the ball and it won’t be a good tennis serve.

Creating A Good Tennis Serve When You Have Tennis Elbow

But what do you do when you have tennis elbow? How can you keep your speed of the tennis serve up when you’re in pain?

The answer is you better check with the tennis coaches as to what they are doing with the professional players. But the problem is they are too famous and won’t give you the time of day. Or night.

You have to have inside info. And that’s what you’ll find here: the answer as to how Janko Tipsarevic, Yes-Hsun (Rendy), Mikhail Youzhny, Angelique Kerber and many more professional tennis players are increasing the explosiveness of their tennis serve.

It’s in a tennis aid called Tennis Flex.

And you don’t have to have tennis elbow to use it. The story is that if you want a good tennis serve, you better train like the professionals.

Best Way To Improve Your Good Tennis Serve

Tennis Flex is the first racquet-integrated resistance and performance training device that allows for precise and tennis-specific muscle micro-conditioning that can be used on and off the court. That’s a mouthful… but it’s what you need if you need rehabilitation.

And it’s what the top physiotherapists for the professional tennis players are using when the pros develop injuries.

An injury can ruin the career of a tennis professional so it’s up to the coaches, trainers and health care team to make sure the pros are always at their best.

What the Tennis Flex is are resistance bands specifically attached to the tennis racquet so you can get tennis-specific swing and rotational resistance, core stability and coordination training all in one.

The aid creates a variable asymmetric load, ideal for training balance, explosive power and pre-match warm-ups.

Trainers and physical therapists in many different sports use resistance bands which effectively assist in rehabilitation. The bands have been proven in research studies to increase range of motion, combat weak muscles and increase reaction time.

Using Tennis Flex, the motions of resistance bands are made to be tennis specific for all components of the swing.

It doesn’t mean that you’ll have no pain at first while you’re going through the motions. But it does mean that the pain you feel should be less and less each day when you use it.

Tennis Flex allows you to store the muscle memory needed to perfect the swings and that good tennis serve. It gives you the neurological pattern for tennis success even with tennis elbow.

For more information, check out Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed which will give you additional exercises you can perform with resistance bands for your tennis elbow.

In the latest examples of new tennis elbow tools, the one developed by Cameron Shafie stands out as the best potential tool to cure tennis elbow. It’s called the Tennis Flex.

History Of How The Tennis Flex Was Created

Cameron Shafie was clearly born for tennis. He’s loved it since he was a young lad, played tennis every chance he could, and went to the big championships as a spectator for years. His whole world was the tennis crowd and the sport of tennis.

After playing tennis for 30 years though, Cameron ran into a big obstacle in his life: he developed tennis elbow.

No matter what he did, the pain of tennis elbow was there. He couldn’t:

• Do normal daily activities such as pick up a bag of groceries
• Move his hand up to his head to shampoo or comb his hair without pain
• Twist a bottle open
• Hammer a nail
• Even writing and typing created pain.

And of course, playing tennis was too difficult and too painful to want to do that anymore. But what was he to do? Tennis was what his whole life revolved around.

Every time he did play, the serves were excruciating. And after a few of them, Cameron noticed that not only were his serves not as powerful as before, but they also were frought with lingering pain.

Once the ball hit the racquet, the vibration sent pain sensations through his forearm and elbow at what must have been the speed of lightning.

New Tennis Elbow Tool Was Needed

He was beginning to associate the game of tennis with pain and that would have to stop if he was ever to play tennis again. He had to come up with a solution to this tennis elbow.

Cameron had a top sports physician he worked with in the Los Angeles area and had many discussions with him about what was needed. They decided that the only thing that really cures tennis elbow is using resistance bands.

It didn’t take Cameron long to equip himself with the resistance bands. After all, the American Journal of Sports Medicine reported that it was tennis-specific resistance training that significantly increased power output in collegiate tennis players.

Strong History Of Benefits From Resistance Bands

Top physiotherapists have used resistance bands not only for tennis elbow but many other types of rehabilitation. In one survey, the bands were used by about 40 percent of athletes that compete in strongmen competitions.

They’re used by physical therapists to improve golf swing, improve range of motion in the elderly and in those with arthritis. Resistance bands increase the function and strength of the muscles in those recovering from stroke, too.

Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention

Then Cameron’s doctor gave him information that changed everything.

The doctor revealed that he could cure tennis elbow if he somehow connected the resistance bands to the tennis racquet. By doing so, he would increase the circulation to the area to be healed.

And that’s what he did. Cameron developed an invention called Tennis Flex that allows you to get increased circulation to the joints and muscles of your elbow. This is exactly where you need it the most.

By hooking the bands to the tennis racquet, you can warm up before your next tennis match or practice and the tennis elbow will begin hurting less and less. These three minutes Cameron spent daily were the turning point to his tennis elbow.

Cure Tennis Elbow? You Decide

It took about three months to cure tennis elbow using the Tennis Flex. Others that use the same tennis elbow tool find it may take a little less time, or a little more – but three months is the average.

But there’s something else you should know about this story of the new tennis elbow tool called Tennis Flex and its creator Cameron Shafie.

After using the Tennis Flex, he was able to get back on the court and deliver more explosive serves than ever. His balance was better. And his core muscles were stronger. The simple device had improved his game far greater than what he ever could have expected.

And that’s what other tennis players are finding. Some of his clients include Angelique Kerber and Janko Tipsarevic.

Both use the Tennis Flex in their training regimens. Angelique attributes the Tennis Flex as one tennis elbow tool that helped prevent her career from going downhill fast after the development of tennis shoulder.

She was still able to train and ended up rising to the level of 9th on the World Open Championships.

That’s quite a remarkable comeback, wouldn’t you say?

Maybe you could check it out. And while you’re using the Tennis Flex, take a look at the ebook, Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed.

It’s packed with all kinds of exercises that have helped hundreds of tennis elbow players recover who were looking for a way to cure tennis elbow.

About 40 years ago, you really didn’t hear much about people with a tennis elbow diagnosis.

Maybe that was because tennis wasn’t as popular as it is now. Or maybe because tennis wasn’t in the news that often.

Sure, we heard about Billie Jean King when something big happened but other than that, who knew what was going on in the tennis world besides the die-hard fans.

It’s the tennis professionals themselves who have taken the sport to the next level.

The racquets are completely different. The way they play the game is completely different. And even the attitude in the public is much different.

If you watch training videos on tennis or even just tennis matches back a few decades ago, you might just say to yourself, “That’s tennis? It looks nothing like the tennis I saw at the last professional match!”

What exactly has changed in tennis – and are these changes related to the reasons why a tennis elbow diagnosis is more common? Let’s look at a list of the changes.

Major Changes In The Game Of Tennis

1. The Biomechanics Of Ground Strokes Have Changed

• When you’re at the back of the court, you need explosive moves that require your entire body. Your core muscles have to be strong and ready in an instant to support your serve or ground strokes.

• Your footwork has to be precise with a sense of balance more than just good.

2. The Game Is Very Physical Now

• There’s a heavy reliance on racquet head spin and rotation that requires special training for strengthening and injury prevention.

Training For Tennis To Prevent A Tennis Elbow Diagnosis

But how do you train for this so that you can prevent a tennis elbow diagnosis? The problem is that ordinary gyms don’t have machines or equipment that mimics the motions used in tennis these days.

Think about it. Your lat pulldown machine will build your latissimus dorsi muscles but it isn’t going to improve your tennis serve. And once you do have tennis elbow, you’ll be acting differently on the court than if you didn’t have a tennis elbow diagnosis.

You’ll be moving your body in different ways to avoid pain rather than moving it in the way that you should to hit the ball.

An example of this is when you have back pain. How do you walk? How do you sit? How do you stand? Everything is altered as a result of the pain. Does your new gait affect your habits? Absolutely. You can expect over a period of time that you will continue moving in these pain-provoked movements.

When you end up changing your tennis technique as a result of pain, this translates to one thing – more pain while you are practicing. It’s a good way to aggravate the tennis elbow.

But it’s also the beginning of developing bad habits and improper form during your tennis game. And that means that you will definitely prolong the time that tennis elbow diagnosis stays with you. No fun!

The Right Equipment Hasn’t Been Developed Yet

Back to the idea about what equipment in the health club can help you develop the muscles of the shoulders, elbows, wrists and lower back.

Even though there are machines that will help strengthen these areas – the shoulder press machine, the triceps extension machine, biceps curl machine, and lower back extension machine, these machines don’t address the fast-twitch muscles; only the slow-twitch muscles.

The health club just doesn’t have machines that will be what you need for tennis – and to prevent a tennis elbow diagnosis.

However, there are resistance bands that seem to work wonders for the top tennis professionals. If you had the opportunity to open the tennis bag of Angelique Kerber or Janko Tipsarevic, top players in the World Open championships, what would you find?

You’d actually find resistance bands. They work out with resistance bands, which are able to fill in the gap of the exercise equipment at the health club and what is needed. And a lot of top physiotherapists use the bands in rehabilitation when someone has a tennis elbow diagnosis.

Top tennis coaches help out their players by using resistance bands as well.

So there are answers for a tennis elbow diagnosis.

Another one is to get the book, Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed.

This book lists an entire protocol of exercises that will help you strengthen the muscles after a tennis elbow diagnosis.

It seems that celebrities have the best of all worlds and are bigger than life. How could a celebrity ever get tennis elbow? Don’t they have the best trainers? The best doctors?

The real truth is that as long as someone is human, they are susceptible to health issues. Joint problems, muscles can tear, bones can break, vision can decline, and a whole host of other health issues can occur in life – just because we’re human.

Many of us know this but we don’t really believe it until we find out the facts. Which famous people really did have tennis elbow? What did they do about it?

And when we’re sitting at home, unable to brush our hair, pick up the baby and do other common daily activities, it’s good to know that others – sometimes with celebrity status – are just like us. We’re all suffering together.

It’s not that we are seeking for pity. It’s that we just want to do it alone.

Three Celebrities Who Had Tennis Elbow Injuries

Below is a list of two celebrities and the situation they faced. I trust you will find it quite interesting.

1. Indian Cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar

Out of all the athletes in India, Sachin Tendulkar is the most famous. When it comes to run-scorers and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket, Sachin holds the top position.

He’s holds the record for the highest number of centuries. He’s also an incredible batsman and won the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards.

There’s even a wax statue of this athlete in London!

But unfortunately, Sachin had tennis elbow and it took him out of his sport for most of the year in 2003. He recovered and came back strong to the game in 2004.

2. Stuart Clark, celebrity cricket bowler from Australia

In 2008, this celebrity was afflicted with tennis elbow for several months. His tennis elbow hurt so much that he might miss out on the summer season for playing his sport, reporters said.

Sports are notorious for athletes developing joint and tendon issues. Just think about it for bowling. You have to hold a heavy bowling ball – how natural is that? – and then support that heavy ball in different ranges of motion.

In the case of Stuart, a fast cricket bowler, you would expect that his young age – 33 years old – made him most likely to heal quickly. But the truth was that his healing wasn’t happening.

If everything isn’t aligned and you’re not ergonomically correct, the misalignments will contribute to the production of tennis elbow and other issues with the joints and tendons, no matter what the sport.

And that’s exactly what happened to Stuart and he ended up with additional bone spurs on his elbow. He ended up getting surgery for tennis elbow, missed the whole summer season and 10 weeks of activity.

3. Jim Vanek, Tennis Pro

Surprisingly, searching for a list of tennis people with tennis elbow, there was only one who injured their right elbow:

• Jiri Vanek in 2010

Most of the injuries in tennis players were surprisingly in other parts of the body: leg injuries, hip flexor muscle injuries, lower back and abdominal injuries, and knee and wrist injuries.

It appears that the professional tennis players have their sport down pat and know what to wear as a support for the elbow and wrist so that they don’t get tennis elbow. That’s why tennis people with tennis elbow are a little difficult to find.

It’s conceivably possible that they grin and bear the pain of tennis elbow as well and they keep their pain to themselves, thinking that it is a normal part of the sport.

Tennis elbow is usually found in those who have a faulty backhand technique, thus, this explains the reason why many of the professional tennis players don’t get it! They use stiffer tennis racquets made of graphite, which seem to prevent injuries, too.

What Really Affects Incidence Of Tennis Elbow

Another surprising fact is that tennis elbow according to the researchers, shows up in 14% to 41% of the time in tennis elbow players. Another study found that about 40% of tennis players had current or previous problems with their elbow.

And the symptoms varied from moderate to severe and disabling, depending often on age. Those who were under the age of 50 only had severe or disabling symptoms of tennis elbow 25% of the time.

That statistic increased to 42% once the person hit the age of 50, or over. In fact, tennis elbow is more common in those older than the age of 40. After the age of 40 there’s a skyrocket in the rate of tennis elbow in men – the number increases to four times normal!

And after the age of 40, there’s a doubling of the incidence of tennis elbow in women.

Preventing Tennis Elbow: What’s Required

Experts say that the following suggestions will go a long way in solving or preventing tennis elbow:

• Maintain good biomechanics
• Stretch to improve flexibility
• Don’t increase the intensity of training until you are ready to do so
• Make sure that your racquet and shoes fit you properly
• Playing time

The more playing time a tennis player puts into the game – when they’re under the age of 40, the higher the incidence of tennis elbow.

To be exact, there was 3.5 times more tennis elbow in this group. Those over the age of 40 had a doubling of the rate of tennis elbow if they played more than 2 hours at a time.

Now you know for sure, you’re not alone in your tennis elbow.

But take the next step. Get the ebook, Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed and cure your Tennis Elbow today.

When you have tennis elbow, you’ll do anything you can to try your best to get maximum tennis elbow healing. But have you ever considered that some of your personal habits may be interfering with your healing?

Think of it this way: If you were an athlete and you hurt your foot, would there be any personal habits that could possibly interfere with your healing?

Sure, there would. If you couldn’t stay quietly in one spot, you’d heal as quickly as possible. Of course, you’d be allowed minimal movement, because no movement at all interferes with healing.

But do you see how someone’s personality – and personal habits could interfere with their healing? What if someone was a Type A personality and had to constantly be moving? They’d interfere with their own healing.

It’s the same thing with tennis elbow healing.

There could easily be things you are doing in your own daily activities – or personality quirks that could interfere with your healing. Aren’t you dying to know what those are?

I thought so, and here’s a list below of what are the top 6 tennis elbow healing disrupters.

Personal Habits That Disrupt Tennis Elbow Healing

1. Alcohol: A Temporary High Followed By Inflammation And Pain

The #1 worst personal habit of all is drinking alcohol. Alcohol dehydrates the body.

When you dehydrate the body, pain worsens and tissues start to dry out. The drier they are, the more difficult it is for them to slide.

For example, muscles need water to work properly. Joints need synovial fluid, primarily water, to lubricate them.

Disks in the spine need water to be plumped up large enough to maintain your proper height and function as they should, protecting your spinal canal from injury.

Thus, if you want more pain, go on a drinking binge. You’ll think you feel better temporarily when you’re tipsy, but the reality of it will set in the next day: you feel miserable. You hurt all over and no matter what you do, the day doesn’t go right.

Alcohol shifts the body’s metabolism to store fat as well and it raises the blood sugar level. With no nutrients in the alcoholic drink, your body is zapped of nutrients that it has stored away for an emergency.

Some of those nutrients include B vitamins and minerals such as zinc. You only lose when you drink alcohol, no matter whether you have tennis elbow or not.

2. Not Drinking Enough Water Kills Your Joints

Not drinking enough water is second in the list of bad habits. The reasons are the same that are mentioned above.

3. Pop Drinkers: Think Twice About What You’re Drinking

Pop drinking is another killer of tennis elbow healing. Pop contains carbonation, which is carbon dioxide, or CO2. CO2 is a waste product in the body from metabolism.

Why would you want to drink a beverage containing a waste product that your body has to get rid of?

4. Meat And Potato Eaters: What You’re Missing Is Delaying Your Tennis Elbow Healing

Your body loves regular meals, but if the meals are basically meat and potatoes, you’re lacking necessary fruits and vegetables and dairy products.

Fruits are rich in antioxidants that speed up healing. Vegetables contain minerals and antioxidants that can also speed up healing.

Dairy products contain calcium that is not found in appreciable quantity in other foods. The calcium can help relax muscles surrounding the tennis elbow joint.

There’s nothing wrong with eating meat – but potatoes are another thing. High on the Glycemic index scale, they cause your blood sugar levels to skyrocket and insulin to be released.

That high insulin will then cause lots of inflammation in the body, and especially in your tennis elbow.

Leaving out the potato from the meal and replacing it with some other low Glycemic index vegetable such as yams, acorn squash, green beans, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, or carrots will accelerate tennis elbow healing.

Thus, meat and potato men are doomed to have tennis elbow healing delayed.

5. Sugar Junkies: Expect Delays In Tennis Elbow Healing

Having a sugar habit is bad habit #5 when it comes to tennis elbow healing. Sugar raises the blood sugar which sets the inflammation into motion as a result of the high insulin levels.

It’s just not worth it!

For more info on what to do about your tennis elbow, get a copy of the ebook, Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed. You’ll find good solid info on what to do.

If you’ve suffered from tennis elbow, you already know that delicate tissues surrounding the elbow joint are involved.

The thought may have crossed your mind whether or not tennis elbow and arthritis are related, and if you would be susceptible to developing arthritis.

Below is a checklist to see whether or not your body may already be progressing towards arthritis. The higher your score on this checklist, the greater your propensity to develop arthritis.

Checklist: Are You Susceptible To Developing Arthritis?

1. Have you had previous injuries to your hands, feet, knees, neck or back?

2. When you get the flu or the common cold, does it take you more than five days to recover?

3. Do you have diabetes or neurological disorders?

4. Have you ever had Lyme disease?

5. Do you have food allergies?

6. Do you refuse to take your dietary supplements regularly?

7. Do you have a family history of rheumatoid arthritis?

8. Do you have a job where you must do certain movements repetitively?

9. Are you constipated?

Explanation Of Each Item On The Checklist

1. Previous Injuries

Previous injuries to the joint can recover completely but we must make a real effort to not give up on treatments until the joints are totally healed. Giving up prematurely is a setup for arthritis.

2. Flu Or Common Cold Lingers

If you get the flu or common cold and it lingers for five days or longer, your immune system isn’t strong enough to ward off infectious agents.

Viruses can cause arthritis, and it’s not uncommon that someone develops arthritis after being down for a few weeks with a cold or a flu. The best bet is to have a strategy to get over these illnesses in 48-72 hours.

3. Diabetes Or Neurological Disease

Either of these types of disease leave you wide open to develop arthritis. Some forms of neurological disease are accompanied by joint disorders and arthritis as well as deformities.

4. Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is accompanied by joint problems and the symptoms of arthritis. This disease is caused by bacteria injected into the bloodstream when an infected tick bites you.

5. Food Allergies

Food allergies have a direct connection to the development of arthritis symptoms.

Food allergies cause the production of immune complexes that end up in the joints and cause symptoms.

6. Don’t Take Dietary Supplements Regularly

It’s easy to develop dietary deficiencies that contribute to poor structure of the joints, making them easily worn down and weakened.

Some of these deficiencies include vitamin C, pantothenic acid, vitamin E, calcium, manganese and silica.

7. Family History Of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Although you may have a mother or grandmother who has rheumatoid arthritis, it doesn’t mean you will get it yourself. However, you may be more prone to develop arthritis with this disease in your family history.

8. Repetitive Movements

Seriously consider changing any job that makes you perform repetitive movements in your daily activities. It’s a recipe for the development of arthritis.

9. Constipation

If you’re constipated, every pain in the body is exaggerated.

The food you eat must be processed after every meal.

For every meal in, one must come out. If not, you are constipated.

Constipation leads to toxins being recirculated in the body – and where do you think they go? To the joints!

Tennis elbow has resulted in your body because of a repetitive injury or a weakened joint or tendons. It has also resulted from imbalances in the muscles. You must do whatever you can to eliminate it.

The longer you wait to heal it, the more your body is registering inflammation in the joint area. The longer you have inflammation in the joint area, the more likely it is that you can develop arthritis at a later date.

If you answered yes to several of the above questions on the checklist, it doesn’t mean for sure that you are going to have tennis elbow and arthritis.

What it does mean is that having extra complications with your health can increase the risk of then developing arthritis after tennis elbow.

The answers are simple if you have answered yes to the above questions on the checklist:

1. Don’t give up until previous injuries are healed. Some people figure they will live with a frozen shoulder the rest of their life or a knee with limited movement. NO! Don’t give up.

2. Boost your immune system to stop getting colds and flu.

3. See a natural alternative medicine specialist who can help you reverse diabetes and neurological disease.

4. Work with a specialist who already has reversed Lyme disease and get rid of it once and for all.

5. Obtain an ALCAT test to find out what food allergies or sensitivities you have. Stop the immune complexes.

6. Take supplements you need, based on what you need. Don’t guess.

7. Do routine organ cleanses – colon and liver and kidney cleanses – to prevent your family history diseases from affecting you.

8. Change jobs if you have one that expects repetitive movements.

9. Do a colon cleanse for six weeks to restore your proper colon function.

There are answers. The beauty of a checklist is to score yourself, then make changes if your score is high. You have that choice.

Don’t let tennis elbow and arthritis be something that happens to you.

For more info on how to beat tennis elbow, see the ebook, Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed. It’s full of other proven ways to eliminate tennis elbow.

Whether you have seen a doctor for your tennis elbow or have been researching the condition on your own, you have surely come across the subject of wearing a brace or support band.

Some may be trying to sell you overly complicated and pricey products. You may be feeling dubious that they are selling you something you do not need or will not help. Before you make a quick decision, you should fully understand the importance of compression and healing from elbow tendonitis.

Blood Flow in Your Elbow

A classic problem with healing a bad case of elbow tendonitis is that there is limited blood flow in that area. When a body needs to heal itself, it sends a lot of growth hormones, nutrients, tissue building proteins, and other cells needed to restore the injury to new or fully repaired condition.

It sends these vital nutrients via the bloodstream. If there is not an ample supply of blood to an area, it is going to take longer to heal.

A joint, in its nature, has to be narrow and flexible to allow the largest range of motion. This means that most of the blood passing through the area is that which is needed for the lower arm and hand.

In fact, there is only one artery that supplies blood to that region, which is visible on the top of your elbow, versus other areas of your body that have multiple arteries.

Your tendons have virtually no access to blood and are instead nourished by joint and lymph fluid. There are smaller vessels supplying the muscles and capillaries nourishing your skin.

As if the limited blood supply in your elbow was not a big enough hurdle to cross, when you are suffering from tennis elbow, or tendonitis, your muscles start to swell. Lymph fluid and other water begins to pool in the damaged area.

The inflammation pinches off your blood vessels, stopping more of those vital nutrients from getting to the most needed tissue.

Reduce the Inflammation

The first priority for your healing is not to stop your pain; it is to reduce your inflammation. Otherwise, you will not be able to make a full recovery.

The longer you remain swollen, the more long-term damage is done. This is why wearing a tennis elbow brace is so important. The main purpose of tennis elbow supports is to eliminate swelling. This is the process of compression.

When your injury is compressed, the tennis elbow band pushes down on the injury from every angle. This pressure literally squeezes out the pooled water and lymph fluid. It puts the fluid back into the circulatory system where it is removed. Furthermore, the compression prevents further pooling to occur.

Tennis elbow braces surround the limb, in this case the elbow, to compress the total injury. They are wrapped around the injury, but should extend beyond the swollen or painful area.

It is most effective for the tennis elbow arm band or brace to extend from at least halfway down the forearm to halfway up the upper arm. Once applied properly, the brace will force all of the fluid out of the region, almost immediately reducing your inflammation.

Massage and Increased Blood Flow

Take your hand and tightly grip your lower calf near your ankle, low enough so your hand can encircle as much of your leg as possible. Now, move your foot and leg back and forth and in circles, simulating your normal movement throughout the day.

Do you feel how your tight grip automatically massages that portion of your leg just by moving it? This massage affect is another benefit of using tennis elbow strap or band supports.

As your brace for tennis elbow compresses your elbow, from your forearm to your upper arm, you are getting this same massaging affect. The method of massage has been used for thousands of years because of it’s almost miracle healing power.

Massage and the subsequent movement of the muscle cause the flow of blood to substantially increase in the massaged area. This means that maximum healing nutrients, hormones, and proteins are reaching the area.

This massage and increased blood flow has another benefit. By wearing tennis elbow support wraps the extra blood flow is “rinsing” away the toxins and extra fluid that has accumulated in the area.

Your muscles have a tendency to hold on to the toxins we consume from our diet and lifestyle. These toxins can greatly interfere with the natural healing process. Fortunately, they cannot linger when there is a strong blood flow cleansing out the muscle.

Pain Relief

You are suffering from tennis elbow. Your arm muscles are torn and swollen. Your elbow tendons are overstretched and damaged. The swelling is preventing the natural healing process. Your blood cannot flow properly to restore and repair your injured tissue.

These conditions, and the continual cycle of swelling and decreased blood flow, are causing your pain. You need to rest your arm to make sure you are not causing any more damage. However, you have to control this cycle if you want to stop your pain.

This means you have to compress the muscle and the best way to stop your pain is using tennis elbow straps or braces.

A brace is required to achieve compression and compression is required to relieve pain. Any compression style bandage or wrap will help. Whether you decide to buy a recognized product like the tennis elbow Band It or something simpler like the traditional Ace style wrap, you should find pain relief if worn properly.

Compression but Not Immobilization

It is noteworthy that the purpose of tennis elbow bands is compression and not immobilization. You should still be able to move the elbow without a lot of restriction. This is a very important point to remember.

If your arm is immobilized in anyway, you are still going to attempt to perform regular motions. This means you will adjust the way you would normally move or posture to accomplish the same task. When you do this, you are risking moving and stretching your muscles in an abnormal way and cause additional damage.

Furthermore, a very tight and immobilizing tennis elbow wrap may try to force you into maintaining a certain posture throughout your movements. This is probably the correct posture you should be using for elbow support.

Tennis players and golfers are not always wearing these bands because they know the real solution to your problem is to learn to have the correct form yourself.

It is a safe bet to stay away from immobilizing wraps and bandages. You would be surprised how much better it is to just the correct form in the first place. Once your arm is rested and if you need to, ask an expert on how to use the best form for the activity which caused your injury.

Learn How to Stop the Degeneration

Unfortunately, tennis elbow is a degenerative problem. It will continue to recur if it is not cured. Now that you are injured, you need to wear a tennis elbow band or brace to compress the wound and produce healing. However, you will forever have to compress the wound each time you injure it unless you find a way to stop it.

Geoff Hunt, author of Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed, was in the same situation you are in now. His tennis elbow would begin to hurt, he would spend a lot of money on therapy and compression bandages, and he would begin to feel better.

However, because he was not really changing the way the strength and flexibility of his elbow, the injury would eventually return and be worse than it was the first time.

Finally, Hunt had enough and designed a series of tennis elbow exercises. These exercises gave his elbow, and whole arm, more power. At the same time, his tendons and muscles became more agile. These physical changes made his weak tissue healthier and finally able to prevent the injury from ever occurring.

In Tennis Elbow Secrets Revealed, Hunt is sharing these exercises so that you can find the same permanent relief. The exercises are designed so that you can choose to use a tennis elbow band or brace or not, depending on how you are healing.

Knowing that you are currently suffering, the book will also teach you the way to balance rest and compression with these strengthening exercises. This will keep your arm healing while it becomes injury proof.

If you are suffering from the pain and inflammation of tennis elbow, you need to get a brace. Compression is a key to both short term healing and long-term prevention. When you give your arm the compression it needs to heal, your efforts to stay injury free are far more productive.

Check Out This Great Selection of Tennis Elbow Braces on Amazon:

BandIT Therapeutic Forearm Band - Tennis Elbow Support

Unique Air Cell Tennis Elbow Brace

Mueller Hg80 Tennis Elbow Brace, Black, 1-Count Box

Aircast Tennis Elbow Brace

ACE Tennis Elbow Brace One Size

Tennis Elbow Brace Epicondylitis Brace Elbow Support - Regular (Forearm Circumference 8.7" - 12.6")