For anyone involved in athletics, fitness or recreational sports, elbow pain is a reality. It occurs in varying degrees, ranging from mild discomfort to throbbing agony. It’s such a common injury, that it has a name: Tennis Elbow. You can't fix it with a brace or a quick shot. You need a plan.

If you’re looking for answers, read on.

Whether you have experienced tennis elbow or you are trying to prevent it from happening to you, this guide can help you protect your elbows from harm and injury. But first, let’s discuss what tennis elbow actually is.

What is Tennis Elbow?

Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is characterized by having the sensation of radiating pain on the outside of your elbow. This pain is the result of repetitive stress to your elbow joint; usually at intensities your elbows are not yet ready to endure.

With a little physical preparation to these few areas, you can get rid of OR prevent elbow pain altogether.

You Want Answers? Check Your Shoulder Mobility

If you are experiencing tennis elbow, common sense tells you that there is something wrong with it. But the body doesn’t abide by the laws of “common sense.” Rather, it abides by its own set of rules, indicating pain in one place when the issue is systemic and caused by another place. 

These rules tell your elbow to hurt when there is a problem upstream, with shoulder mobility. When your shoulder lacks strength and/or mobility, this places extra stress on your elbow joint, causing it to be enraged with anger.

In many cases, your elbow pain will subside when your upper body muscles are trained to work synergistically, or all together. This includes your chest, upper back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. When these muscles are strong and mobile, tennis elbow will pose no threat to your pain tolerance.

GymnasticBodies training helps to overcome joint pain and prevent injury.

Shoulder health is the key to resilient and durable elbows. Train yours to be strong and mobile with progressions from the GB Online Courses.

The Solution: Nourishment For Your Joints

Now we know the cause of tennis elbow, the question is: How do we fix it?

It’s important to know that this isn’t going to be a quick fix. As Coach Sommer says, “It took time to wear your joints down. It’s going to take time to build them back up.”

The good news? It won’t take as much time to improve your condition. The important thing is to start slow to give your joints adequate time to repair themselves, to become stronger. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be working hard. Just smarter.

2 Exercises To Start With

When it comes to strengthening your shoulders and elbows, there are not many exercises that can compare to the incline row from the GB Foundation Courses. This beginner level exercise really hits the upper back, biceps, and forearms, all of which impact the health of your elbows.

Paired with its polar opposite, the incline push-up, you have a perfect recipe to solve your tennis elbow issues. When you balance your pushing and pulling muscles you create harmony within your joints. And balance in your joints, as with anything in life, is key to remaining healthy and injury-free.

Finally, straight arm work is also key to keeping your elbows happy, but you should always stop when you feel pain. This means stretching with straight arms (shoulder extensions) and building stability around the joint (ring planks).

GymnasticBodies Foundation Courses help you create strong and sustainable ligaments, muscles and tendons, all of which are key in keeping injury and tennis elbow at bay.