Tennis Elbow Injury

You may think an elbow brace can be very effective to cure a tennis elbow injury. The idea is that the brace redirects the pull of muscles affected in a tennis elbow injury. Instead of pressure being put directly on the tendon over the outside of the elbow, the elbow clasp puts the pressure directly under the brace. This can help in prevention, but as far as curing a tennis elbow injury, it’s not very effective at all. Heh, I should know, I’ve tried it!

Tennis Elbow Injury Braces Don’t Work!

Right along with drugs and ordered rest, tennis elbow injury splints and braces are often prescribed by doctors for treatment for a tennis elbow injury. Unfortunately, these braces don’t exactly do all that much.

Here are two good reasons that a brace can’t heal your tennis elbow injury

Reason Number One: Keeping your arm immobilized may prevent more damage, but it won’t prevent more negative change in the structure of your arm.

The best it can do is to reduce irritation to your injury by reducing the amount of movement and work it is able to do. With this, a brace ‘helps’ in the short term because it limits any new irritations to the collection of muscles and tissue in the elbow. The thing is, if you don’t move and exercise your limb, it will begin to atrophy.

Also, there’s a by-product of a Tennis Elbow Injury, and it’s a Pain Causing Dynamic. Pain, stiffness, and tightness of the muscles is all part and parcel of a tennis elbow injury. As these symptoms continue, it can get even worse. Splints and Braces don’t reverse any damage, only they hold it in place. As soon as you take that brace off, the pain will return.

Reason Number Two: Tennis Elbow Braces Don’t Have Any effect on Inflammation

A lot of the pain you feel from a tennis elbow injury is from inflammation. Inflammation is the process of fluid getting tapped and releasing pain causing chemicals. If you let it continue, it will go on hurting. Braces and splints don’t do much to fight the inflammation, so while it may be pain free because you’re not moving it, the inflammation still exists.

So why would a doctor prescribe a brace for a Tennis Elbow Injury? Good question! It’s a temporary measure to keep you from feeling pain, but it will never actually heal your tennis elbow injury. I can only hope one day I’ll find a real solution!