Patience and DIY Physiotherapy

After almost two weeks of pain, my golfers elbow is finally starting to get better. All I want to do is start lifting weights again but I know that it's just going to come back again if I do. I don't know when I will be ready to get back into a proper routine, but all I know is that I need to be patient and let my body heal itself fully before I do. I'm just thankful that I'm making progress, and I'm not going to rush anything again. Here's some things that I've been doing for my tendonitis that have drastically helped speed up the recovery process (all techniques I came across online):

1. Stretching 

My physio suggested a simple forearm flexor stretch to repeat throughout the day, but I've also included a forearm extensor stretch as well to stretch the other side of the forearm. I hold both these stretches for about 30 seconds and repeat the stretches on both arms for good measure throughout my day.

2. Strengthening

I've been perfoming 2 - 3 sets of dumbbell wrist curls and reverse wrist curls with very light dumbbells to strengthen the muscles on both sides of my forearm. I'm currently using a 3 kg dumbbell for the wrist curls and a 2.5 kg dumbbell for the reverse wrist curls as these muscles are a little bit weaker for me. I aim for about 10 - 20 reps on these exercises, focusing on the eccentric portion of the exercises (3 seconds down). I've been doing these once a day for both arms.

In addition to the wrist curls I've been performing a finger extensor or 'rubber band' exercise throughout each day. I just use a medium thickness elastic band around the fingers and slowly open and close my hand against the resistance which helps to strengthen the finger extensor muscles.

3. Sleeving

I recently picked up a generic elbow sleeve in an attempt to take a little bit of strain away from my forearm. I should have done this when I first had my injury, but nonetheless I've noticed that the pain in my forearm died down about a day of wearing it.

4. Leaving... the weights

Since I've stopped working through the pain (bad idea) my forearm has really begun to heal. It just couldn't heal when I was continually aggravating it with heavy, repetitive movements like pullups and rows. It sucks, but it had to be done. I still have a leg day and work abs throughout the week, but just nothing that involves upper body.

Put it this way, a few weeks off now is nothing compared to not being able to lift up a weight for the rest of my life. At least that's what I tell myself ;)