hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and the folks at Simien sent me their Simien
elbow compression sleeve with dual gel pads to help relieve tennis elbow
and golfer's elbow. so let's talk about it.
so you might have seen in some of my
past videos about tennis elbow and golfer's elbow that you can use a brace
that actually goes around the elbow and puts pressure on those tendons to help
relieve the pain. so this is kind of next step to that. a lot of times people might
really like the brace but they might find it too bulky, or they might find
that it just is a little bit too intense for them or too much pressure. and so
Simien came out with a sleeve alternative which is a really neat way
to do it because what I really like about this is the gel pads are
pre-installed. so what that does is when you put on the sleeve, and you get it on
those tender points or those pressure points on there, it's going to stay in
place and it's not going to slide around. and so you can see on the inside that
there's actually two here, one for the tennis elbow side and one for the
golfer's elbow side. and the reason I like that is because a lot of times if
you're having one of the pain either the tennis elbow which is the lateral
epicondylitis, or the golfer's elbow which is that medial epicondylitis,
sometimes it hurts all around. so having both sides and having a sleeve like this
does a really good job of just getting those pressure points to help
relieve the pain. and so a lot of times when people have used the the brace in
the past, it works great but like I said some people think maybe it's just a
little bit too intense, a little bit too much pressure. even people like weight
lifters what they had given feedback on was when they're lifting weights it ends
up kind of getting too tight just because it's that single brace all the
way around. and so they've really found that the sleeves work very very well for
them.and so what's really neat about the sleeve is you can just slide it on and
then once you get it into the right position, and it comes in different sizes
you can see the one I have on is a medium, but if you've got tennis elbow or
if you've got that golfer's elbow, you're really gonna know
exactly where those tender spots are. so your extensor those wrist
extensor muscles come on that outside all the way up to the elbow here, so it's
that lateral side of the elbow or that lateral epicondylitis and usually right
on the muscle belly there's where it's really tender. and just a general rule, if
you go to the elbow where that epicondyle, is if you put two fingers or
your thumb that space in between then usually the tender spots right below
that. and so once you get that there, the way the sleeve works is then it's pretty
automatic that then the inside one or that medial side for the golfer's elbow
is going to be in the right spot too. so you might have to adjust it just a
little bit but as you can see once you get it on, it stays in place and doesn't
slide down it doesn't move around and it just stays in one spot. and so this is
really neat especially for active people you know if you're continuing to play
tennis or you're continuing to play golf or even like I talked about if you're
lifting, doing some some weight lifting and stuff, this is nice cuz it doesn't
get in the way. it's not super bulky it's really close to the arm, so it's not that
bulkiness. so even people like waiters have said that they appreciate the
sleeve because if they've got their long sleeve shirts and sometimes they're tight,
this fits underneath very nicely and it doesn't catch on to the shirt, and it
doesn't slide around because it's catching on. so you can see you know
everything's nice and close and it's designed to be nice and snug because
it's a compression sleeve. also with those gel pads, so you can see that there
that's that's really nice and again I want to show you on the other side
that's that's where those gel pads are. so it gives you a nice amount of
pressure on those tender points or those sensitive areas, but not so much where if
you're already really really hurting that sometimes may be too much of that
pressure is just too much for you. this is a nice alternative. and so you can see
here that it really does a good job of just staying in place and being in the
right spot. and so with the sleeve, a lot of times if you're still early on in
your injury if you're gonna do some stretches and exercises with it, you you
can go ahead and leave the sleeve on. but as you start getting stronger and as it
starts getting a little bit better, you want to do your stretch
and exercises without the sleeve on. but in the beginning you can have it on. and
a couple of my favorite stretches for tennis elbow and golfer's elbow
it's just stretching those those muscles and those tendons out. so the extensors
on on the outside here are the ones that pull your wrist up. so if you want to
stretch it, you'd actually then go in the opposite direction. so if I want to
stretch the outside here, I'm gonna put my arms straight out and keep the elbow
kind of straight and locked out. and then just gently push my hand down, and I
should feel that stretch through the top there. and you might feel it a lot more
on that gel pad spot right there, and so you know you're getting the right spot.
if this isn't really stretching a whole lot, if you're not getting a whole lot of
stretch, you can curl in your fingers and get even more of a stretch. some people
even like to turn a little bit and stretch this way or you can even turn a
little bit and stretch that way as well. so sometimes you might want to try both
ways because that's gonna really, you know one person might get more of a
stretch this way, one person might get a little more stretched that way. so you
definitely want to try it. and then if you want to do for the golfers elbow,
stretch those those flexors out, the wrist flexors. so those are the ones that
pull it down. you'd go in the opposite direction. so you kind of make that stop
sign motion and then if your fingers are curled you're not going to get quite as
much of a stretch. but you'll feel it down there. so if you're still in that
early phase you're gonna probably feel it right there where the pad is on the
other side. and if you want more then open up your hand and then you can
pull on your fingers to get more of a stretch. so you'd hold those stretches
for about thirty seconds, doing three. you can alternate back and forth because
even if you just have tennis elbow, you probably want to go both ways and then
the same thing with the golfer's elbow, you still want to stretch it in both
directions, even if you just have one or the other. but again, I really like the
sleeve because it has both there because a lot of times if you're having pain for
one of those, the whole elbow is really gonna be sore and tender. so if you're
interested in purchasing the the elbow sleeve, make sure and click on the link
up there, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down there. and remember, be
safe, have fun, and I hope feel better soon.