Hey everybody it's Ddoctor Jo, and today
I'm going to show you some stretches and
exercises for medial epicondylitis. Say
what? You might know it better as
golfer's elbow.
Let's get started.
So with golfers elbow, you end up irritating
those muscles that connect on the inside
of the elbow here, and those muscles come
all the way down into your wrist. Those
are your wrist flexor muscles, so when
you're doing a lot of golfing and that
rotation kind of movement, it ends up
irritating that inside that elbow. So
doing a lot of wrist stretches and
exercises helps with the elbow as well. So
that's why there's the connection there.
So you might go
why am I going down here when it hurts
up here. So let's just start off with
some simple range of motion at the wrist.
Make a fist with your hand. If you want
to rest it on something you can. You can
just kind of hold it up. If it's a little
sore you can prop it up on your knee if
you want to. I'm just going to hold mine
in the air so you can kind of see what
I'm doing. But with your fist, just go
down as far as you comfortably can and
then up as far as you comfortably can.
Now when you come down, you're activating
those muscles, so it might be a little
bit sore. Don't feel like you have to
crank it down there. This is really just
to kind of get those muscles warmed up,
get them loosening up, when you go back
that's going to stretch them out a
little bit so just coming back and forth
that way. Just do about ten, you don't have
to a whole lot, just kind of getting
everything moving. Then after that you're
going to turn your hand over with your
thumb up on top, and you're going to do a
radial and devial, huh?
Radial and ulnar deviation, and so you're
just going to go up and down. Sometimes
my mouth talks faster than my brain. So
just same thing, do about ten just kind
of getting everything loosened up,
doesn't have to be super big movements.
Just kind of getting everything nice and
warm in there, and then after about 10 of
those, then you're going to do a supination
pronation. And if you can, keep your
elbow bent kind of in one spot, so it's
not turning the whole arm over, you're
trying to get that rotation up to the
elbow not up into the shoulder area. So I
like to keep my elbow kind of close to
my side, and then just opening up this
way and turning back over. Again this
might be a little bit uncomfortable,
especially if that medial condyle is
irritated, so just go to where you're
comfortable don't feel like you have to
the crank on it and push really hard.
Just kind of getting that movement this
is to get everything warmed up. After you
do about 10 of those, then you're going
to go into stretching out those muscles.
So put your arms straight out, and to
stretch it out you're going to bring it
up this way. So if you keep your finger
straight, that's going to be a bigger
stretch. If you make a fist,
it's going to be a less of a stretch, but
try and keep that elbow as straight as
you can. So this is just going to be
stretching a little bit, you're gonna
hold that stretch for about 30 seconds,
or if you want the stretch a lot, then
put your fingers up. And again holding
that for about 30 seconds. If you have a
wall cubicle or something next to you
close by,
you can actually put your hand on the
wall and stretch it out that way. So
that's a little bit more comfortable
then you have to bring your other arm
around. But do that
30 seconds three times, get it nice and
stretched out. Then if you have something
handy like hammer, right beside you, then
you're going to use a hammer, but you
don't have to use a hammer, the reason
for the hammer is because it's top-heavy.
So this time it's going to give you a
little bit more of a stretch with the
movement. So you're going to go back into
that supination pronation movement, but
this time you have the hammer, so you see
when i turn it out, the heavy part of the
hammer gives that extra little stretch
in there, and then coming back this way
same thing that goes into pronation
giving that extra stretch. So it doesn't
have to be a hammer, if you have you know,
there are weighted sticks,
therapy sticks that do this as well, but
i like the hammer because then you don't
have to get anything extra you can
usually find one in your house
somewhere. And so same thing just a
smooth motion back and forth, you don't
necessarily have to hold unless you want
to like a 3-5 second hold, but I kind of
like going back and forth to make it an
exercise versus just a stretch, so it
makes it kind of a combination movement.
So just start off with about 10 of those,
and then work your way up it feels good
you don't have any problems. Then you're
going to go into some more strengthening,
but now you're going to use a resistive
band. So you don't have to use a
resistance band. If you don't have one
you can use a small little weight or a
soup can, vegetable can, but you're
going to do a bicep curl or a flexion
movement at your elbow. So if you have
the band make sure you're stepping on it
nice and tight so it doesn't pop back up
and hit you, but make sure you're doing a
full motion, so your arm is completely
straight, and then you're bending at your
elbow and coming all the way up. The
important part for this one is the going
back down, so make sure it's nice and
smooth that you're not just dropping it
back down that you're controlling that
movement the whole time. So all the way
up and then slowly all the way back down.
So again just start off with 10 of these, if
that becomes easy work your way up to 20 to
25, and then if that's still easy then
you can go up to a heavier resistant
band. So there you have it,
those are your stretches and exercises
for medial epicondylitis or that golfer's
elbow. If you have any questions leave in the
comments section. If you'd like check out
some other videos go to askdoctorjo.com
And remember, be safe have fun, and I hope
you feel better soon.