Noob question - tennis elbow?

vdubber67

Been riding for about a year, getting more serious as the year's progressed. Recently I've been noticing pain in my elbow after rides. I end up not being able to grip well without pain etc. Although I've not visited the docs (yes I know, I know!) I assume this is the onset of tennis elbow....

Question is, are there any gloves (gel?) that could help me out, or just some grip issues that I need to know about?

Thanks

Rich

Road Rob

Hi

Can sympathise - tennis elbow hurts. Worth seeing a doc to confirm diagnosis, but GP will probably suggest giving up biking and inject your elbow with steroids (which will reduce the inflamation but not necessarily prevent relapse if you want to carry on being active).

I took advice from a sports physio (such folk appreciate that you don't necessarily want to give up your favourite sport and look for more realistic solutions), who recommended ice packs to reduce the inflammation, then gave me simple exercises to do and recommended wearing a tennis elbow clasp (also known as epicondylitis clasp - these are simple plastic things (got mine off the web for 20 pounds) held on with velcro, which take the load off the point where the muscle inserts into the elbow). This has worked - I've had to give up neither cycling or aikido but, after a few months, no longer have sore elbows.

I should stress the importance of getting your own diagnosis and treatment programme, and describe the one given to me only to give you comfort that there is indeed life after tennis elbow.