After the game, you will want to recover from the exercise. Sure,
you might want to rush out and celebrate, but in order to take care
of your condition and make sure that you can continue to keep
playing for the next match, you will want to use what is called the
“PRICE” method of healing. This is an anagram for protection,
rest, ice, compression and elevation.
Protecting the arm
Now is the time to protect the arm from any sort of activity that
will aggravate the painful condition. You do not need to bandage it
up or put it in a sling - that is going to the extreme. But you will
want to rest it instead of doing something that will aggravate the
condition and has nothing to do with your work or game.
Remember when we talked about Don, the city worker who used a
jackhammer all of the time? His doctor told him that he had tennis
elbow and advised him to rest his arm after he was done with work
in order to cure it. He talked to him about the PRICE method. And
what do you think that Don did? He decided to go play pool after
work each night. Needless to say that this only made his condition
worse.
Protect the arm from further injury so that you can continue to
enjoy the activities that you either play for enjoyment or do for a
living.
Resting the arm
Give your arm some time to rest. As a matter of fact, give all of
your muscles some time to rest after a big match. You just gave
them a big workout - now is the time to rest them and allow them
to heal. Resting the arm is necessary after a tennis game. This
does not mean that you have to take a nap, but it means that you
should pay attention to your body and your arm and give it the
proper rest that it deserves.
Avoid any strenuous activity after playing a tennis game or golf
game when you have tennis elbow. This will allow the tendon to
repair and will alleviate the pain that you feel.
Use ice on the arm
There is always a question of whether you should use heat or ice
when you have a pain. Ice will reduce the swelling and will
alleviate the pain in the case of tennis elbow. Get an icepack and
keep it in the area for about a half an hour after the game. This
will greatly reduce the pain in your arm. You can repeat this every
three or four hours for the first two days after your game. Your
arm will feel much better.
Compression
If the pain is very bad, you may want to use compression. This
involves bandaging the arm with an ACE bandage and keeping it
immobile. This is not usually necessary, but can work if the pain is
severe. Again, you will want to keep the arm compressed for
about 48 hours after you have played the tennis or golf match.
Elevation
Elevation is often recommended in severe cases of tennis elbow.
Elevation involves keeping the arm immobile and elevated on a
pillow or some other type of comfortable object. This is not usually
recommended in minor cases of tennis elbow. In most cases, you
can alleviate the pain after the game by protecting the arm, resting
it and using an ice pack. You should feel as good as new after
doing this and be ready to play again.
Warning:
Whenever pain strikes, many doctors are very quick to give out
pain medication. Tennis elbow can be a painful condition. You
may choose to take over the counter medication to alleviate the
pain or you may even have a doctor who will prescribe pain
medications. There are dangers to using both:
Over The Counter Pain Medications
NSAIDs, or anti-inflammatory medications are good on a short
term basis. If you have a headache, backache or pain from playing
a sport, you can take a couple of ibuprofen and feel better. But
used on a long term basis, they can wreak havoc on the digestive
tract and have even been linked to stomach cancer. They can also
cause ulcers in the stomach and damage the liver. If you find that
you are constantly popping over the counter pain medication, it is
time to see the doctor and find alternate therapy for your pain.
