Examples of physical therapy exercises for tennis elbow

Physical Therapy for Hip Labral Tear

Troubled by pain on the outside of your elbow? Does this pain increase when you open your hand to let go of an object? If you answered yes to these questions, you may have an elbow injury called tennis elbow. 

A medical professional would more likely refer to this injury as lateral epicondylitis, and it’s one of the most common elbow injuries. One medical study reveals that up to 5% of the current U.S. population has tennis elbow. A physical therapy specialist can help you find exercises and other treatment options for tennis elbow. A few examples of exercises your physical therapist could recommend include the: 

  1. Wrist extensor stretch

Purpose: Stretching a group of forearm muscles called the wrist extensors. 

How to perform this exercise: 

  • Hold the affected arm straight out in front of you with your palm facing down.
  • Grab the fingers of your extended hand with the other hand. 
  • Slowly pull your hand downward and back toward your body until you feel a light stretch. 
  • Hold this stretch for 10 to 15 seconds. 
  • Repeat these steps until you’ve stretched the affected arm three times. 
  1. Inward hammer turn

Purpose: Strengthening the wrist extensor muscles. 

How to perform this exercise: 

  • Set the affected forearm on a chair arm or flat surface with your wrist and hand hanging palm-up over the edge. 
  • Place a hammer or other light tool in this hand. 
  • Slowly rotate your wrist until your palm is facing down. 
  • Return your wrist to the starting position. 
  • Repeat the exercise until you’ve done three sets of 10 reps. 
  1. Towel twist

Purpose: Building strength in the wrist extensors and wrist flexors in both forearms. 

How to perform this exercise: 

  • Place your hands on each end of a loosely rolled hand towel. 
  • Hold the towel horizontally in front of you with your elbows slightly bent. 
  • Slowly twist your hands as far as you can in opposite directions like you’re wringing water out of the towel. 
  • Hold this position for three to five seconds. 
  • Relax your hands and then twist them in the opposite direction. 
  • Continue to repeat the previous three steps until you’ve done five repetitions in each direction. 

Find more physical therapy exercises and other tennis elbow treatment options at SSOR

Want to find many more physical therapy exercises and techniques to treat your tennis elbow? Our team of therapy specialists at SSOR are primed to help you. We offer comprehensive evaluations that can confirm you have tennis elbow and pinpoint underlying causes of your injury. 

Additionally, our physical therapists excel at constructing individualized therapy plans designed to reduce elbow pain and prevent future injuries. Such a plan can include therapy methods like:

Contact us today for more information about the physical therapy exercises and other treatments we offer for tennis elbow or to schedule an initial appointment.