Massage Tutorial: Tennis elbow, myofascial release techniques

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If your client has tennis elbow, aka lateral epicondylitis, consider their wrist extensors. These are the muscles on the posterior/lateral part of your forearm (the hairy part) that let you open a closed fist or do that sine wave thing with your hand out the window of a moving car.

From a myofascial perspective, it's not necessarily important to know every little thing about each extensor. Iron out the entire area, going past both origin and insertion where possible. Explore the more medial and lateral aspects, and don't be afraid to ride the edge of the ulna (just don't put too much direct knuckle pressure on it).

Realize that the lateral epicondyle is part of the humerus, and thus remains relatively stationary while your elbow, forearm, and wrist move. That means that anything that happens down the line, including supination and pronation at the wrist, will change the angle of the tissues involved. Take advantage of this by taking them through various ranges of motion while you work with smaller and larger strips of the forearm. The nervous system understands movement!

Something that I didn't put in the video: Having your client actively engage in movement of their own can sometimes be more effective than simply taking them through the movement passively. Do the same stripping/wringing/tourniquet techniques while they flex their hand into a fist, slowly and repeatedly. Apply a ring of pressure around their elbow as they extend it.

Consider a couple minutes of ice massage to bring inflammation down. I'll be posting my favorite stretches to assign to clients soon; tennis elbow sufferers need to get into the habit of loosening up their forearm if they're going to keep this at bay.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

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