Surgery for Tennis Elbow?

[johnrobison]

Update: Surgery was 5 weeks ago and yesterday I was on the practice range hitting balls again. It was a bit tender but didn't impede my swing at all. I expected to have a very sore elbow and arm last night and this morning but that's not the case. I'm summoning all of my self-discipline to resist the urge to go back out and practice again today, in fact. I know I need to ease my way back but the arm is feeling so much better that the temptation to resume my schedule at 100% strength is very powerful.

 

I'll be discussing PRP treatment with my orthopedist as an added measure of therapy to rehab the condition since I know that this thing will probably be with me for the rest of my life now. But the significant reduction in pain - from unable to squeeze toothpaste 5 weeks ago, to a nearly full practice session yesterday - makes the denervation surgery VERY well worth doing for me.

[ruxpin23]

On 3/25/2021 at 2:08 PM, clp34vmp said:

3 weeks to hitting balls again pain free would be really amazing. Looking forward to hearing how it's going then.

hey bud, i'm going through almost the exact same situation.  (tennis elbow in my lead arm) - tried everything, felt like it got to a plateau.  had my first PRP injection about 10 days ago.  i know it's way too soon and i need to stop expecting it to be pain free this early.

 

just wanted to see if how you're elbow has been since it's been about 2 months now... if you're doing much better it would give me a lot of hope to stay the course and stay off it.  as a fellow wrx'er it's been REALLY HARD to not have hit a ball in so long.

[johnrobison]

5 hours ago, ruxpin23 said:

hey bud, i'm going through almost the exact same situation.  (tennis elbow in my lead arm) - tried everything, felt like it got to a plateau.  had my first PRP injection about 10 days ago.  i know it's way too soon and i need to stop expecting it to be pain free this early.

 

just wanted to see if how you're elbow has been since it's been about 2 months now... if you're doing much better it would give me a lot of hope to stay the course and stay off it.  as a fellow wrx'er it's been REALLY HARD to not have hit a ball in so long.

Have you considered continuing your practice with just your trail arm? That's what I did for months and I learned a ton in the process. It sucked at first because I wasn't able to compensate for my swing faults but over time I worked out some of those faults - especially lead-side pressure. I'm back to hitting balls with both arms as of a couple weeks ago after successful denervation surgery and feel that all the trail arm practice over the months is really paying off.

[ruxpin23]

I’ll definitely give it a shot, but mainly wanted to see if prp worked for others and what the timeline was

[J13]

16 hours ago, ruxpin23 said:

I’ll definitely give it a shot, but mainly wanted to see if prp worked for others and what the timeline was

 

 

It really comes down to how severe the problem is.  If the tendon has a major tear then get surgery and don't waste time and money on other things (i did this).  

 

My advice is to get an MRI asap.  Once you understand the scope of the injury, discuss it with a great sports/ortho doc.

Edited May 19, 2021 by J13

[ruxpin23]

On 5/18/2021 at 5:22 PM, johnrobison said:

Have you considered continuing your practice with just your trail arm? That's what I did for months and I learned a ton in the process. It sucked at first because I wasn't able to compensate for my swing faults but over time I worked out some of those faults - especially lead-side pressure. I'm back to hitting balls with both arms as of a couple weeks ago after successful denervation surgery and feel that all the trail arm practice over the months is really paying off.

What exactly did you do drill-wise?  Just take it to the top and swing?  Or did you have your left hand under the right elbow (a variation I’ve seen) etc.   what faults did you find it most helpful for?

 

part of my problem is my swing is very left arm dominant (to the point where my right hand can get disconnected from the club like mickelson).   Also considering going to a interlock grip from an overlap

[johnrobison]

On 5/23/2021 at 7:51 AM, ruxpin23 said:

What exactly did you do drill-wise?  Just take it to the top and swing?  Or did you have your left hand under the right elbow (a variation I’ve seen) etc.   what faults did you find it most helpful for?

 

part of my problem is my swing is very left arm dominant (to the point where my right hand can get disconnected from the club like mickelson).   Also considering going to a interlock grip from an overlap

I generally power my swing with more left arm feel than right arm, as well. I think having to spend 6 months without being able to use it turned out to be a good thing, because of that.

 

I started by cupping by left hand under my right triceps which was good for me because I tend to get the right elbow behind just at the top of my swing. However, it was putting too much stress on the effected elbow so I switched to simply placing my left hand across my right biceps. I hit only wedges and was pitching mostly 20 or 30 yards but also increasing the speed and power to 40 to 60 yards for some. 

 

It revealed and helped me work on a number of faults. Some more than others but all important:

1. I was shifting pressure into the lead side too late as well as not opening the lead side while restricting the right side. Contact was awful (I nearly gave up!) until I realized just how poorly I was doing it.

2. My right elbow was getting in front of me, especially since I tend to flare it out a bit at the top. I worked hard to sync up the pressure shift and rotation with getting the elbow more forward.

3. The right hand was unloading incorrectly - I was just dumping the wrist angle in an attempt to get to the ball as a consequence of not pivoting well.

[johnrobison]

The salient point is that I was able to compensate for those faults quite easily with both hands on the club. So much so that I didn't realize just how faulty the faults were. They all became excruciatingly apparent when only allowed to use one hand. And it was much more clear when I was working on them whether I was doing the drills correctly and struggling through, as opposed to just thinking I was doing the drills but slipping back into my compensations.

 

FWIW... I'm now 8 weeks post surgery and getting in full practice sessions, back-to-back days. The elbow does get a bit tender after a hundred balls or so but no more so than other body parts might from time-to-time. It will continue to improve over the next couple of months, too. About 8 weeks ago I couldn't squeeze toothpaste with my left hand - today I'm hitting balls without limitation.

[clp34vmp]

On 5/18/2021 at 5:41 PM, ruxpin23 said:

I’ll definitely give it a shot, but mainly wanted to see if prp worked for others and what the timeline was

So I am now about 3 months out from the PRP. The first week or so it hurt like hell. The next 3-4 weeks were just getting back to the baseline. I would say I then saw some general improvement over the next month or so. There was one specific spot right at the outside of the elbow (my trail elbow), though, that just continued to hurt. It also started to visibly swell a bit right at the source of the pain.

 

At that point, I decided it was time to just get an MRI (something I should have done a long time ago.) The sports medicine doctor who did my PRP scheduled the MRI for me, and the results were definitely surprising. It turns out that I have a high grade tear in one of the ligaments that help to stabilize the elbow - fortunately not the same one that baseball pitchers are always getting Tommy John surgery for. My sports medicine guy definitely seemed surprised by this; he said that type of injury would more typically be seen in a trauma-type injury like a bad fall as opposed to a repetitive use injury. I've never had anything like that so who knows. Anyway, I'm actually going for a consultation today with the surgeon who I originally saw way back 16 months ago when this whole ordeal started. 

 

As far as the PRP though, I do think it helped; the ultrasound they used during the procedure showed some tendinosis in the area where tennis elbow would typically occur, and it looked from the later scan like that that had improved. I think my level of pain is lower than it was before the PRP. I do think, though, that getting the MRI is key and, as others have said here, is something I wish I'd done much earlier. In any case, good luck - elbow trouble is no fun!

 

 

 

 

[TheGolfingRealtor]

I had two tennis elbow surgeries (debridements) done this year (January and April). Tomorrow will be 12 weeks removed from the 2nd surgery and I'm sort of regretting it up to this point. My swing is gone, my speed is gone, muscles in my arms are gone... I may have been in pain the last few years but at least I could play and play well I might add. Now I'm ready to quit!

[J13]

9 hours ago, TheGolfingRealtor said:

I had two tennis elbow surgeries (debridements) done this year (January and April). Tomorrow will be 12 weeks removed from the 2nd surgery and I'm sort of regretting it up to this point. My swing is gone, my speed is gone, muscles in my arms are gone... I may have been in pain the last few years but at least I could play and play well I might add. Now I'm ready to quit!

 

 

If you feel like you're going backwards I would get a 2nd consult with another doc and get another MRI.  Also make sure you are diligent in your physical therapy.  Hope it gets better for ya my man

[johnrobison]

12 hours ago, TheGolfingRealtor said:

I had two tennis elbow surgeries (debridements) done this year (January and April). Tomorrow will be 12 weeks removed from the 2nd surgery and I'm sort of regretting it up to this point. My swing is gone, my speed is gone, muscles in my arms are gone... I may have been in pain the last few years but at least I could play and play well I might add. Now I'm ready to quit!

I'd encourage you to ask your surgeon about the denervation procedure I described above. I was back on the practice range in 6 weeks and playing a few more after that.

[jbsg02]

After reading these I'm finally going to go have my elbow looked at by a doctor, I've been battling it for 2 years and rest and exercises haven't fixed it.

[rawa13]

Graphite shafts and Flexbar have been helping tremendously. With Flexbar, my strength has gone from sets of 10 to 35, and that shows when I play golf.

 

The advice I came across here has been tremendously helpful.

[Tpfol]

Well I had tennis elbow in my left (lead) elbow and tried to manage the pain for over a year, couldnt lift a cup of coffee in the morning without pain. Thanks to this site I got the green flex bar, went 6 weeks without picking up a club, and am now 100% pain free.