Throughout your tennis career, you’re bound to get some injuries on the court. Whether they be sprained ankles, overworked muscles, or even scrapes and cuts, they’ll all probably be easy to treat. In fact, one of the most common tennis injuries- the helpfully-named tennis elbow- is also incredibly easy to recognize and treat.

Do You Have Tennis Elbow?

Tennis elbow is a simple issue to diagnose, and one that you can probably deal with without doctor’s fees. It’s an injury that takes time and repeated motion to happen, and stresses the muscles to the point where they become swollen. It causes pain and tenderness in your elbow, and can stretch down into your lower arm, depending on the case. It can cause pain when you go to swing a racquet, open a door, or even shake someone’s hand.

Healing From Tennis Elbow

If you’re starting to feel like your muscles are overworked, take a break! Even if you don’t have tennis elbow, it never hurts to rest for a few days. If your symptoms persist past that, it might be helpful to visit a doctor- but in the meantime, there are several different ways to deal with tennis elbow.

The Cool Treatment

One of the easiest ways to cool off your swollen muscles is with ice. This can help reduce swelling, and therefore take away pain. Since it’s summer, there’s the double bonus of keeping cool in the sun. Experts recommend that you ice your elbow for about half an hour, every 3 hours.

Stretch Out!

Even if your muscles are overworked, it can actually help them to work on some stretches. Range of Motion exercises are great for this- they bend the muscle in every way that it possibly can, reducing stiffness and increasing the flexibility of the muscle. While it might not bring down swelling, it can bring you some relief.