I use Velcro wraps when I'm out sailing. They work great. Never had an issue since. I don't wear them when wearing a full wetsuit, but I do wear them when wearing a shorty and when in board shorts and shirtless. I have been wearing the same Velcro wraps for 7 yrs now and they are still in good shape.

I do bicep curls to help build the muscles up more. But the trick is to time it and do the curls 3-5 hrs before you go windsurfing so that your bicep muscles haven't had enough time to develop soreness yet and you can get a session on the water in before the muscle soreness kicks in from the weights. Or, do bicep curls, but you will be sore the next day and possibly the following day. I usually give my arms 2 days to recover from curls before I windsurf again. So unless you time it and windsurf 3-5 hrs or so after your curl workout, I'd give your arms that 2 day recovery.

If the wind is good and I may have a pretty good idea that my arms will be sore later that day and the wind is predicted to be good for the next 3 days or so and I have the time to make it on the water those days, I will make a protein shake within an hr after my session when I get home to help with muscle recovery. I actually take a protein shake as well right after my curl workout, to also help with Muscle recovery. The protein shakes work very well for windsurfing muscle recovery and workouts at the gym, plus the protein builds more muscle which equals more strength and more time on water. Does a body good!!!

Don't play tennis

Fishoil tablets cured my tennis elbow 6 years ago. Elbow is as good as a brought one and issue It hasn't returned.

Gel packs around elbow. Also, dig fingers in forearm and rotate your wrist to release tension on tendons.

Push your body into harness, fine tune your lines and harness settings.

More.... windsurfing.lepicture.com/tips-and-tricks/

+ one for the Velcro strap, if worn tight and correctly it will push the tendons off their usual path. Clench your fist really tight as you tighten the Velcro .
RSI can be painful. Use to wear the Velcro strap when I was 14, not sure why I had tennis elbow then?? But I did play squash....maybe that was the cause?

lotofwind said..
+ one for the Velcro strap, if worn tight and correctly it will push the tendons off their usual path. Clench your fist really tight as you tighten the Velcro .
RSI can be painful. Use to wear the Velcro strap when I was 14, not sure why I had tennis elbow then?? But I did play squash....maybe that was the cause?

Gee thats a no brainer at 14!!! We all suspect its still a daily occurence even now!!

Thank you

ka43 said..

lotofwind said..
+ one for the Velcro strap, if worn tight and correctly it will push the tendons off their usual path. Clench your fist really tight as you tighten the Velcro .
RSI can be painful. Use to wear the Velcro strap when I was 14, not sure why I had tennis elbow then?? But I did play squash....maybe that was the cause?

Gee thats a no brainer at 14!!! We all suspect its still a daily occurence even now!!

Yeah, it is, but now I have to wear a Velcro strap on both arms.


Orange whip, what do you think?

Flexbar worked great for me, and a few other people I know. I had tennis elbow for a year before I discovered the flex bar, and then it was gone in 3 days. When they did a clinical study to compare the flex bar to conventional treatment, they cut is short because the results with the flex bar were so much better.

Basher said..
Sail with a changed grip - for example, make yourself use an underhand grip if you normally go overhand on the boom.

Another good one. I had tennis elbow on just one side. I later noticed that it's the same side I use an underhand grip on - I only use overhand grip on the other side. Now, when I start feeling my tendons acting up a bit while sailing, I switch to overhand grip, and don't really have problems anymore. Before I did this, I'd need to use the flexbar a few days every couple of months or so.

P.C_simpson said..
Don't play tennis

This is actually very true, I used to play quite often during my early years of w'surfing, and I would become inflicted with it. The two sports ask opposite things of your elbow, tennis with it's extension, and w'surfing with it's bent arm flex, I knew it was a bad combo.
I quit tennis, kind of burned out on it anyway, and the tennis elbow went away, never to return.

Long harness lines, 30 inches or longer, are a good therapeutic and preventative measure.

My physio showed me how to do exercises called radial glides. They relieve the nerve problems, in particular the large nerve that runs down from the neck to the hand. Cheap and easy. I have heard some say that acupuncture solved their problems, but I would in general totally avoid the use of steroids. They offer a quick fix but in the long term you will suffer for it...a bandaid at best.

MarkSSC said..
My physio showed me how to do exercises called radial glides. They relieve the nerve problems, in particular the large nerve that runs down from the neck to the hand. Cheap and easy. I have heard some say that acupuncture solved their problems, but I would in general totally avoid the use of steroids. They offer a quick fix but in the long term you will suffer for it...a bandaid at best.

Funny, I guess everyone has different experiences with this. I had tennis elbow pretty bad for about 8 months. In that time I must have tried nearly every treatment possible. Osteo, physio, chiro, chinese accupuncture, dry needling (physio & osteo), naturopath, massage etc etc. In addition to costing me sh!te loads of money, none of this worked. Three weeks out from a trip to Maui, in desperation I got a shot of cortisone. Within a couple of days the pain was gone and I had an awesome trip, sailing 4 hours daily for 12 days straight. That was just over four years ago and the pain hasn't come back. Pretty good bandaid....