Should You Wear A Brace If You Have Tennis Elbow?

How Braces, Bands And Supports Can End Up Slowing Your Tennis Elbow Recovery

Most medical websites, authorities and sports blogs recommend that you wear some kind of brace when you have Tennis Elbow, supposedly to help it heal – But this video explains why these supports can easily have the opposite effect on healing.

Should you wear a brace to treat your Tennis Elbow?

Tennis Elbow Treatment In Marin / Sonoma County, CA

If you’re in the Bay Area, particularly in the Marin / Napa / Sonoma County Area, here’s my page on how I treat Tennis Elbow – where you can also get my free video course, ‘Tennis Elbow 101’ that I mention in the video:

Treatment for Tennis Elbow in San Francisco / Marin

Visit my Tennis Elbow Classroom site for the original article:

Full, original post on braces, splints and supports

(And dozens of other articles, videos & podcasts on Tennis Elbow.)

First of all, Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow, (along with most other ‘Tendinopathies’) are usually not the kind of injuries that benefit from being bound up with some kind of restrictive “support” for days or weeks.

These “supports” don’t actually support the healing of this kind of tendon injury!

In other words, the cure doesn’t fit the “disease!” (Although it may feel better temporarily.)

So, in case you’ve been wearing some kind of brace and have noticed that it feels a little better – make sure you ask yourself this question:

Does that mean it’s actually healing? Unfortunately, NO – It doesn’t.

It’s deceptive!… Because having less pain is one of the ways we can tell that an injury is healing and getting better.

(Of course, I completely understand this question is really easy to skip over when you’re in urgent pursuit of relief from that annoying, burning pain and you need to get on with the necessities of life.)

It’s only natural to assume that if it’s feeling better it must be getting better. It must be healing!

The problem is that even though there are a lot of things you can do to make your Tennis Elbow feel better, (like icing, resting, chasing inflammation with anti-inflammatories and, worst of all, getting Cortisone shots.)

All these so-called treatments do is trick you by easing and postponing your pain for a little while – which is exactly what braces do too.

So, WHY then doesn’t bracing and supporting your muscles and tendons (or your entire elbow) help your Tennis Elbow heal?

If you broke your arm, then you’d have to put it in a rigid cast while the bone heals – No question about it!

Or if you sprained your ankle badly, then you’d have to wrap it for a while (at least for a few days) – No argument there either…

But Tennis Elbow has almost nothing in common with these kinds of injuries!

Tennis Elbow is certainly not a fracture and it’s not a sprain or a strain (usually) – By that I mean there is usually no major tear (strain) in the muscle or tendon that needs to be protected from movement!

(In the case of a significant tear, a brace or support probably would be needed at first – but you would probably need to get an MRI in order for a tear to be diagnosed.)

But What About The Possibility of a Smaller Tear?

A lot of Tennis Elbow sufferers really worry about that – often because the pain is so sharp or relentless.

Well, that’s always a possibility, but the truth is the severity of the pain and its persistence often has little to do with it.

Pain does not necessarily = TEAR! In other words, just because it hurts like hell for weeks or months doesn’t mean there’s a tear – large or small – Often there isn’t.

However, for arguments sake, even if there is a small tear, from my understanding and what the leading-edge sports medicine approach seems to favor, is to either keep it free and mobile – or brace it for a very short time after the injury, and then start moving it again as soon as possible

We’re talking about mere days of bracing (in the case of a small tear) followed as soon as possible by gentle movement rather than weeks of bracing and immobilization.

But let’s get right back to the typical case of Tennis Elbow now.

Tennis Elbow is a tendon injury, and most of the time the injured tendons are NOT badly torn in one big, traumatic event – They’re damaged gradually.

The Key Issue And Biggest Risk To Injured Tendons

And the key problem is that Tendons heal much more slowly, in part because they have a much smaller blood supply

So slowly, in fact, the biggest risk with tendons is that they don’t heal at all – and that they gradually break down instead.

THAT’S what’s really going on more often than not in the typical case of Tennis Elbow! – Gradual breakdown, stagnation and degeneration (regardless of whether there’s a tear or not.)

It’s an insidious, weakening or “decay” of the collagen protein that the tendon is made of, where the normal, expected healing response fails to keep up with the breakdown.

Technically, it’s called ‘Tendinosis’ and there’s no longer any scientific basis for continuing to use the tired, old term of TendonITIS or referring to inflammation (not the problem) any longer.

So it’s a mistake to treat Tennis Elbow as if it were an Acute injury that’s swollen and inflamed, like a sprained ankle or a broken bone.

Especially by immobilizing it!

The key thing to always remember is the fact that Tendons heal slowly – once again, mostly because they have much less of a blood supply.

And the last thing you want to do is to reduce that circulation and blood supply to your tendons even more as they’re trying to heal. What they need is the opposite.

How A Brace Can Reduce Circulation And Slow Tendon Healing

Unfortunately, reducing circulation is exactly what wearing a brace, splint, strap or any other kind of so-called support tends to do where you’re wearing it – Two ways:

First, indirectly, by restricting the movement of your muscles, tendons and elbow joint. Less movement = Less circulation, because muscle movement is essential for good blood flow (and lymph flow, which is completely dependent on movement.)

And second, by directly compressing the tissues and blood vessels in that area. And, yes, even if it’s not that tight. Naturally, the tighter and more restrictive it is, and the longer you wear it the worse it is.

Supports Can Also Lead To More Scar Tissue

The other big downside with supports is that the compression and reduced mobility tends to encourage sticky ‘adhesions’ or scar tissue, which further binds and restricts your muscles and tendons.

I’m sure you will agree losing your flexibility to a bunch of nasty scar tissue and having your healing process stall are the last things you want!

Muscles and tendons actually need gentle movement and mobility to heal – (except right after a major tear, which I’ve already mentioned is rarely the case with Tennis Elbow).

Gentle movement during most if not all of the healing process helps the repair process and helps to prevent excessive Scar Tissue build up.

But What About Resting: Doesn’t It Need Rest To Heal?

Yes, but only in the sense that you should try to avoid the kind of stressful, repetitive motions and activities that caused your injury in the first place and which would likely aggravate it.

Not in the sense that you shouldn’t move the area at all. (See the following article and video for more about the question of rest.)

How Important Is Rest In Treating Tennis Elbow?

Of course, there is a significant difference between a hard, inflexible cast or rigid brace that allows little or no movement of the elbow, and either the sleeve-type brace or the strap-type support both of which do allow some movement…

But, the simple fact is, it doesn’t take very much compression to begin to slow circulation, especially the lymph flow – And, once again, circulation along with frequent, gentle movement is essential to the healing process of muscles and tendons – Especially with Tendinosis.

And too little circulation, movement and overall “stagnation” in the area is your enemy – Potentially causing more degeneration of your tendon.

That’s not to say they have no place and no role whatsoever, though!…

Exceptions: The Only Times To Wear A Brace

Yes, there are exceptions. It may make sense to wear a brace or support:

In the case of a tear – As mentioned above, if you’re sure you’ve suffered a significant tear (you had an MRI or sonogram and a tear was diagnosed)…
When playing tennis / golf – While you’re playing tennis or golf (or some other sport) and you’re still recovering (See below)…
Heavy exertion – OR possibly while you’re engaging in some kind of short-term forceful activity, like hammering nails, moving furniture or digging in your garden.

In these cases, your goal is to protect your injury (somewhat) from the risk of further damage – while you’re doing something strenuous involving sudden, dynamic, forceful motions.

But only for short periods while exerting yourself, and never the rest of the time, while you’re walking around, sitting at home, sleeping or while you’re working – (if that work involves doing something repetitive and lower intensity.)

One other possible exception might be the “neoprene sleeve” type of support.

I’m not keen on the idea, but I’ve heard they can be helpful when it comes to keeping the area warm, which is certainly beneficial for circulation, but I’m still a bit skeptical, since I worry about the compression factor from the elastic Neoprene.

Again, in conclusion, I’m 99% convinced it’s best to completely abandon the idea that using a support for days, weeks or months will help your Tennis Elbow heal.

Treatment in Marin / San Francisco

If you’re in the Bay Area, please see my page here about how I treat Tennis Elbow: