Pronation and elbow pain

N

NOLE.LUCKY

Regular Member
Hi all. I have been suffering from elbow pain (on my playing arm) for a few days now. Earlier the pain used to subside by the end of the session, but during my session yesterday, it was borderline unbearable. The elbow never before used to hurt throughout the day, but since yesterday's game, it has been 24x7. My technique on the fh clear seems to be fine, i am following the technique showed by coach lin on his yt vid, and also ready the badmintonbible articles thoroughly. I start with a (slightly) supinated forearm, lead with my elbow trying to raise it as high as possible before i lift my forearm, and finally the pronation. I do not hold the handle tightly at any point during the motion, even when making contact witht he shuttle(something that needs to be fixed).
To single out the exact part of the motion that causes pain, i did a few shadow motions of my fh clear, and found that rotating my forearm for pronation caused the pain, maybe because it produced a lot of twist in the tendon going into the forearm.
So id be grateful if any of you who have had similar problems can guide me here. I know i need to see a physician, but knowing some lit before going to the doc wont hurt.
I use a vt 7 strung with bg 65 at 23 lbs and nylon shuttles. The elbow pain became a problem only when i started to play with such high tension, which was one week ago. I now know that 23 lbs of tension with nylons is a stupid idea.
 
make sure you're not locking out your elbow fully... there should be at least 5-10 degree of flexion at strike


also your bg65 will lose tension rapidly over the next few weeks, so hopefully that'll help somewhat
 
4 things cause elbow pain.
1. Incorrect technique
2. incorrect grip
3. Incorrect string tension - if your tension is not correct you will fell you are not producing the right power. You then overcompensate by hitting harder causing overstrain of your elbow. find which tension correctly matches yuor technique providing you the right amount of tension. Also if your tension is too high you will lose power too causing the same affect.
4. Overplaying
 
I have the similar problem since the last 2 months, the pain is located on the inner part of my elbow close to the body as commonly known as Golfer's elbow.

The pain started to appear when I started to apply this pronation technique, and the pain was getting worse after I increased my "normal" string tension and used stiffer rackets.

To summarize, these are a couple of points which I think can be useful to share :

1. Racket stiffness & String tension.
Need to pay attention when you play with an extra stiff racket (i.e. MX80, VTZF), the vibration of shuttle impact will be transfered towards your elbow. Hence, be extra careful to match the string tension with this kind of rackets. Better start from something low around 23lbs and slowly increase it after you get used to it, instead of drastically pull it higher to 27-28lbs.​

2. Warm-up is a must !!!
Don't get too rush to jump into the court and play your first match, take your time to do proper warm up and stretch your muscles around the elbow.​

3. Pronation doesn't stop at the elbow.
Another thing I have noticed is, I used to hit using the arm and wrist power, which caused me to unconciously lock the elbow and rely on the power from arm swinging and wrist snapping. This makes a habit on me to stop the pronation at the elbow while the proper way is to pronate the whole arm all the way up to the shoulder.​

4. Follow through is another key.
Without a follow through, the movement will be suddenly stopped and the excess amount of stress will be absorbed by the wrist, elbow and shoulder. After a period of time or due to a repetitive similar motion, eventually they will get hurt. Don't get rush for the next shot and cut the complete stroke sequence, make sure the pronation has a correct follow through to release the amount of stress smoothly.​

5. Cooling down stretching.
Don't be too hurry to pack your gears and leave the court, spend a fair amount of time to do cooling down stretching and it's not only for the elbow.​

Hope this helps :)
 
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What was your string tension before you increased it to 23 lbs?

There will be inflammation around the elbow joint. You need to rest at least three days to allow this to subside. If you keep playing badminton while your elbow is painful, the injury will get worse.

As well as resting, I would recommend applying an icepack (3 times a day, for 10 minutes) and taking an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen (400 mg, 3 times daily with food). It may be helpful to do this for up to two weeks, depending on how inflamed your elbow is -- but the first three days are crucial.

It's possible this injury is caused by your technique. Try to relax a bit, and don't try to hit your smashes so hard. Focus on smooth and efficient hitting, not "monster" hitting.

If the injury is not completely better within about two weeks, you need to see a doctor. You can also see a doctor immediately if you feel like it.
 
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