hello... would like to seek advise... am feeling pain in my elbow area after playing badminton everytime... is there any remedy for this? thanks alot. pepper
Ice the area after you play. An ice massage (ice cup) might help a lot. You might also apply some heat to the area just before badminton. An anti-inflammatory may also be useful. You may be gripping the racket too tight. Keep the grip fairly loose most of the time... it should firm up on its own as needed. Do you use any finger power in your strokes? Are all of your strokes primarily arm or forearm only? Besides using finger techniques many of your strokes should also use upper body rotation. Some strokes would also benefit from more use of the legs & full body rotation so that your arm is not always doing most of the work.
Not neccesarily. It can be caused by high tension, but also due to gripping too tightly, incorrect grip sizing, and incorrect strokework.
I tried the ice/massage... it did work! Thanks! I guess you hit the right button there! Most of the time I tend to grip the racket too tight! And most of the power comes from my forearm... guess might be because of my volleyball background. Finger power? Mostly on backhand only, the thumb. I would be focusing more on the use of legs and full body rotation... Thanks alot SystemicAnomaly!
Come to think of it... I think you're right! I did felt the pain when I used a 26 pound tension string... when I got my optimum at 22. I think it was really a contributory factor on my elbow pain. Thanks!
Yeah, I think I should really look into my gripping and strokework... I really hope to solve this issue.. 'coz it really bothers my playing bigtime! Thanks jamesd20!
Glad that you found most of the tips to be useful. For volleyball, 'tis true that mostly tricep & forearm (with some hand action) is employed for (non-jump) serves. Also, many/some sets and bump passes of fast moving balls do not require much leg drive. However, in v'ball, body rotation adds power when spiking and when executing jump serves. Leg drive can also be employed for bumping & setting situations where extra power is needed to get the ball higher or further. So it is with badminton. In many fast situations we often rely primarily on the arm muscles. However for many situations, the use of the legs & the use of body rotation generates power more easily/effeciently/effectively. It also takes a lot of stress on the joints & muscles of the arm. Are you asking about finger power? This (squeezing) finger technique can be used for quite a variety of strokes (both forehand & backhand)... kill shots at the net, drives, overhead shots (on both sides), etc.
Am really a work in progress! I will be employing all your tips! Thank you very much again! I really do appreciate everything! Peace out!
Elbow pain is often indicative of injured wrist flexors. This can be aggrevated by gripping the overuse and overstress. Not gripping so tightly or hitting as hard is a short term solution. Ideally, you'd want to strengthen the wrist muscles. Not only will it keep the pain away, it'll help you improve your game. Common methods of wrist strengthening include: - dumbells - broom-on-a-stick variants - gyro balls - and that plastic wrist flexing thing that goes on the foream whose name I can't recall