The most common causes of elbow pain I see are:

 

Repetitive movements and/or strain from upstream (shoulders) and/or downstream (wrists) are a recipe for elbow catastrophe!

 

Elbows (like knees) are hinge joints, which means they’re heavily influenced by the things around them. Let’s address all three of these causes to get rid of your elbow pain for good! 

 

 

 

The first easy win is looking at your wrist health!

 

You should be able to comfortably put your wrists into both extension and flexion with your arms completely straight, so if you struggle with this it could mean your forearm is super tight and pulling at your elbow joint.

It’s common to struggle more with the flexion, it often feels much tighter & weaker than extension, and when you think about it that means there’s a big imbalance! Loads of tightness in your forearm on one side but not the other! If your forearm is constantly tugging one side of your elbow more than the other, it’s no surprise it gets cranky.

 

This video covers the best wrist stretches for both flexion and extension and radial and ulnar deviation. If you find these super uncomfortable then that’s a great place to start, and after a few weeks of practice you’ll see a massive improvement! And you’ll have stronger wrists too! Win-win!

 

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Next, we want to look at how your shoulders are moving!

 

They’re a ball & socket joint so have a large range of motion for us to check. One of the easiest ways to do that is to use a wall using The Wall Shoulder Rotation or Shoulder CAR’s!

 

If you have elbow pain just on one side you may notice a big different between shoulders. Luckily, you can use this exercise to keep improving your shoulder rotation, along with other rotation exercises like the Banded Dislocates. Make sure to film yourself to check for any cheating! 

 

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Lastly, we want more variance into your training. This is especially important if you also have a job that requires the same repetitive daily movements.

 

Adding in some pulling and pushing in different directions starts to train all those little muscles & angles that’s often missed (and where weakness unknowingly builds up!).

 

Easiest way to do this is get some resistance bands! They’re also the safest if you’re currently in a flare up as you have a lot of control over the tension.

 

Banded curls like this are so good to hit different positions and you can adjust the difficulty by adjusting where you grip. Experiment with hand positions, angles, rotations, torso/shoulder positions – just set a timer and see what your body comes up with! 

 

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If you have access to a TRX or Gymnastics Rings, then multi directional rows are an extra bonus! I always do these any time I’m in the gym, they’re a great warm up, cool down or just something to do between sets!

 

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If you have no equipment, then animal movements come in so handy.

 

Not only does this help get your shoulders moving in weird & wonderful ways, but were also bringing in some wrist stretching & strengthening too! These are benefits you can’t get from.

 

Animal Movements can get really fancy, but just devoting 5 minutes to transitioning from Bear to Crab is a great place to start! 

 

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It’s stuff like this that helps you fill in the gaps & get so many gains you didn’t even know were missing!

 

 

 

If you have had recurring bouts of elbow pain, then these exercises will be a massive help! If there’s any you find super challenging, they’ll be the ones you gain from most. 

 

Throw these movements into your warm ups, cool downs, or supersets between exercises and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to fit them in!

 

As you work on them there’s a chance you might flare up pain temporarily but wait for that to subside and try again with slightly less volume/resistance! If your shoulders/wrists have been tight for years it might take a little while for them to change! As always though, if you’re concerned make sure to see someone in person!

 

 

Remember there’s loads of crossover benefits to this stuff, not only will you have awesome elbows, but you’ll have super strong wrists, buttery shoulders and you’ll find your neck doesn’t get as stiff too!