A Cure for Golfer's Elbow & Tennis Elbow
ACTIVE RELEASE THERAPY
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Have you ever had a tight muscle or a tweaked back or neck or a joint? And have you ever felt a sudden release of that tightness or pain that feels like the problem is melting away and quite literally instantly? You can actually feel the pain “releasing” and vanishing every second until a couple of minutes later, you feel pain free. In some cases, this may be temporary but in other very rare cases, it’s permanent and euphoric. It feels magicial and miraculous.
Active release it turns out is an aggressive form of acupressure where certain pressure points and direction of release technique is used to do just this - “release” the tension causing elbow pain. If suggested to a patient who has felt this release described above on their own or through other therapy, it’s easy to get consumed and hopeful that golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow pains also can be released.
Referred by my physician, I booked appointments with a very experienced active release specialist that takes care of Stanford and other athletes using this method. Once again, the idea of hope and a cure for my elbow pain made me feel positive and I couldn’t wait to get to my first appointment.
When I entered the room, it felt more like a massage treatment room than a physical therapy session. I lied on the lone piece of furniture, a massage table, face down. The therapist put on soothing music, which would be the last soothing thing for the next hour.
Some of what she did to warm up the arm and shoulder felt very similar to a deep tissue massage. Then the aggressive phase began. She dug and “scraped” what she had grabbed with her thumb or elbow in what she were the directions that muscles and tendons needed to stretch to release the swelling and tightness causing golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow pain.
She applied so much pressure and force in her rub that I actually got used to it – the arm was going numb allowing me to forget about whatever pain there might be internally and on my skin. When she finished, I felt no pain in the elbow! But as I was walking out, I realized I also felt nothing along my forearm – it felt numb. Within an hour, feeling started to return with a very uneasy tingling. I ignored it and looked forward to the next appointment because the hour or so of pain free elbow was bliss.
So I continued with a handful of treatments but each time, the numbness lasted longer and the tingling became more electricity like. After a half a dozen sessions, I knew something was wrong – the elbow was flaring up with more anger than ever once the numbness subsided and the tingling feeling felt like I was suffering nerve damage.
I should mention at this point that while I gave up on previous treatments, I carried over elements that any sensible person would find obvious. I continued to eat healthier, lay off on rigorous activity that would flare up the elbow pain and occasional self-massage with a lacrosse ball or lighter stretch exercises using the Flexbar.
I also had nothing to lose (actually I was feeling I may lose feeling in my forearms if there really was nerve damage) so I mentioned all this to the therapist at the next session. She became concerned and eased up during the session. And guess what? Less numbness right after the session and less flaring pain in the elbow. But also no pain-free bliss and continued feeling of nerve damage. I didn’t make a follow-up appointment.
