This has to be one of the most common questions I get asked.
"Should I use heat or ice on my elbow?"
My answer is
"Heat the heck out of it."
The follow up is ALWAYS
"But I thought I should put ice on it. My Dr / physio / chiro / whoever told me I should put ice on it."
So, let's delve into this a little bit.
Tennis elbow is a long lasting condition. For this reason, ice can be helpful in the first 3 days of injury. But once you get beyond that, heat is your friend!
The reason heat is so helpful, is that tendons don't have a good blood supply. This means it's hard fo
r them to heal, as the circulation brings the building blocks for the healing process to the injured area. If the injured area doesn't have a good circulation, it will struggle to heal.
Let's optimize the healing process by increasing the circulation as best we can. Heat will do this for you. Think about if you have a heating pad on your elbow for 10 minutes, you take it off and your skin has a little redness underneath the pad. You've increased the circulation.
Do this at least 5 times per day and you WILL speed up your healing process and so heal FASTER!
Heat is super simple and super effective!
Go grab a heating pad right now and pop it on! Your elbow will thank you for it.
Don't have a heating pad? Permission to go shopping! Find examples of the types of heating pads I recommend on the Helpful Products page.
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