Let me tell ya about my tennis elbow disaster. Happened last fall when I tried painting that dang fence around my backyard. Felt fine while doing it, woke up next morning? Holy moly. Sharp ache right here on the outside of my left elbow like someone stabbed me with a hot poker. Couldn’t even lift my coffee mug without wincing. That stubborn pain hung on like a bad houseguest for months.
My Dumb Plan to “Fix” It (Spoiler: Made It Worse)
Thought I was smart. Figured I just needed to strengthen stuff. Jumped online, found a million exercises. Started doing what seemed logical:
- First up, wrist curls. Grabbed a dusty dumbbell from the garage – maybe 10 pounds? Figured light weight was fine. Held my arm out, palm up, curled the weight slowly. Did 3 sets of 15. Felt the pull immediately. Thought, “Ah, that’s the pain leaving!” Nope. Next day? Couldn’t turn my dang car key.
- Then, reverse wrist curls. Flipped my hand over, palm down. Same dumbbell, same curl motion but backwards. Felt even worse during the exercise. Like grinding glass into the bone. Did ’em anyway because “no pain no gain,” right? Utterly stupid.
- Idea number three: Finger extensions. Bought one of those rubber band things. Put it around all five fingers, then spread my fingers out wide against the band. Repeated until my forearm screamed. Felt like I was tearing something. Made brushing my teeth painful.
The Daily Stuff That Turned Into Torture
Turns out the regular things I had to do were murder on my elbow, all while I was doing the stupid exercises above:
- Opening jars became a nightmare. That twisting motion? Pure torture. Had to ask the neighbor to open the pasta sauce jar last Tuesday. Felt ridiculous.
- Carrying grocery bags. Just lifting them outta the cart? Instantly knew it was a mistake. The full weight pulling down straight onto the tendons? Excruciating.
- Using a screwdriver. Had a loose doorknob. Simple fix, right? Nope. Every little twist sent shockwaves up my arm. Had to call my son over. He did it in two seconds. Infuriating.
- Typing too much. Working long emails? Holding my mouse weird? By the end of the day, my elbow was throbbing like it had its own heartbeat.
- Wringing out rags. Cleaning up a spill? Trying to squeeze water out of a sponge? Forget about it. Had to awkwardly pat things dry like a weirdo.
- Shaking hands. Yep, even that. Firm handshake at a meeting? Instant grimace. Pretty sure the client thought I was rude.
The Lightbulb Moment (Way Too Late)
After weeks of this agony, dragging my sorry self to every exercise and chore like a martyr, I finally stopped everything. Just quit it all cold turkey. No more weights. No more forceful gripping or twisting if I could help it. Rested the stupid arm.
Took discipline. Had to learn to lift groceries with both hands, use door levers instead of knobs, type differently. Slowly… super slowly… the constant, gnawing pain started to ease. It took MONTHS. Like, four or five, honestly. Maybe more.
Moral of the story? Those “strengthening” exercises I found online? Complete garbage for me at that point. And all that daily forceful stuff? Just kept pouring gas on the fire. The only things that worked were stopping the hurtful things and giving it stupid amounts of time. Don’t be like me. Stop the bad stuff now.