Support For Your Elbow (Elastoplast Sport Tennis Elbow Support)

Member Name: rosebud2001

Product:	Elastoplast Sport Tennis Elbow Support
Date:	12/02/09 (543 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No drugs, helps make physical activity easier, does relieve pain

Disadvantages: Only for use to support elbow in physical activity, expensive

Tennis elbow is a condition I have had the misfortune to suffer with for the past couple of years.

It started out as occasional pain in my right arm. I broke this arm when I was 17 and as a result ever since I have got used to the occasional twinge of pain. However over time the pain has become more insidious, culminating in being so bad I struggle to use my right arm - which is a problem as I am right handed.

Visits to the doctor have resulted in several remedies being suggested to me, including ibuprofen tablets, which worked at first, to eventually a silicone injection, which worked in a very strange way - it made the pain much worse for the first 24 hours before removing it completely.

I truly thought I had rid myself of tennis elbow but just 12 months later, the tell-tale pain was back.

Another injection wasn't going to be an option this time round - not until I had had some physiotherapy first. So I have just requested an appointment with a physio, but for now I have to deal with constant pain.

I don't like taking pain killers on a daily basis, so that ruled out the ibuprofen. I decided it might be an idea to find something that will support my elbow while I do tasks which make the pain worse, such as using the vacuum cleaner or carrying the shopping.

So I found myself in Boots and parted with £18.99 for an Elastoplast Tennis Elbow Support.

I was unaware Elastoplast made anything other than, er, elastoplasts, but they actually offer several sports injury products for joints, as I discovered on my visit to Boots.

The Tennis Elbow Support is basically a black polyester strip with a pad inside which fastens through a loop with Velcro. Sounds very simple, and it is.

You wear the support on your lower arm, just below your elbow. The blue pad inside is called a "Tendon Pad" and it should be placed, not surprisingly, over tendons which are causing you pain. This places pressure on your tendons and muscles, alleviating pain there.

You fasten by pulling the strap around your arm and fastening with the Velcro when it becomes comfortable and you can feel it offering you support.

So...does it work?

Well, yes - but not on a permanent basis. It is designed for use in sporting activities so I tend to only wear it when I am doing something particularly physical. However if I find my pain particularly bad in the morning I will put it on to ease my poor elbow into the day, as it offers really good support for it. I also wear it if I am doing a lot of typing as using the keyboard seems to aggravate the pain.

I do think for what this is that the price is a bit on the steep side - it is basically a strip of polyester, nylon and polyurethane foam and even allowing for the development of this, the price seems expensive. So if you need it for tennis elbow, it might be worth asking your doctor if they will prescribe it for you, something I am wishing I had done now. However if you bear in mind its tough and hardwearing, won't run out like a packet of painkillers or even a silicone injection, then I suppose its fairly good value for money.

If you suffer from tennis elbow and need something to help you do either sporty activities or anything which involves you using your arm, I recommend this as a good way to make life a little easier. Just don't think it's a permanent solution however!

http://www.elastoplastsport.co.uk/products/elbow/ tennis-elbow-support/

Summary: If you need support for your tennis elbow, this might help.