Underdosed Prescriptions for Elbow Pain: Are You Getting One-Size-Fits-All Rehab Plans?
Practice what you preach.
It's frustrating when I speak with strong athletes who've been prescribed 5-10 lb reverse wrist curls. I've already talked to two this week, and it's only Tuesday!
I mostly attribute this to providers not understanding the athlete and their sport. They don't do it themselves, understand how strong these athletes are, and disregard basic exercise science principles.
The fear of not hurting someone drives their underdosed prescriptions.
This is not productive for the individual sitting in front of them. As a default, it turns into some random ass biomechanical chain theory as to why their elbow got sore in the first place. To be blunt, this is stupid and a gigantic waste of the client’s time and money.
To channel my frustration, I made this graphic which should be easy to understand. When prescribing loads with exercise (the best option for tendon pain), you have to be specific with the load itself.
See the difference:
types of contractions:
Concentric contractions are when the muscles shorten under tension.
Isometric contractions are when the muscles don't shorten while maintaining the tension (this obviously makes no sense, but objectively, it looks as though they are not shortening).
Eccentric contractions are when the muscles lengthen under tension.
Key takeaways:
If you're trying to overload the lateral elbow with exercise, you can't use the same load for each type of muscle contraction.
If you go into a healthcare provider's office and walk out with "the list" of what to do, go somewhere else. That same dumb pamphlet was given to everyone else with your pain complaint (old, young, athlete, non-athlete etc.) You're not everyone else.