A Simple and Highly Effective Way of Protecting Against Tennis Elbow

Virtually all of our everyday activities ask our forearm flexors to do the heavy lifting relative to our forearm extensors, so naturally, our forearm flexors tend to be stronger and more resistant to injury than our forearm extensors.

This is why inflammation of the common tendon of the forearm extensors along the outside region of the elbow - called tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis - is more common than golfer's elbow or medial epicondylitis that occurs within the common flexor tendon along the inside of the elbow joint.

The exercise shown in this video is the single most effective and efficient way that I have found to strengthen the forearm extensors and their common tendon. Simply extend your arm straight out in front of you, keep your elbow straight, extend your wrist back as far as it will comfortably go, then repeatedly spread and extend your fingers and thumb as fully as you can.

If you've never done this before, you may experience muscle fatigue within your forearm extensors within 10 to 20 repetitions. By working at this daily, you can expect to build the endurance and strength of your common forearm extensor tendon to a point where you are comfortably doing a few dozen or more repetitions at a time.

A strong common extensor tendon translates to lower risk of developing tennis elbow and better grip strength for everyday activities.