Tennis elbow can make gripping a barbell, turning a door handle, or holding a paddle feel like the tendon is about to give out. If you have been wearing a brace, resting it for weeks, or pushing through the pain hoping it fades, you already know that approach has limits. Despite the name, most tennis elbow we see at ActiveX Physio in Singapore comes from the gym, the desk, or a combination of both rather than from a tennis court.
How We Approach It
You have probably tried a forearm strap, ice, anti-inflammatories, and pulling back from whatever aggravated it. Those measures manage symptoms, but they do not change the tendon’s capacity to handle load. We assess grip strength, wrist extensor endurance, and how the elbow shares load with the shoulder and thoracic spine. Many cases involve a mismatch between what the forearm can tolerate and what the activity demands: heavy deadlifts, long mouse hours, repeated paddle strokes. The tendon takes the hit, but the drivers often sit elsewhere. We find those drivers and address them alongside the tendon itself.
What Treatment Looks Like
Tendon rehabilitation starts with isometric loading to build tolerance, then progresses into slow heavy resistance through wrist extension and supination. We look at how you grip and where force concentrates during the movements that provoke symptoms. If your training includes deadlifts, pull-ups, or farmer’s carries, we modify those lifts to keep you training while the tendon adapts. Shockwave therapy can be useful for tendons that have been irritable for months and have not responded to loading alone. We also address shoulder stability and thoracic rotation, because poor force transfer through the chain increases how hard the wrist extensors have to work. Grip retraining may feature for desk workers whose sustained mouse posture is part of the loading pattern.
Who Can Help
Any of our physiotherapists can assess and treat tennis elbow. If your pain is showing up during heavy grip work, deadlifts, or pull-ups, TJ Chen works with lifters daily and understands how to manage tendon load within a training block. If your tennis elbow comes from racquet or paddle sports, Nicholas Ho can assess the stroke mechanics feeding the overload.