Tuesday, January 1, 2019 (Court Day #239)
Yesterday, I’d emailed some players to meet at Brommer at 9 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Being Tuesday, the official SCPC play was out at Willowbrook in Aptos. Aside from being far, the level of play at Willowbrook generally isn’t overly strong. I was 10 minutes late and pulled up just as Rob got there. Eric was the first one. John P. arrived a few minutes later.
My peeps getting ready to play. Rob, Eric (far) and John P.
The four of us played some games. The word of the day was, well, a phrase, no, a word. Let’s go with “pain”. My tennis elbow was killing me. After the first couple games, I was wondering if I should just go home. But I love playing and continued on with my forearm strap and my ankle brace.
People trickled in twos and fours and we maxed out a little over 20 people. It’s good that John brought his own temporary net for people to use.
I played a game against Bruce and Janet with little Marie (who usually plays in Scotts Valley). Marie was very kind and thoughtfully aware of my tennis elbow. For some of the points in the game, I played left-handed. While I’m coordinated and sometimes hit shots left-handed in a game on purpose for the best result—say, a sharp crosscourt dink to my backhand—I’m far better playing with my dominant right hand.
A nice surprise was the the appearance of young Tom and his girlfriend Iliana. He’s amusing—intentionally funny! While we didn’t play in a game together, noticeable was the disparity in our skill levels. Tom and I used to be of similar skill. No longer. I’ve moved up to an entirely different level now. A good waymarker.
Kevin and his wife Bev played for about an hour, though I didn’t get into a game with either one. (Kevin is a strong opponent.) When they were leaving, I told Kevin, “You’re leaving? You can’t leave!” He admitted, “My knee is bothering me.” I countered, “I have really bad tennis elbow and I’m staying!” “But you are a warrior,” he said with a smile. I’m a warrior or just dumb. I’m not sure which yet.
Rob and I played a game against Mike Davey and John. Rob and I lost. Then lost again. In the third game, this one to 15, Rob and I were ahead but ended up losing by a few points. Afterward, Mike said, “That was a really good game.”
There was a first today. Rob and John were dinking back and forth straight across the net. After a few exchanges, Rob leap forward and executed an Erne shot on John and pounded the ball into John’s chest for winner. Nice, Rob! (I’m very jealous!) I’d never had a partner do that before.
Mike, Rob, John and I finished up play about 1 p.m. A good 4 hour session.
Mike Davey is a good player. I’d figure him to be a 4.0. Either that or a very high 3.5. He’s very consistent. He was frequently coaching John while playing with him. I wish Mike showed up to the scheduled group play sessions. He’d be a good opponent to battle against on a regular basis.
Home
Ice bag sandwiched in a towel resting on my right elbow.
I don’t know what I’m going to do. My elbow is very painful at times and isn’t getting better. It’s definitely affecting my game—particularly bandhands. (For example, there was a backhand drive where I subconsciously resisted hitting the ball hard and so it landed in the net. At that memorable moment, I knew why I was hesitant.) Maybe I go to play just left-handed for however long it takes for my tennis elbow to go away. Or stop playing. It’s frustrating.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019 (No Play) • DOCTOR VISIT
I was off to the doctor this morning to get my elbow checked out. My wife made the appointment. I told my doctor that due to pain, I’ve been at times switching to my left hand for shaving, releasing the parking brake my car, and other things. And that sometimes shaking people’s hands can be almost intolerably painful.
My doctor—who said had personal experience recovering from tennis elbow that he’d developed from playing squash—recommended a few things. First was rest. And to expect likely months (!) for recovery. He went on with some exercises to employ:
- Lock my right elbow. Bend my wrist down. Rotate my hand counterclockwise then rest it on my right thigh. Using my left hand, hold and bend my right hand toward my elbow. Release from this position slowly.
- Hold my right arm at a 90° angle with my upper arm parallel with the floor and my hand pointing up. Cup my forearm near the elbow with my left hand, thumb pressing on the inside of the forearm and fingers pinching the sore muscle on the top/outside of the forearm. Then with the index figure in a straight pointing position, rotate the hand slowly around and around the wrist trying to point down toward the floor. You should be able to feel the sore muscle under your fingers.
- Use the Tyler Twist technique with a green Theraband Flexbar. He did a quick search for “Tyler Twist Video” and this one below came up, though he said that she’s releasing the twist far too fast and that it should be uncoiled much slower.
I asked him about ultrasound devices—someone posted on the Facebook Pickleball Forum recommending one—and elbow compression sleeves. He said studies show mixed results for those. When I mentioned that one player said that the ultrasound worked for him, my doctor said, “It’s hard to argue with results.”
What really hurts is extending my right arm straight out—locking my elbow—then bending my hand up at the wrist and splaying out my fingers as wide. That kills.
Going forward, I’ll probably be playing less and playing with my left hand when I do play. There was a tournament I was debating in January but that’s off the table.
i couldn’t find the Theraband Flexbar easily locally so I begrudgingly ordered it online. (I really like to support local businesses.)
I emailed a guy yesterday who had posted a year ago about how an ultrasound device had been helping him. I asked if he still recommends it 13 months later. If yes, I might buy one. (They only run $40 for the one he’d mentioned.) I just hope I get a reply.
Man. What a pain. I hate tennis elbow. It’s really messing up pickleball enjoyment.
Number of days on a court: 239
Number of total hours: 659.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Leave a Reply