RICE and Drugs as Tennis Elbow Treatments

Ah, RICE and drugs.  The standard way to treat any sports injury, Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate. And the NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) like ibuprofen will bring down the inflammation and treat the root of your problem. Excellent as a general recipe to body injuries.  But not the best of tennis elbow treatments.

I believe this isn’t a greatest of tennis elbow treatments since (1) people find it really hard to completely rest their elbows and arms, (2) taking Ibuprofen dulls the pain as well as bringing down inflammation, which gives some people a false sense that they have been cured or have recovered significantly.  And (3) there may be and probably are other causes contributing to the elbow pain that the RICEing will aggravate.  But, assuming you only have mild tendon related pain, RICEing can help a lot.

Rest is an excellent first step for damage control and allowing the body to heal itself. Your elbow won’t get any worse and it gives you a point to work forward from. Make a conscious mental note (or even a physical note) on a scale from 1-10 of how bad the pain is so you can get some sense of your progress while using this treatment.

Ice is also good, but only for the initial swelling and inflammation.  Ice can productively be applied to inflammation and soft tissue damage (torn tendons, ligaments, or muscles) and decrease the pain.  However, in cases with recently strained muscles or with trigger points (muscle knots), the ice can actually increase your pain.  So, if ice hurts you, don’t ice it.  Simple, right?

Also, only ice for 1-2 minutes or until the iced area is numb, and then let it warm up by itself.  Do not let the ice sit there for 15-20 minutes till you can’t feel the pain or your arm.  Ice gently and be nice to your body.

Always use raw ice, since it will stay at freezing and then melt and flow away, while an ice pack will slowly warm up and lessen the impact of the icing.  Yes, the ice is cold, it’s supposed to be that way, so don’t chicken out.

Compression.  This is good in general for a recent injury, but for a flare up of a chronic injury like tennis elbow this will not help to cure the condition.  It will (like it is supposed to) impede circulation and keep fluids from building up in your elbow, but this will hurt you when you start trying to increase circulation to flush out waste products and get fresh blood to the damaged tissue.  Compression is good first aid for most injuries but not helpful in this case of chronic injury.

Elevation, meant to reduce swelling.  A good practice in first aid and for a flare up of tennis elbow, but not a cure.  And this will interfere with the increased circulation we want later for healing as well.   So the moral:  ‘RICE and NSAIDs’ are good for acute injuries, but not for chronic tennis elbow.  Begin with just Rest, Ice, and NSAIDs for your tennis elbow treatments instead. If that doesn't work though, you can try some home cures before you go on to full elbow surgery.