Withstand Elbow Pressure To Decrease Tapping Out

By Justin Sneed

Elite Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy works with combat sports participants or members of the military or law enforcement who continue to get injured as they try to train for peak performance. Two particular complains we hear often with these individuals include elbow injuries and the inability to withstand pressure in the elbow, forcing them to tap out earlier than desired.

Today Elite Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy's PT and Combat Sport expert, Justin Sneed, shares three exercises you can do to improve mobility, stability, and strength. By improving these areas you will be able to better tolerate pressure on the elbow, especially in moves like an arm bar, allowing you to avoid tapping out.

**The video linked above will help guide you through the following exercises.

Exercise 1: 
The first thing we're going to do is work on just getting your nerves to move a little bit better as they pass from the neck down to the wrist. All you're going to do is just gently bring the wrist down as you extend the elbow out infront of you, and then come back. I know this doesn't feel like a lot, but believe it or not, you're doing more to help your nerves move better through that area than what you think you are.

Exercise 2: Elbow/Wrist Extention Stretch
Now, from here, in order to increase that, you're going to extend the elbow out a little more and now you can hold the stretch for a little bit longer. This will help you tolerate more of that extended position for the elbow.

Exercise 3:
Then, last, you want to use a weight to strengthen the muscles around the forearm and elbow. Hold the weight down at the bottom end of the weight. Start with your hand palm down and just turn palm up and palm down. Back and forth, working higher repetitions to strengthen the muscles in the forearm in turn to help you have that stability in your elbow to tolerate the arm bars.

If you're frustrated becuase you are constantly getting injured and unable to train the way that you want to train, give Elite Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy a call at 816-941-2550 to schedule a FREE 30-minute consult with Justin Snead so you can get you back in the gym and training the way that you want to.