You rested it. You wore the strap. You changed your grip. And it keeps flaring back up.
Here is the truth most athletes never get told. Tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, and grumpy wrists are rarely just a local problem at the sore spot. Far more often the arm above is not sharing the load, so the forearm and hand grip harder to make up for it. Grip too hard for long enough and the tissue where the muscle meets the bone gets angry.
Same story as the rest of the body. It is not only about what hurts. It is about what has stopped sharing the work.
Keep this simple. A few key players decide how it all feels.
These run from around the elbow down into the wrist and hand. They control your grip and your wrist. When you grip everything for dear life, this is where the strain lands, right at the elbow where they anchor. That is the tennis elbow and golfer's elbow story.
How you load your hand changes everything above it. Load through the heel of the hand and the fingers, not just the palm, and the forearm and elbow work together properly. The elbow itself is rarely the villain. It passes force between your shoulder and your hand.
If the shoulder blade is not stable and the shoulder is not sharing the load, the arm compensates by gripping harder down at the hand. Fix the elbow without fixing the shoulder and it keeps coming back.
When these share the work, your grip feels easy and your elbow stays quiet. When the shoulder goes offline and the hand over-grips to cope, that is when the elbow and wrist start to complain.
Pick the one that fits you best. It points you to the right checks below.
Pins and needles in the hand, weakness, dropping things, or a specific injury.
Start with the pathology checks 02CoordinationThe outside or inside of the elbow, worse when you grip, carry, or lift.
Go to coordination 03CoordinationSore through pressing, hanging, pull ups, or holding the bar.
Go to coordinationBefore anything else, we rule out the things that need a professional eye. These checks do not diagnose anything. They tell you whether it is sensible to get it looked at before you load it.
Some signs mean stop and get it looked at. Tick any of these and book an assessment.
A word on nerve symptoms. Pins and needles and grip weakness can come from a nerve being compressed anywhere from the neck down to the wrist. It is usually not serious, but it deserves a proper look rather than pushing through it, because training around a compressed nerve tends to make it louder. If the numbness is constant, or the hand is genuinely weak, get it assessed.
These checks are for peace of mind and understanding your body. They are not a diagnosis and they do not replace medical advice. If you have constant numbness, real grip weakness, a suspected fracture, or a hot swollen joint, stop training and see a doctor or physio.
If nothing above fits you, your pain is far more likely about load and how the arm shares it. That is good news, and it is exactly what the next part is for.
No red flags? Then the question changes. It is not "what is damaged". It is "who has stopped doing their job".
Here is the honest bit. The Resilient Athlete programme was built lower limb first. Knee, ankle, hamstring, hip. That is where the coordination checks and drills exist today. The upper body work is being added.
So there is no elbow, wrist, or hand coordination test to hand you here yet. We are not going to invent one to fill a box. When it is ready, it will do the same job the Midfoot Bridge does for the knee. It will show you whether your shoulder and hand are sharing the load, or whether your forearm is gripping to cover for the rest of the arm.
Want it first? Book an assessment and we will do the coordination testing with you directly, online or in person.
Book My ProSport Online AssessmentThe drills that go here are still being built for the arm and hand. The lower limb library is live. The upper body library is on the way.
We are not going to drop in drills that have not been tested in our clinics. When they are ready they will follow the same three phase shape as the knee. Isometrics to wake it up. Load tolerance to share the load. Deceleration tolerance to control it.
The direction it is heading. The book already teaches part of this in the "Move Well in the Gym" chapter. How you spread pressure across your hand through a press up changes which muscles work, and brings the often ignored deep forearm and finger muscles back into the job. That co-contraction is what builds real elbow and wrist integrity. Pulling that starts from the fingertips instead of yanking with the biceps does the same up the chain.
In the meantime. If you have the book, the press ups and rowing sections of "Move Well in the Gym" cover hand pressure and grip directly. Start there.
Your grip starts to feel easy again. You stop white knuckling the bar.
Gripping, carrying, and pressing stop lighting up the elbow.
You feel the load spread up into the shoulder and back, not stuck in the forearm.
The sore spot at the elbow settles during and after sessions.
These are kept general on purpose. The specific drill markers get added once the arm and hand drills are built and tested in clinic.
If the pain is not settling after a couple of weeks of sensible work, or any red flag from the pathology checks shows up, get it assessed.
Want certainty, ticked a red flag, or want the coordination testing now? We find the root cause with you, online or in person.
Book now 02RehabThe full library we use in clinic. Lower limb is live, upper body is being added.
Open the library 03BrowsePick another area and run the same checks.
All self-assessmentsYour elbow, wrist, and hand are not fragile. They have just been carrying work that belongs to the rest of the arm. Give that work back, and it settles.