64 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Tool, March 17, 2010
This review is from: Thera-Band Flexbar Hand Exerciser - Tennis Elbow Relief Bar (Misc.)
Most people probably haven't ever heard of eccentric exercise, which is the type of exercise these bars provide. Eccentric, or "negatives" as bodybuilders call them, are basically the lowering portion of an exercise. For instance, if you lift a weight over your head and lower it, the lifting is the "concentric" part, and the lowering of the weight is the "eccentric" part.
Without a doubt, this is one interesting tool you can use that will provide eccentric exercise for your wrist muscles. So what's the big deal with eccentrics? Well, there have been studies showing that when people with tendonitis conditions do just the eccentric part of an exercise, they get better. Problem is, there are tennis elbow studies specifically showing that if you do just the concentric (or lifting part) only, you get better too (Martinez-Silvestrini 2005). Therefore, eccentric exercise, as this tool most surely provides, will help tendonitis, but its far from a "magic" cure, and you can achieve the same results as doing "concentrics" with a light dumbbell.
Perhaps more importantly though, people with tennis elbow need to know that resistance exercise is just ONE part of what you need to be doing to totally get rid of your tennis elbow.
Studies on tennis elbow and eccentric exercise, such as the one I quoted above, had patients ALSO do stretching exercises and I know of no studies that have had people with tennis elbow do just eccentric exercise alone and they've gotten better. Therefore, suggest people with tennis elbow check out this tool, as well as books like
Treat Your Own Tennis Elbow for a well-rounded program. Good luck.
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88 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Choose Color Carefully, January 28, 2010
This review is from: Thera-Band Flexbar Hand Exerciser - Tennis Elbow Relief Bar (Misc.)
Good product. I'm using it to heal tennis elbow and it is a big help. Make sure, however, you select the right tension for your intended use. For tennis elbow therapy you pre-twist the bar and then release the twist with your hurt arm. The blue bar is very stiff and challenging to twist. It would likely be painful for a moderate to severe case of tennis elbow. I suggest the red or green bar for tennis elbow. For strength building by bending the bar, the blue is challenging but fine. For reference I am a 48 year old male, 6'3", in good shape, who plays competitive tennis 5 times a week. I hope this is helpful.
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flex bar worked for me! :), June 1, 2010
This review is from: Thera-Band Flexbar Hand Exerciser - Tennis Elbow Relief Bar (Misc.)
I got Tennis Elbow from golfing in 2003. (pain on the outside elbow joint) I had cortisone shots 2 years in a row to at the suggestions of several people. Each time the pain came back. Then I tried acupuncture. That helped for a while as well, but the pain came back again. I wore the strap on my forearm to lower the pain while golfing. This was tolerable, but not the long term solution.
I heard about the flex bar and googled it on the internet. This was over a year ago. This is the only thing that has worked for me. I have been pain free for over a year. I continue to use it occasionally as preventive medicine.
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