Healing "Kali Elbow" Pain

Howdy all! This week I want to share some thoughts on treating a common injury in the world of Filipino martial arts that I call "Kali Elbow", though it is more commonly referred to as "Tennis Elbow".

By any name, Kali or Tennis elbow is technically termed lateral epicondylitis and manifests as pain in the outer elbow. This is a result of overuse that causes tiny tears in the forearm tendons due to repetitive wrist and hand motions. Far from just athletes, this is also common in people who use tools for a living or have jobs involving a lot of hand use.

I've been dealing with a flair up that was brought on by too much knife work early in December when we did a 4 hour training session that featured a lot of full speed sparring. Specifically it was the knife jab of Pekiti Tersia which as you may know isn't a direct thrust but instead is a whipping strike using the tip of the blade that caused it.

While painful, fortunately Kali Elbow is treatable at home and doesn't require medical intervention. However, because it is tendon related it does take longer to heal up than if it was purely muscular and requires doing physical therapy. This is in part because tendons don't have their own blood supply and so simply resting them isn't going to make them better.

Treatment involves basic wrist stretching and strengthening exercises for the muscles of the forearm. These include wrist extension and flexion using a light dumbbell, pronation and supination using a hammer or a long stick like a broom handle, and various grip exercises. Here is a PDF from Great Western Hospital showing the basic exercises they have patients do.

The one tool you might not have seen before that works wonders for this condition is the Theraband Flexbar. This is simply a foot-long piece of rubber that you twist in various ways to stretch and strengthen the muscles of your forearm. They come in 4 different colors, each offering a different level of resistance, and are under $20. Here is a great video on the basics of using one!

Everything You need to Get Started with The Flexbar!

Here is another video that does a fantastic job of explaining more about Kali Elbow and why you might not be recovering as fast as you'd like. The presenter is both a medical professional and a rock climber (where they deal with this injury as well) so he has both a technical and a practical outlook on treatment.

Tennis Elbow Not Healing? A PT's Best Strategies

On the bright side, if you have to deal with this it's a pretty easy protocol to follow and will give you the added benefit of stronger forearms and hands afterwards. Because it doesn't take a lot of time, I do the exercises on both sides as a preventative and to strengthen that side as well.

All the very best,

Pete Kautz

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