A PPC Lab Injury Story
by Dr. Chad Peters
The Athlete
Ella is a high school tennis player transitioning from JV to varsity.
Her game is improving.
Her confidence is growing.
Her competition level just jumped.
She also upgraded her racket and increased string tension.
Shortly after, elbow pain showed up.
Why This Didn’t Look Like “Tennis Elbow”
Ella had already heard the term.
She had seen the TikToks.
She had watched the reels.
She knew what tennis elbow was “supposed” to feel like.
Except her pain didn’t match.
Instead of lateral elbow pain, hers showed up on the medial side.
Traditionally called golfer’s elbow or little league elbow.
And here’s where things usually go sideways.
Why We Don’t Care What It’s Called
Back in the day, cute diagnoses mattered.
Today?
They often limit thinking.
The elbow doesn’t care what we name it.
Elbow pain can show up:
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Medial
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Lateral
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Posterior
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Diffuse
Slapping a label on it may help insurance or conversation, but it rarely helps treatment.
In fact, naming it too early often narrows the solution, when we want the opposite.
What’s Actually Going On at the Elbow
The elbow is crowded.
You have:
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Bony epicondyles
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Tendon attachments
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Wrist and finger flexors and extensors
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Triceps contribution
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Joint mechanics
“Epicondylitis” literally means inflamed elbow attachment.
That’s useful only in one way.
If it’s inflamed, the threat has to come down first.
Why Treating the Threat Matters
With nearly two decades of experience, I’ll tell you this plainly:
Skipping the inflammatory phase is a mistake.
Too often, treatment jumps immediately to:
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Exercises
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Strength work
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Mobility drills
If the elbow still feels threatened, every rep resets the injury clock back to Day One.
In Ella’s case, continued irritation would have guaranteed a long, frustrating season.
The Tricky Reality of Elbow Injuries
Elbow pain is almost never just one thing.
You typically have:
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Joint irritation
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Muscle overload
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Tendon involvement
Joint and muscle issues often respond quickly, sometimes within days.
Tendons do not.
That’s why elbow straps are so common.
The Truth About Elbow Straps
I don’t hate them.
Used correctly, they:
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Shift load away from the irritated attachment
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Reduce stress during grip and swing
But as a standalone treatment?
Terrible idea.
They create pain-free movement without fixing the problem.
Wearing one for years means the homework never got done.
If it makes you feel comfortable psychologically, fine.
Just don’t confuse comfort with resolution.
The Missed Piece: The Fingers
One of the most overlooked contributors to elbow pain is grip, especially the ring finger.
It’s powerful.
It’s far from the pain site.
And it’s often ignored.
In racket sports, grip mechanics matter more than most people realize, and skipping this piece slows healing dramatically.
Why There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Fix
This is usually where people get mad at me.
There is no universal elbow protocol.
If you’re reading this online, I haven’t:
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Examined you
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Tested movement
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Adjusted based on response
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Re-evaluated across multiple visits
There is no flowchart for elbows.
There is just pattern recognition and adjustment.
What Worked for Ella
Ella’s practitioner took a layered, adaptive approach.
Early phase:
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Reduced inflammation (about one week)
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Ice and electrical stimulation
Then progressed into:
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Fingers
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Hand
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Wrist
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Elbow
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Shoulder
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Thoracic spine
Decompression techniques were used selectively:
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Sliding cupping
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Targeted glide work
Not aggressive bruising.
Not “octopus attack” cupping.
And importantly:
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Decompression was not mixed with compression techniques like scraping or voodoo banding in the same phase
Those approaches are opposites.
Using both confuses the tissue.
Each visit included a mini reassessment, and the plan evolved.
The Outcome
Ella’s pain resolved within two weeks.
Some mild tightness lingered briefly, but she continued playing.
By her sophomore season:
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She moved from JV to varsity
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Earned a spot in the top five doubles teams
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Made a meaningful contribution to team success
All while managing an elbow injury with a modern, multifaceted approach.
The PPC Lab Takeaway
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Elbow pain is rarely just an elbow problem
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Labels can help conversation but often limit solutions
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Treat the threat before chasing strength
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Tendons heal slower than muscles and joints
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Grip, especially the ring finger, matters more than you think
There is no shortcut.
There is only smart sequencing.
