You have probably noticed this before. Some days, your elbow feels manageable. It is there, but it is not stopping you from getting things done. You can type, carry things, make dinner, and get through your day without thinking about it too much. And then there are those other days. The days packed with meetings, deadlines, school runs, and last-minute requests. The days where you feel like you have been switched on from the moment you wake up. By the end of those days, your elbow seems to hurt more. The ache feels stronger. Gripping feels harder. Even simple tasks seem to irritate it. And you are left wondering, "What did I do differently today?"
In this blog, let us explore why your Golfer's and Tennis Elbow often feels worse on busy, stressful days and why the answer is not always what you are doing with your arm.
Stress shows up in your muscles:
When your day becomes busier, your body naturally shifts into a more alert state. Your nervous system prepares you to keep up with everything that is being asked of you. This does not just affect your thoughts. It affects your muscles too. Your shoulders become a little tighter. Your jaw holds more tension. Your hands grip a little harder. Your breathing becomes shallower. None of these changes seem significant on their own, but together they create more load throughout your upper body. That extra tension often finds its way into the elbow.
The grip you do not realise you are using:
One of the most common patterns seen with both Tennis Elbow and Golfer's Elbow is unconscious gripping. When you are concentrating, rushing, or feeling stressed, you naturally grip your mouse more firmly, hold your phone tighter, and carry things with more tension than necessary. The problem is that the muscles controlling your grip attach directly into the tendons involved in Tennis Elbow and Golfer's Elbow. The more those muscles work, the more load passes through an already sensitive tendon.
Why the pain feels so random:
This is often the most frustrating part. You might do exactly the same activities on two different days and get completely different results. One day your elbow feels fine. The next day it feels irritated and sensitive. It can feel random, but often the missing piece is your nervous system. When your body is under stress, it becomes more protective and more sensitive. The same tendon irritation that barely registered yesterday may feel much more noticeable today. That does not mean you have damaged anything. It simply means your system is carrying a different overall load.
What Actually Helps
When your elbow flares, it is tempting to focus only on the painful area. But sometimes the most effective thing you can do is reduce the overall tension your body is carrying. That might mean softening your grip, letting your shoulders drop, taking a few slower breaths to calm down your nervous system, a brief pause between tasks or doing a quick posture reset during the day. These are small changes, but they interrupt the holding patterns that keep feeding extra stress into your arm. Desk based exercises to break up the prolonged sitting. Not to fix everything. Just enough to reduce what your body is holding. Because when the load starts to come down, your system becomes less guarded. Your muscles begin to soften. And your pain often settles with it.
Watch this video to learn '3 Easy Desk Based Tips for Busy Executive Mums to Prevent and Manage Tennis Elbow Pain'
If you have ever wondered why your elbow pain seems to flare up on the busiest days, you are not imagining it. Inside the Tennis & Golfer's Elbow Relief Courses, I help you look beyond the painful spot and identify the hidden factors that keep feeding the problem. Together, we work on posture, shoulder support, movement patterns, and practical strategies that fit into your everyday life. Because sometimes the missing piece is not where the pain is. It is where the support should be coming from.
You can explore the "Simple Solutions to Manage your Tennis Elbow" HERE. Get on the waitlist of the course "Simple Solutions to Manage your Golfers Elbow" by replying to this blog in the comments.
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