How to Care for Sports-Related Injuries

Location of Injury: Elbow or Wrist

Likely cause: "Elbow pain often results from poor technique or from using the wrong piece of equipment―a tennis grip that's too large for your hand, say, or a golf club that's too heavy," explains William Levine, M.D., director of sports medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, in New York City. "Wrist sprains can come from overuse or falls."

What to avoid: Anything that puts strain on the arms, such as tennis, golf, swimming, weight lifting, push-ups, overhead activities (like rock climbing), and any exercise that keeps the elbows locked straight or strains the wrists. People with elbow pain should avoid road biking, which puts pressure on the lower arms.

What you can do: Concentrate on activities that don't rely on the arms, like running, using an elliptical machine, and recumbent or stationary biking.

What would make it better: Perform wrist-extension exercises that stretch the muscles on the side of the elbow, such as raising the wrist toward the ceiling while holding a light dumbbell and then slowly lowering the weight. To strengthen lower-arm muscles, squeeze a rubber ball for a few minutes three times a day.