Best Tennis Elbow Braces: A Comprehensive Guide

Activities involving repeated hand movements lasting for a long period can cause soreness. It’s natural. Especially, when your hands do not have the necessary support it requires to stay active for an extended amount of time.

It’s not just with sports but with any kind of activity, say you’re driving for long periods, or perhaps typing the entire day, in these cases, your hands, especially your elbows need support.

Your Fitness Is in Your Own Hands

Even if you don’t support your elbows, it might not be much of a problem but with regards to sports and outdoor activities, you do need to take action. Especially with Tennis or other racquet games.

As a player who’s grinding every day, hitting power shots and facing returns, you need to support your elbows or you might develop “Tennis Elbow” -a painful elbow condition suffered by players which need to be managed by wearing elbow braces. (Keep reading because I will be sharing ways to prevent Tennis Elbow and the best tennis elbow braces available in the market).

What Is Tennis Elbow?

Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis is a condition wherein you experience an inflammation of tendons present on the outside of the elbow. Due to the repeating motion, tendons and the forearm muscles become damaged. Tennis elbow causes tenderness and pain in the outside region of the elbow.

Though it’s normal to suffer from a Tennis Elbow, you can easily minimize the pain by taking a preventive measure such as wearing elbow braces or using quality racquets to prevent tennis elbow. Apart from wearing elbow braces and racquets, you can use a Theraband Flexbar as recommended by many therapists to minimize the pain when it flares up.

Can Elbow Braces or Compression Sleeves Help?

Before we get to compression sleeves, let’s understand how an elbow brace works. An elbow brace is used to employ “Counter-Force” i.e. directing pressure to the outer side of an elbow which happens to be the thickest part of your forearm. The pressure created on extensor muscle helps reduce the pain.

Compression Sleeves – An Alternative to Elbow Straps

Though braces act as a temporary solution, numerous studies have shown that they’re effective. However, their effect might differ from people to people. A study showed that people wearing compression sleeve style support achieved a better pain-free grip strength as compared to an elbow brace.

Now you might be wondering, what’s a compression sleeve?

Compression sleeves are an alternative to elbow straps if you’re looking to spread the pressure across the entire hand and not just the elbow region. Young people tend to prefer sleeves stylistically whereas experienced players prefer elbow straps. Thus, it all boils down to your personal preference.

Now that we’ve understood about the condition and how we can work towards minimizing the effect. Let’s check out best elbow braces that are available online.

Best Tennis Elbow Braces

1. Simien Tennis Elbow Brace

The most popular solution to minimizing the tennis elbow pain is the Simien Elbow Brace. A plain strap brace placed on the higher part of the forearm which reduces pain by putting pressure on the tendons. With a traditional Velcro design, the Simien Tennis Elbow Brace is widely preferred by tennis, racquetball, pickleball, and other racquet sports players.

Check Price Now

This nylon and neoprene-built brace not just defines quality but is equally durable and comfortable when playing racquet sports. It’s super easy to adjust and quite extraordinarily, it’s one size fits all. Thus, there’s no hassle at all. This brace is flexible and is designed to prevent any uncomfortable tightening experiences which lead to repercussions.

Why should you buy the Simien Tennis Elbow Brace?

• Two Elbow Braces
• An E-Book addressing Tennis Elbow Pain
• A Sweat Wristband

Though you may just need a tennis elbow brace for one of your arms, you’ll have backup in case you need it.

Price: $$

2. Kunto Fitness Elbow Brace Compression Support Sleeve

As compared to a standard elbow brace, Kunto offers a compression support sleeve which looks superb. Not only is it aesthetically appealing, but it also offers great protection.

It applies pressure across your elbow joints which provides relief from several ailments such as tennis elbow, golf elbow, tendonitis, joint inflammation to name a few.

Check Price Now

I love the look of this elbow brace. Regardless of the sport, you’re playing, it looks great and provides amazing elbow support. It’s form-fitting, breathable compression fabric ensures stability and gives you that premium feel helping you to deliver the best performance on a consistent basis, without worrying about tennis elbows.

Doesn’t matter what your arm size is, it comes with true fit technology which ensures that it doesn’t slip or slide down your arm. Owing to its perfect form fit, you’ll get tremendous support the moment you wear it.

Why should you buy the Kunto Fitness Elbow Brace Compression Support Sleeve?

• Supreme Quality
• Quite Affordable
• 100% Moneyback Guarantee

Price: $$

Whether you’re playing pickleball, tennis, baseball, golf, basketball or volleyball, the Kunto Fitness Elbow looks and feels premium.

3. Mueller Adjustable Elbow Support

Mueller Adjustable Elbow Support is an affordable elbow brace option with great quality. Featuring the HydraMesh® fabric panel, it manages moisture pretty well. Made with soft neoprene, it has an adjustable binding strap which provides an excellent fit.

The entire brace helps to provides extended coverage for support and stability. I personally like this elbow support because it’s modifiable binding feature helps to set pressure exactly where it’s needed.

Check Price Now

Due to the straps, you can personalize the strength of the brace. The personalization part is what intrigues me as it’s important to fine-tune compression by yourself. Over pressuring will constrict the elbow vessels and thus cause a problem in blood flow which can add to the troubles instead of solving them.

This adjustable elbow support is ideal for heat retention and faster recuperation which leads to better performances on the court.

Why should you buy the Mueller Adjustable Elbow Support?

• Good Quality
• Extremely Affordable
• HydraMesh® material

Mueller Adjustable Elbow Support is available in three sizes –Medium, Large, and One Size. Thus, there are plenty of options to find your perfect fit.

Price: $ (very cheap)

One thing I’d like to clarify is that this brace contains natural latex and thus ensure that you’re not allergic to it before putting it on. The same goes for neoprene as well.

4. Zensah Elbow Compression Sleeve

Similar to the brands above, Zensah Elbow Compression Sleeves are held in high regards by every racquet sports players who try them. Inarguably one of the best-rated tennis elbow compression sleeves on amazon, it is suitable for any racquet sports players.

Unlike Simien, Zensah compression sleeves are made of 90% nylon and 10% spandex. These Elbow Compression Sleeves allow full range of motion without sliding or slipping. They’re highly durable and flexible sleeves and provide excellent support to forearms without no quality compromise.

Check Price Now

A great part about this elbow compression sleeve is that not only does it provide adequate pressure to help alleviate the pain, but it also features anti-odor and moisture preventing properties. Furthermore, with chevron ribbing, it offers enhanced support for the forearm area which prevents micro-tears of muscles and other injuries.

Why should you buy Zensah Elbow Compression Sleeves?

• Premium Quality
• Unisex
• Anti-Odor

This elbow sleeve doesn’t become heavy with perspiration. Thus, there’s no added weight or pressure on your elbows which in certain cases worsens the condition. Due to its breathable material, it keeps your elbows cool.

Price: $$

5. McDavid 489 Elbow Brace

The McDavid 489 Elbow Strap is 100% latex-free neoprene. These are ideal for tennis elbow because they offer a great balance to the soft tissues whilst providing ample compression. With its ThermaVent Moisture Management, it offers a breathable strap which prevents the area from turning hot and getting wet due to perspiration.

Check Price Now

McDavid 489 features HexPad technology which makes it lightweight and comfortable. It offers extended support to the elbows and provides maximum protection due to its adjustable straps which are custom-fit. Another fascinating aspect about this elbow strap brace is that it features a gel pad which applies uniform pressure on the affected area.

Why should you buy the McDavid 489 Elbow Brace?

• Premium Quality
• Moisture Management
• Adjustable Straps
• Advanced Protection

The McDavid 489 elbow braces are perfect for relieving tennis and golf elbow symptoms through target pressure. Its neoprene construction aids soft tissue support and its adjustable hook and loop help achieve perfect fit and comfort.

Price: $$

Alternative Cures for Tennis Elbow

Most of the times, tennis elbow can be treated if you opt for a good quality racquet. I’ve covered the topic in detail. Check out our article: best racquets for tennis elbow and if these fit in your budget, try choosing these over other ordinary racquets as these will help you prevent tennis elbow in the first place.

However, if you still suffer from tennis elbow even while using one of the best tennis elbow braces, there are numerous ways to deal with the problem.

1. Icing the elbow: Icing the elbow is a great way to reduce pain. When icing your elbows, remember not to do it more than 30 minutes. 10-20 minutes is enough and when the elbow area becomes numb, you should stop it. Excessive icing can lead to cell or tissue damage. Furthermore, you can wrap over the ice pack to decrease the inflammation or swelling.
2. Exercising: Using flexible bars to exercise is a great way to work your wrists. A simple exercise which can help loads is a wrist turn. To perform a wrist turn, you bend your elbow at a right angle, extend your hand outwards with your palm facing the ceiling. Twist the wrist gradually so that your palm is facing towards the ground. Hold the position for 5 seconds, do x3 sets of 10 reps each.
3. Resting: If you don’t feel like icing or exercising, resting is the best alternative. Perhaps if you give a break to your elbows for a certain period, that might be the best therapy. Extended hours of play and activities tend to cause fatigue to your body including your hands and elbows. Thus, by taking much-needed rest, you give your elbows the time it requires to recover.

Personal Verdict

As suggested earlier, I personally prefer tennis elbow braces because they take away the tennis elbow pain. Once I’m done with a drilling session, I almost always ice my elbows as a method to feel refreshed. That’s what I practice. Finally, I hope this guide was helpful and helped you understand Tennis Elbow Braces in detail. Let me know in the comments your experiences with tennis elbow braces!