Mark.....
You hit a couple of nails right on the head. I'll pass this on to the Group.
I see it happen, too, in casters who have not learned to grip the rod properly. They hold the cork with the same grip pressure throughout the strokes. Often that yields hand and wrist pain and early fatigue, but sometimes it produces the, "tennis elbow". That happens most often on the back cast, because this is when the extensor muscles which attach to that point on the outer side of the elbow are under tension.
You are right in that carrying more line than the caster can easily handle is likely to do it, too. I get a touch of it in winter when I switch to making a lot of distance casts with a full sink line. It's not only the presentation cast which puts tension on that spot, but ESPECIALLY the pickup! It doesn't become a real problem for me, because I'm fully aware of what I'm doing to start the problem......so I immediately change my errant behavior.
I used to get the elbow problem when striking many large fish in a "blitz".......because I was using the rod to make the strike instead of properly strip-striking with my line hand.
Your point about the books is a real sleeper. I've had 2 librarians who had intractable tennis elbow........and I didn't figure out the cause until one of them did !
Gordy
From: Mkreider1@xxxxxxx
To: hillshead@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: tennis elbow
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 05:55:11 EDT
Hi Gordy,
Makes me wonder if the student is really ready. My tennis elbow comes from using muscle power to overcome bad casting technique. Of course, that doesn't mean that this student isn't making perfect casts, just that he's doing it wrong. OR doing something else unrelated to casting that is contributing to this injury. It might be good to review all of his daily activities that relates to this painful area.
I think my major problems are carrying far too much line with heavy (for me) 9 wt. gear, sinking saltwater line, etc., and allowing my upper arm to rise perpendicular to my torso instead of staying low and parallel while using a very open stance and long stroke. I've also had to address the way I handle books in my book store which was part of the problem and didn't aid in recovery.
Myself? I've got a long way to go!
Respectfully,
Mark