Archives for January 2017

The Elbow Freezie Wrap is one of three products I bought to help overcome a tennis elbow injury in 2011. It was the Freezie Wrap and not the Inferno Wrap which helped most in recovering from tennis elbow.

A Freezie Wrap can be bought for the leg/knee, shoulder, knee, plantar/spur, wrist, and the elbow which I bought.

Tennis elbow injuries take time to heal because the arm is constantly in motion. What the area around the elbow needs when its agitated is ice, not heat. I made the mistake of applying heat in the beginning with the Inferno Wrap when I should have been using the Freezie Wrap. The elbow was inflamed, it needed ice.

**Update April 2019. The Elbow Freezie Wrap has been discontinued. Check out the Elbow Support Wrap from Lot Fancy. It can heat and cool unlike the Elbow Freezie Wrap.**

The Elbow Freezie Wrap is quite simple. Keep all three gel inserts in the freezer at all times. When you need to ice your elbow you put one of the frozen inserts into the built in pouch of the Freezie Wrap. Put your arm into the wrap and tighten it with the velcro. MendMeShop.com calls it their Cold Cure Technology.

Frozen gel inserts will keep cold enough to provide relief for 25 minutes. Sometimes I forget I have it on as the compression keeps the pain away too. Most times I forget to take it off and its not until the gel pack is warm when I do so.

Versatility is a feature of the Elbow Freezie Wrap I did not expect. Not only does it do a great job of taking care of elbows it also can take care of a knee.

I hyperextended my knee during our last week of softball this year. Was a weird play where I was tagged under my knee causing my leg to straighten out while trying to cross home plate. Since I was in the air when I was tagged all of my weight came down on the one leg when I planted my foot. It hurt instantly.

Thankfully nothing popped but I was in pain. Not enough pain to stop playing (was Championship night) but I knew the second I sat down, the swelling would kick in.

When I made it home that night my knee was swollen. I brought out the Freezie Wrap and was hoping I could wrap my knee in it the same way I do my elbow. Figured the elbow and knee both work like hinges and at the very least was worth a try. It worked. I was able to wrap it just right with the frozen gel pad to cover most of my knee. Went through two frozen ice gel packs that night and two more in the morning. It helped a lot in reducing the swelling in my knee.

After six years of owning the Elbow Freezie Wrap I would recommend it the most in helping to heal a tennis elbow or knee injury as it can be used for both.

As long as I am playing sports, working out, and typing, the tennis elbow will never completely go away. When it starts to act up I throw on the Elbow Freezie Wrap. A half an hour later the pain is gone.

It is not a cure-all product but a complimentary one to the Inferno Wrap. Use the Inferno Wrap when the elbow is not hurting to get more blood flowing to heal. Use the Freezie Wrap when its inflamed.

Purchase directly from MendMeShop.com like I did or buy something similar on Amazon. A waiting list is common for the Elbow Freezie Wrap as they sell out quickly. Sometimes there might be none in stock for months.

At $60 the Freezie Wrap is not cheap. I feel it is worth it as how many times have you put ice packs on and it only touches the surface of the injury. Oh, and you have to hold a freezing ice pack. This wrap covers the entire elbow in a comfortable set up.

MendMeShop.com is located in Canada. Fraudulent activity alerts may happen from your credit card company due to it being processed in Canada. This is what happened to me. Allowed the payment to proceed and received the items in less than a week.

A full refund will be issued for returns but you are responsible for shipping it back. Keeping everything is the best mindset to have upon ordering as the shipping can get pricey.

The Elbow Inferno Wrap is a product I used to help recover from a tennis elbow injury in 2011. When the injury happened I searched Google for anything to help recover quicker. The Elbow Inferno Wrap by MendMeShop.com kept showing up so I bought one.

**Update 4-2019: The Elbow Inferno Wrap has been discontinued. Check out the Elbow Support Wrap from Lot Fancy. It can heat and cool unlike the Elbow Inferno Wrap.**

MendMeShop.com makes different Inferno Wraps for specific parts of the body – elbow, knee, back/hip, leg/arm, shoulder, plantar/spur, and wrist. I bought the elbow one.

Recovering from a tennis elbow injury takes time due to the elbow bending in normal day-to-day activities. To heal properly the area around the elbow needs blood flow. The Elbow Inferno Wrap is designed to get more blood flowing through Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy.

The body does a good job of providing blood flow after an injury and stops when it feels its healed itself enough to survive. Thats great and all but what most people want to do more than just survive. Greedy humans we are.

After receiving the Elbow Inferno Wrap I read through the instructions and put it on. It is comfortable to wear and provides flexibility to move your arm. The hottest setting of the three was the one I used most often. I never felt the hottest setting was going to burn my arm.

The Elbow Inferno Wraps selling point is it’s a heating pad that wraps the entire elbow and not just the surface of the elbow. It penetrates more area this way as the elbow is an awkward area to put a heating pad on. How many times have you used a heating pad and tried to wrap it around a body part? Like every time. The Inferno Wrap simplifies heating pads downfalls.

The Elbow Inferno Wrap takes 5 minutes to heat up and stays the same temperature the entire time. There are no warnings saying to take it off before a certain time. The Inferno Wrap was comfortable and sometimes I would forget I had it on.

The Elbow Inferno Wrap helped speed up recovery and reduce pain in the months following my injury. I used the Inferno Wrap for up to an hour every day for 6 months when I was on my computer. It kept my elbow loose and warm so I could type for hours.

One thing I should have done is wear it when my elbow was not hurting. When the elbow hurts it is inflamed and needs ice, not heat. Made the mistake of wearing the Inferno Wrap when it was hurting and should have put the Freezie Wrap on instead.

In Summary

With my injury healed up I mainly use the Elbow Inferno Wrap for preventative maintenance. I still keep it near my computer and throw it on occasionally.

I believe the Inferno Wrap helped me recover faster from tennis elbow. The injury will never completely go away but I feel it worked in helping to alleviate pain. When your options are do nothing and take pills or use the Inferno Wrap I feel going the wrap route was best. I could not stand the thought of taking pills everyday to mask the pain. I would rather do everything with my non-dominant hand than needlessly take pills.

This is what happened for the first couple of weeks when I was figuring out how to heal the tennis elbow injury. Since the injury happened to my dominant right hand I had to do everything left-handed. Using the mouse and even cooking were a pain in the butt. I had to learn a new way to do everything with this injury. Thankfully the Elbow Inferno Wrap could be worn anywhere near a plug which is what I did.

Not designed for the knee but I wrapped my knee with the Elbow Inferno Wrap. A two for one if you will. I have been dealing with knee injuries longer than my elbow so its nice to know I have another tool available to heal if need be. This saves me more money from not having to buy the Knee Inferno Wrap down the road.

The Elbow Inferno Wrap is not cheap at $150. They had a bundle package with the Freezie Wrap at the time for $150 total. You can buy the Elbow Inferno Wrap directly from the manufacturer on MendMeShop.com or at the MendMeShop Amazon Store. They sell out quickly and are not in stock occasionally. You may have to go on a waiting list or try to find a used one.

I bought directly from MendMeShop.com as there were no listings on Amazon at the time. Due to MendMeShop.com being headquartered in Canada you may receive a call from your credit card company suspecting fraudulent activity like I did. I told them it was not fraud and to proceed with the order.

At the time it shipped from Canada and orders over a certain amount had free shipping. Thats why I bundled the Freezie Wrap. It did not take long for my order to get to me since I live in Michigan. They ship from Pennsylvania now but returns go to Canada and you are responsible for the return shipping cost. It’s best to have the mindset that you are not returning anything you buy from MendMeShop.com. Hopefully my review gives you what you’re looking for in a decision one way or the other when deciding to buy or not buy one.

My Inferno Wrap is 6 years old and still works well. It has done everything it said it was going to do. My elbow feels much better and I can play softball and golf with no pain. Typing for hours on my computer does not hurt nor does simple things like lifting up grocery bags.

All three settings heat up and there are no tears in the material. It is pricey at $150 but you can get many years out of the Elbow Inferno Wrap as you nurse your tennis elbow injury back to good health.

I had almost forgot about the Thera-Band Flexbar I bought 5 years ago due to it working so well. I have not had a need to use it that much as it addressed the tennis elbow injury I sustained.

It was not until recently when I discovered it at the bottom of a box of various equipment. Thought it would be a good time to bring it back into the mix and use it again. I had forgotten how this simple looking thing can deliver a pretty good workout and address those nagging injuries.

Back in 2011 I suffered what could best be described as tennis elbow. It has never heeled 100% but I have been back to playing sports and working out for awhile. Some of that is due to the Thera-Band Flexbar.

I had hurt my arm – mostly around the elbow area – when I went out to get the relay throw from an outfielder as I was playing short stop. My teammates were yelling “3” so I knew a throw to 3rd base was my play.

It was a heated game so there was a little bit more intensity than normal. I remember throwing as hard as I could. Sadly, the throw was just off and the guy was safe.

I didn’t notice it at the time but by throwing harder I had over extended a number of things in and around my elbow. The adrenaline covered the pain and I finished the game.

The next morning though I was in some serious pain. My arm and in particular my elbow was throbbing. Not good.

I spent the next three weeks doing a whole lot of nothing due to the injury. Typing, working out, and lifting grocery bags hurt to do.

Went to two separate Drs. and physical therapists. They both said I had hyper-extended everything around my elbow. I had pain on the inside and outside of the elbow.

Whats embarrassing about all of this is they said the injury was not because of the throw I made. The throw was the event which caused everything to tear.

Turns out me typing on a keyboard and using a mouse for the past 9 years of my life was the culprit. Moving the mouse ever so slightly some tens of thousands of times caused tendons in and around my elbow to coil up. It burst when I made the hard throw.

The medical advice I received was to practice the RICE method (Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevated.) and use anti-inflammatory medicine when needed. I’m not big into pills if I don’t need to use them so I passed.

They also mentioned the healing process would take awhile since it’s an area of the body which is constantly used. Therefore its going to keep tearing and healing.

The last piece of advice they had was once the pain went away to start lightly strengthening the muscles around the area. They suggested a couple of stretches but that’s about it.

The stretches helped but how was I going to address the strengthening part? I headed to Google and did some searching for ways to heal tennis elbow injuries. The Thera-Band Flexbar kept coming up in the results so I bought one.

Upon Receiving the Thera-Band Flexbar

I opened it up and read through the instructions. It comes with an index card sized guide showing all the ways you can use the Flexbar.

It recommends using the various moves 10 to 15 times up to three times a day. The first time I used it I could feel it lengthening those tendons and most importantly alleviating the pain.

The first use was all I needed to get me on board with the Flexbar. I used it everyday for three months and it really helped. I’d say the pain was 90% gone after those first three months.

Here’s the thing. I could not bring myself to make a video of me using the Thera-Band Flexbar nor pictures showing the different grips.

You can probably tell by the Flexbars shape that it shares distinct qualities of a mans down stairs fleshy bits. While it would make for a good internet video I don’t think I could keep a straight face showing the versatility of the Flexbar to you.

This embarrassment happened shortly after buying the Flexbar. Upon making my return to the softball field I decided to use it before a game to warm up and stretch my arm. Well, the jokes started rolling and rightfully so. At the same time more than half of my team tried it out and were surprised how well the Flexbar worked.

I did find a simple video of the Thera-Band Flexbar showing a couple of the ways to use it.

Out of the “twist, bend, and shake” ways to use the Flexbar the “shake” way is why the comments are disabled on YouTube for that video.

Usually I keep it at home and use it before I head out to softball or even golf. It can garner some looks if you bring it out in public and try to be serious using it. Does make for a good laugh at parties though.

The “Tyler Twist” is the most effective way to use the Thera-Band Flexbar. It works all of the tendons needed to help combat a tennis or golf elbow injury.

Again, I did not see the need in making a video of me cranking down on the Flexbar due to me not being able to keep a straight face. There are however many videos on YouTube of people, mostly good-looking women of course, showing how the Tyler Twist works.

In Summary

Thera-Band makes four Flexbars of various resistance. I went with the second strongest. For up to $20 you really can’t go wrong with buying one and using it to help alleviate pains from tennis elbow, golfers elbow, and tendonitis. The Flexbar can also help improve grip strength.

Throw it in your backpack, golf or softball bag, or keep it on your desk and use it when necessary. When you use it for the first time you will feel a stretching in and around your elbow and up into your fingertips like you’ve never felt before.

I use the Flexbar for preventative maintenance during golf and softball seasons. My tennis elbow doesn’t flare up as much since I started using a MacBook Pro instead of an iMac. I believe it’s because my arms are straight out in front of me all the time instead of out on an angle using the separate trackpad.

Thera-Band makes a wide range of products but you cannot buy directly from them. It appears they have wholesale agreements with two particular websites along with the Thera-Band Amazon store where I bought my Flexbar.