I used to suffer from “golfer’s elbow” (I don’t play golf), probably from a combination low bar squats and bench presses with a convention grip.
This elbow pain made low bar squatting unpleasant, and it wasn’t exactly fun while performing other activities such as curls, chin ups, pull ups, overhead presses and bench presses. All of which are the primary exercises I perform most of the time!
To deal with the pain, I have tried ibuprofen, adjusting my hand/arm/elbow position during the squat and adjusting my grip width for the bench (this was before I used the reverse grip).
By the way, don’t you think he looks a little bit like Commander Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation?
Especially the Riker from Borg-overrun parallel universe in the episode “Parallels”:
Anyway, getting back on topic, I bought a bicycle inner tube, cut it as instructed in the video above, wrapped up my elbow as tight as I could and started flexing and extending my arm.
After I took it off, I felt no more pain…it worked!
I did this for a couple of weeks prior to my workouts, but there were a few issues with the rubber tubing solution.
The bicycle inner tube was it a pain in the ass to put it on by myself. It was pretty stiff, and the inner tube that I purchased was too short (it was on sale for a dollar, which is why I got it). Plus, it stunk like a rubber tire!
I made the decision to get the Rogue Voodoo Floss bands after experiencing how effective this “wrapping some rubber band around your elbow” is for eliminating elbow pain, and getting fed up with how difficult it was to wrap this short bicycle inner tube by myself.
At the time, I got the regular, black Voodoo Floss bands, but now they have a thicker version in red called the Voodoo X bands. They’re the same length and width as the original, but provide even more compression.
Rogue Voodoo Floss Bands
When I first opened up the package, I noticed a nice pleasant smell. Maybe my sense of smell is screwed up, but it smelled like bananas, or something fruity and edible. It did not smell like rubber to me.
It’s made in Srilanka out of natural latex rubber.
Here’s what it looks like in and out of the packaging:
They come in pairs, and are 7’ long, 2’ wide and can stretch to 150% it’s length. It says 17’ on the piece of paper that came with the bands, but according to my calculations, 150% of 7’ is 10’ 6”.
There’s also a 28’ long version of the Voodoo Floss bands for those who want to cut their own lengths.
Compared to the rubber bicycle inner tube, the Voodoo floss bands are much more stretchy and softer in texture which makes it a lot easier to put on.
How To Use It
I’ve only used this on my elbow joint, so I cannot speak about how it works for the knee, ankles and other parts of the body.
Here’s what I do in a nutshell: I put on the bands by myself, making sure to wrap it really tight, and flex and extend my elbow multiple times. After about 30 seconds to 1 minute, I take off the wraps.
Here's a bigger picture of my elbow wrapped up:
And here’s what it looks like when I take them off! The red marks are temporary.
Below are some videos by Kelly Starrett demonstrating how to use the Voodoo Floss bands in more detail:
Elbows
Patella Femoral Pain
Shoulders
Ankles
How Do Voodoo Floss Bands Work?
So this is probably why it’s called “Voodoo”.
I couldn’t find anything solid that explains how the Voodoo Floss bands work, other than a bunch of bro-sciencey sounding stuff.
I’m sure in the future Science will explain how it works, but in the meantime, I’m satisfied that it just works.
When I am preparing to workout and my elbow tendonitis is acting up, I am not concerned with how the Rogue Voodoo Floss bands work. I only care that they work and take away the pain so I can exercise without the golfer’s elbow interrupting my workout.
Alternative Uses: Band Pull Aparts
I don’t experience elbow pain all the time, so I don’t wrap my elbows very often.
However, I do use it before just about every workout as part of my shoulder warmup. I perform band pull-aparts (which I don’t think I have recorded in my training logs) usually after I’m done torturing myself on the Rumble Roller.
I find that performing band pull aparts using the Voodoo Floss bands, followed by some shoulder dislocations prior to low bar squatting has eliminated just about all shoulder pain I used to experience from low bar squats.
Conclusion
The Rogue Voodoo Floss bands is the most effective way that I have come across to take away any elbow pain almost instantly, at least temporarily.
I would say that it’s an essential tool in your toolbox (gym bag or home gym) not only as a something to get rid of nagging joint pain via compression, but also as a shoulder warm up tool through band aparts.
It’s a drug-free way to eliminate pain. I’m not sure if it’s a permanent fix, but it works better and faster than anything else I have tried.
If you’re suffering from elbow pain, but don’t want to fork out $24 for a pair of 7’ long, 2” wide rubber bands, then pick up an inner bike tire and try this method out for yourself.
You’ll probably encounter the same experience I have, that is getting rid of the elbow pain with the inner bike tire, and then getting frustrated with trying to put it on and getting annoyed by the rubbery smell that you’ll eventually reconsider buying the Rogue Voodoo Floss bands.
