• October 16, 1978
• Vol. 10
• No. 16

Wayne Schrott Has Hit Upon Relief for An Ill as Common as the Cold: Tennis Elbow

By Lynne Baranski

I couldn't lift my arm to blow my nose," declares R. Wayne Schrott, 59, recalling the case of tennis elbow that forced him off the courts three years ago. Convinced that the impact of racket and ball was sending damaging vibrations to the elbow, the Lancaster, Pa. executive first tried drugstore remedies. "Nothing helped," he says. "Then I started modifying racket handles. I tried cork, balsa and pine and spent hundreds of dollars, but I still couldn't play." The solution, Schrott eventually decided, lay in taking the vibration out of the arm, not the handle. He began padding his forearm in different fabrics, including a Supp-Hose stocking. But there was no improvement until Schrott finally settled on a wrapping made from the foamlike material used in football helmets. Local lab tests indicated that 90 percent of the shock was absorbed. Soon Schrott was back in business, playing six comfortable hours of tennis a week.

While continuing as president of the Intelligencer Printing Co., he has invested $20,000 in a moonlight mailorder business at home. Wife Thelma keeps the books, and 10-year-old grandson Andy packages the $14.95 "Eliminator." "Custom-fitting is important," says Schrott. "Every arm is different"—so his two-ounce gauntlet comes in a shape-it-yourself kit. "Anyone who has trouble assembling the Eliminator is a moron," the inventor insists. "Why, my grandson can fit one properly in 20 minutes."

Schrott has sold more than 300 of the armwraps and proudly notes that no one has taken him up on his money-back guarantee. He has also designed leg models for joggers, and a Virginia trainer is now testing a pair on a tendon-sore horse. "I don't claim it's a miracle cure," says Schrott. "I just know it worked for me."