Tennis elbow

[justletmein]

I haven't touched any weights for a good year, about 6 mo ago my left elbow developed a constant pretty bad ache followed shortly by my right elbow but it's less bothersome. I don't think I did anything to injure them but left has gotten pretty bad. Fast forward to now and I'm trying to pickup the weights again and man that elbow is making it tough. I power through it but it absolutely effects my lifts and form.

Anything I can do at home without seeing the doc, assuming it's tennis elbow? I don't go to the doc unless I think I'm dying and this won't kill me.

[redfishted]

Do you self a favor and go get the shot.

[justletmein]

Originally Posted by redfishted

Do you self a favor and go get the shot.

There's a tennis elbow shot?

[Mudslinger]

Originally Posted by justletmein

There's a tennis elbow shot?

Probably a steroid shot, but I would get an MRI or something and find out the real problem because it is not going to get any better! Good luck.

[falmike]

After 6 months of physical therapy, I bought a $15 pressure pad wrap from Amazon which cleared up my pain in two weeks

[justletmein]

Originally Posted by falmike

After 6 months of physical therapy, I bought a $15 pressure pad wrap from Amazon which cleared up my pain in two weeks

This seems worth a shot. I did a quick search and there's a TON of them. Do you keep that on normally or just when you're lifting or working? Mine flares up bad at night when I'm sleeping.

[Walker]

The pressure bands work but may take a while. Wear it 24/7 if you can. In the future slap the band on at thr first twinge of pain.

[falmike]

Originally Posted by Walker

The pressure bands work but may take a while. Wear it 24/7 if you can. In the future slap the band on at thr first twinge of pain.

This right here. Center it over the sore area. Not too tight though

[Chance Love]

Originally Posted by Walker

The pressure bands work but may take a while. Wear it 24/7 if you can. In the future slap the band on at thr first twinge of pain.

Originally Posted by falmike

This right here. Center it over the sore area. Not too tight though

Yep. Do this.

Mine used to get so bad I couldn’t pick up a bottle of water. The shots work great, for a little while anyway. If the doc gets them in the right spot it hurts like hell, but just for a bit. I don’t even know how many times I’ve had to get those dang shots.

[Smart]

I bought the Ace elbow brace with the air cushion. I could feel relief right after I put it on. The cushion goes over the pain at the top of the forearm. Not sure how it works but its like it supports that tendon and keeps it from extending too much. . I wore it every day for several months ( and at night) and then every time I might be doing something that would inflamed it like chainsawing, drilling a ton of screws in a fence, lifting ....anything with a lot of repetitive motion or vibration. It worked like a champ. So much so, that if I know I'm going to be doing something that could inflame it, I'll go find it. I split several cords of wood the other day and I grabbed it. No pain or inflammation and I palmed a lot of wood that day.

[justletmein]

Awesome, thanks y'all! I went ahead and Amazon'd a couple options to try. Reading those reviews and the feedback here is encouraging.

[SneakyPhil]

Dealing with this now. Sucks getting old.

[ThisLadyHunts]

First, stop all movements that induce pain. My sports medicine ortho said “power through muscle pain but never power through joint pain.”

Second, even though you’re not dying…if it’s broke, fix it. In other words let your GP take a look at it and confirm the epicondylitis(?) you think it is. If it is, as you suspect, epicondylitis, there some simple PT exercises you can do to promote healing. These can be found on the internet.

Personally, I would forego a steroid shot. Typically, when it comes to joint pain, all you’re doing is kicking the can down the road. Or even making the problem worse. Fix the problem, and the inflamación will go away on its own.

[redfishted]

I tried everything known to man with only very limited results, ortho Dr gave me a shot first visit, hurt bad for a couple days, then amazingly no pain, stayed pain free for about six months, back to ortho, for another shot, he said he would give me three chances with the shot before surgery, second round didn’t hurt as bad, couple days later, pain gone, been 6 years pain free.

[firemanjj82]

Golf balls aren't fun either.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[justletmein]

Well I can't stop what I'm doing, hurts worst when I'm asleep. Usually any time I'm picking up a beer can or something, grip related. I did a lot of shovel work a few weeks ago, hurts crazy starting but warms up quickly and gets less severe the more I work it. This doesn't strike me as an urgent thing so I'll give the bands a couple months and see how it goes. For $12 I'm good with that lol. I'll update the thread and let y'all know how it goes.

[manwitaplan]

Originally Posted by SneakyPhil

Dealing with this now. Sucks getting old.

Same boat. Second round. I know what I did this time. I tried to pick up a bundle of rebar scraps from trailer straight up. Nothing first day but now even when sleeping it starts the pain.

I will also look into the bands and other things. I work manual construction daily.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[erikm1981]

Originally Posted by SneakyPhil

Dealing with this now. Sucks getting old.

That ain’t no lie, I’ll battle this crap on and off all year. Usually takes me 8-12 weeks of ice rest and ibu to get rid of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Copanocruisin]

I dealt with a similar issues for several years a while back. Tried the elbow wrap for about a year or so. Finally went to a well respected sports chiropractor and he was honest, stating that he didn’t think he could fix it. I gave him the go ahead to try, danged that was a rough morning, hurt like heck. At least I could move it when I walked out on my way to get an x-ray. Sure enough, x-ray revealed significant calcification of the Bursa Sac. Ended up at the Ortho Doc. After unsuccessful PT, he gave me 3 choices.1) do nothing and live like a crippled. 2) quit doing what really flares it up or 3) pay him to fix it. I choose #2, sold both of my kayaks and have lived practically elbow pain free for the most part for probably at least the last 10 years. (Never no direct injury that I could relate back to, just near 23 years working on very large”lots of iron”compressors and engines, Just saying……..cC

[BBBGP]

Do you fish a lot? I have really bad tennis elbow and I feel like its from fishing. I have one of those ace deals that Smart was talking about, it works but I don't fish in it. You should really go get it looked at. My problem is lots of nerve issues and numbness after 3/4 days of wade fishing. I'm going to go get it looked at after the summer.

good luck.

[justletmein]

I fish a lot when the fishin's good so haven't really started yet, probably haven't really fished since October or September. That's the confusing thing for me right now, hadn't really been doing anything specific that I could quit to stop aggravating it, it kinda set in while nothing's going on. I haven't really lifted any weights for a year or so at least and only sporadic previously. I do load and unload the truck quite a bit, lumber and such recently. Reaching over the truck bed to pick stuff out is a mother, but I started being really careful about doing that a few months ago and nothing's really changed.

[aguinn84]

I had some pretty good elbow pain and doing finger extensions with a rubber band around your hand and sleeping with the arms extended seemed to help.

[SneakyPhil]

I'm starting the think that mine was caused by repetitive motion of swiping up on my cellphone.

[JES]

Go to Airrosti and have them work on it and they’ll also give you some exercises to help prevent it from coming back. Their goal is to have you pain free in three visits I think.

https://www.airrosti.com/

[brokeno]

Pressure ban

[kry226]

Is the pain on the inside of the elbow, or outside? In the last few years, I've had the common extensor tendon surgically repaired in both elbows.

No injuries, the right one just started hurting. Bad. Bumping the outside of the elbow against a doorway would send me to my knees. Dealt with it for over a year, and even did a shot along the way. PCM finally ordered an MRI and we found a 7mm tear in the common extensor tendon. Surgery reattached the tendon to an anchor drilled into the bone. Fairly lengthy recovery but probably recovered to about 80% original strength, and no pain.

During my recovery, the right one started hurting. Knew exactly what it was and went right to the MRI. Yup, another tear. Another surgery.

Get the MRI. Best of luck, sir.

[outlook8]

I've been dealing with this since last fall after getting bucked off and drug by a mule in Idaho (actually broke my elbow too, but that's another issue).

I quit lifting weights, and started wearing the arm bands. Went to a sports ortho here in Houston....no real good options except platelet rich plasma injections. I discussed with my brother who is an ortho in Alabama, and he said they do work, but are super painful and super expensive. I decided to wait.

The pain persisted, and I eventually started lifting again anyway. Surprisingly, the pain started to subside. I'm still lifting with minimal pain, though I try to be cognizant of exercises that might trigger it.

Good luck.

Chris

[SaintBlaise]

JES is on the right track.

I get this from time to time. It’s an over use injury. Search YouTube for a good PT exercise. Here’s two that will help really quickly.

1-3 pound dumbbells, reverse curl, 3 sets of 20, 2x daily. Not trying to build muscle, just trying to get through the sets.

Most important one. Buy a “ the stick”, gently roll from wrist to as far as you can to the ball joint, 15x, 3 sets, 2x daily. Do both sides of your arm.

[justletmein]

I'll look into that, Saint.

Originally Posted by kry226

Is the pain on the inside of the elbow, or outside? In the last few years, I've had the common extensor tendon surgically repaired in both elbows.

No injuries, the right one just started hurting. Bad. Bumping the outside of the elbow against a doorway would send me to my knees. Dealt with it for over a year, and even did a shot along the way. PCM finally ordered an MRI and we found a 7mm tear in the common extensor tendon. Surgery reattached the tendon to an anchor drilled into the bone. Fairly lengthy recovery but probably recovered to about 80% original strength, and no pain.

During my recovery, the right one started hurting. Knew exactly what it was and went right to the MRI. Yup, another tear. Another surgery.

Get the MRI. Best of luck, sir.

Outside, smack dab in that extensor bundle.

[LeanMachine]

Google voodoo flossing for tennis elbow. It is essentially just a heavy rubber band you wrap super tight around your elbow for a minute or two. There are videos on youtube. You can buy similar bands on amazon for very cheap. It is a miracle cure for me. It didn't just relieve my symptoms, it fixed it entirely. It was a real problem for me and now i havent experienced it in years.

https://youtu.be/RVWjVSQXsl4

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[justletmein]

Originally Posted by LeanMachine

Google voodoo flossing for tennis elbow. It is essentially just a heavy rubber band you wrap super tight around your elbow for a minute or two. There are videos on youtube. You can buy similar bands on amazon for very cheap. It is a miracle cure for me. It didn't just relieve my symptoms, it fixed it entirely. It was a real problem for me and now i havent experienced it in years.

https://youtu.be/RVWjVSQXsl4

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Flossing band shows up tomorrow. Thanks!

[ThisLadyHunts]

Originally Posted by LeanMachine

Google voodoo flossing for tennis elbow. It is essentially just a heavy rubber band you wrap super tight around your elbow for a minute or two. There are videos on youtube. You can buy similar bands on amazon for very cheap. It is a miracle cure for me. It didn't just relieve my symptoms, it fixed it entirely. It was a real problem for me and now i havent experienced it in years.

https://youtu.be/RVWjVSQXsl4

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Great video. This guy has a number of theories behind the reason he thinks this exercise works; they were very different but really seemed to make sense to me. This and the fact that when anyone starts talking to me about “ectopic polarization,” I get all gooey inside.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[justletmein]

Originally Posted by ThisLadyHunts

Great video. This guy has a number of theories behind the reason he thinks this exercise works; they were very different but really seemed to make sense to me. This and the fact that when anyone starts talking to me about “ectopic polarization,” I get all gooey inside.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

lmao awesome

[Chef]

Ive been dealing with it for decades!!! Too many years in a kitchen handling things incorrectly. From my experience (3 shots, all kinds of pressure bands, 4-5 MRI's, Multiple docs and PT's), learn how to handle things correctly. My gym coach explained how to strengthen the mucsles in your forearm and in-turn, it will repair the damage. I started off with a simple hand grip strenth do-dad... the little vise grip looking thing.... Could barely do 3-4 before the pain would start, in the beginning. I would do them everytime I would get into the truck.... some days 30-40, some days 100+... After a couple of months the pain just disappeared!!!

Pain free for almost a year now.

[kaizen]

For me there were no easy fixes. The bands help a bit but, imo, they dont let anything heal. Its like taking a ibuprofen. It will temporarily reduce tension on the tendon helping with the pain. You can get the steroid shot which will reduce the pain and allow you to do physical therapy which will help in the long run. I've dont the shot three times and physical therapy. At my worst, I couldnt turn a doorknob. Now I have coping mechanism not to irritate my tennis and golfers elbow and have identified activities that cause it to act up. Bowl more then one round, play more than one round of top golf, do dumb bell curls and I'm in for pain. Basically any repetitive activity that causes my wrist to rotate relative to my elbow under load is iffy.

[Loneaggie]

Been down this road twice. The second time I had two shots and told it was either surgery or likely pain the rest of my life. I had a ton of scar tissue on the tendon per MRI.

Well I don't like pain, and I wasn't a fan of detaching a tendon to debride it and it never really being the same again.

I did 6 weeks of hospital PT for each elbow... the second elbow it didn't help at all. That's when I got told surgery or live with it. I'm hard headed.

It helps if you understand why this happens, why it hurts, and how you can prevent it.

There is actually an online course that has stretches and exercises I eventually invested in. It wasn't very expensive, and I was still looking for a non-invasive fix. It actually worked, its not magic, but its the right set of stretches and exercises to actually let the tendon heal and prevent future occurrences.

Some swear by the bands, but they aren't helping promote healing, and can actually impede it. For many people a little rest does wonders, but if its more severe than that a very specific PT program can actually help you avoid surgery. You need to lengthen the forearm muscles, strengthen the tendon, and break down the scar tissue that's already there.

This is the course I used: https://tenniselbowclassroom.com

FWIW, I did the full program 2 years ago, and have had no issues since. Every now and then one will be a tiny bit sore, and I'll just go through the whole routine that night before going to bed, and it goes away.

[ThisLadyHunts]

Originally Posted by Loneaggie

Been down this road twice. The second time I had two shots and told it was either surgery or likely pain the rest of my life. I had a ton of scar tissue on the tendon per MRI.

Well I don't like pain, and I wasn't a fan of detaching a tendon to debride it and it never really being the same again.

I did 6 weeks of hospital PT for each elbow... the second elbow it didn't help at all. That's when I got told surgery or live with it. I'm hard headed.

It helps if you understand why this happens, why it hurts, and how you can prevent it.

There is actually an online course that has stretches and exercises I eventually invested in. It wasn't very expensive, and I was still looking for a non-invasive fix. It actually worked, its not magic, but its the right set of stretches and exercises to actually let the tendon heal and prevent future occurrences.

Some swear by the bands, but they aren't helping promote healing, and can actually impede it. For many people a little rest does wonders, but if its more severe than that a very specific PT program can actually help you avoid surgery. You need to lengthen the forearm muscles, strengthen the tendon, and break down the scar tissue that's already there.

This is the course I used: https://tenniselbowclassroom.com

FWIW, I did the full program 2 years ago, and have had no issues since. Every now and then one will be a tiny bit sore, and I'll just go through the whole routine that night before going to bed, and it goes away.

I’m with you. NSAIDS and steroid shots are bandaid fixes; they may temporarily relieve the pain, but they do little to fix the problem and promote healing. Further, by chemically reducing inflammation and pain, you’re more than likely to continue doing the thing(s) that caused the problem in the first place, thereby making it even worse.

I’m a big fan of a PT program targeted to the specific joint and particular to a specific pain. It’s amazing how seemingly innocuous movements (like the ones in the video) done maybe a couple of times a day Can place things on the right track for healing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[erikm1981]

Day one with flossing band so we will see how this goes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[justletmein]

Originally Posted by erikm1981

Day one with flossing band so we will see how this goes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please keep us posted.

I'm on day 2 with the elbow band thingy, don't think I wore it right yesterday though. Feels better so far, but that's subjective and could be influenced by placebo effect. I didn't wear it sleeping and woke up aching pretty good.

[bsills]

This worked well for me

https://www.amazon.com/TheraBand-Ten...s%2C208&sr=8-6

[Big pig]

Hitting golf balls off rubber mats on plywood caused me some real right elbow issues
Quit that and was fine in no time.

Not a doctor but I would also suggest fever reducers and some bio freeze gel.

BP