On a job back in early December, we had a rarher difficult, large wire pull where I apparently screwed up and over-did. Now, the mild tendinitis that would usually flare when I’d split wood has become a full-on conflagration that is both extremely irritating and wakes me up some nights.
I’ve been taking Aleve on days when I know I’ll be stressing it, or when it especially achy. I’ll also use a combo of Biofeeeze and Voltaren to tamp down the inflammation when I’ve over-done things.
I know there is no easy cure, but I haven’t found anything diffinitive of when to start PT, nevermind specific exercises to target the problem. Plus, while I can do certain exercises, I can’t hold any weights - nevermind trying to do chin-ups/pull-ups - and push-ups feel Ok until later in the day, when it is then excruciating.
So, as we all should, I come to to LR to ask: What’s worked for you guys?
If you hold your hand out with elbow straight and have someone push down on your middle finger (while resisting them) and it reproduces your pain then it’s probably lateral epicondylalgia (tennis elbow).
Isometrics to start. Avoid stretching it.
Send me a PM with where you’re located, I should have some time this weekend to chat.
I had tennis elbow (ironically from too much golf at the driving range but not golfer’s elbow).
I was going through PT for something else at the time and asked my therapist for advice on that. So I can tell you what worked for me if you’re having a similar issue.
Several years ago I had tennis & golfers elbow for a good 12 months of various severity, at its worst, it was excruciating just lifting the bed sheets off in the morning. Tried physio, stretches, grip strength etc. & nothing put a dent in it. Then I bought a peanut massage ball & massaged/rolled my forearm top & bottom from wrist to elbow (including the elbow itself where the pain was) & also the tricep. I did this once a day for a few weeks, dialing the pain right down. Then went to every other day & within a few months it was pretty much fixed completely. Continued rolling it a couple of times a week for preventative maintenance or I felt a twinge for another few months & haven’t had a recurrence since. Worth a shot for a few bucks & 5 mins of your day.
I had chronic tennis elbow from too much fly fishing. Kept re-occurring for years.
Local physio gave me two exercises which I did religiously for 6 weeks & still do regularly which fixed it 99%. He was amazed cos he said it is a very hard condition to beat.
One was a turning the wrist over back & forth holding a broom. 40 reps. Move pivot point out from broom head 2cm each day to increase resistance (I do both arms for luck).
Other was with a resistance band, forearm on table, use other hand to lift wrist up then lower it slowly over 3-4 secs. 2x15 reps (I do both arms).
Google them for more detail.
Elbow problems (which, I realize, come in multiple flavors) are common among rock climbers. So, there are tons of success stories in that world:
For me, the key was discontinuing pull-ups. And, for lat pull-downs I would use lighter weights (eg, where I could do 15 reps in a set); keeping a little bend in my elbows at the top (I find pulling with elbows fully straightened is tough on them); and doing them one arm at a time, which allows your hand to rotate a bit.
But, it can be hard to self-diagnose whether your problem is over-use, a muscle imbalance (climbers tend to have both), or something else. A good PT can help.
Like you, I have a physical job and thus have suffered through countless tendonitis issues.
I’m sure yeeper will correct me if I’m off base but from what I understand the key is slow, but very heavy reps to strengthen the tendon.
For my elbow issues my physio would first treat with IMS which would provide immediate and testable improvement (pain free grip before testing was 20kg, pain free grip immediately after treatment was 40kg, balls out max effort around 68kg for reference), then prescribe heavy wrist curls, as heavy as I could handle for 6-8 reps max for 3 sets. If I would do this 3x/week, both palms up and down, progressively increasing the weight with each session, the issue would die down very quickly, even though I was still somewhat aggravating it at work daily, which was unavoidable.
Theraband Flexbars (I got the red and green, green is heavier resistance) worked really well for me when I started experiencing symptoms like you’re describing. I still use them whenever it feels like it might be flaring up again.
Amazon sells them.
I bought a tennis eblow strap at CVS. Typical of the one in the link. I found it helped a lot when I was going to be doing something that would cause it to flare up. Never went to PT. Eventually it went away.
