Tennis elbow anyone???

Jimn Seiler wrote:I have some very painful tennis elbow (so bad that some days it hurts immensely to hold my cordless drill) and I was wondering if you all could help me with exercises and remedies to combat this nasty setback and get me back on track for pulling down harder.

As an Electrical Contractor, try the impact driver. Cordless powerdrills have their usefulness but the impact driver will save your elbows (as well as your clients house/etc...)

P.S.- And what Stout said!

Tons of good stuff here, certainly work on opposing exercises and self massage, and tendonitis braces work great, get em and sports stores, and wear them just BELOW the elbow (on the forearm). For immediate relief of pain try a product called "Triflora" made by a company called "Boerick and Taffel". It is a homeopathic get that applied directly to the site really really helps me and a number of other people I know. As far as a long term solution, tendons are tough. Connective tissue has a poor blood supply and does not heal and gain strength nearly as quickly as the muscle it is attached to, so it falls behind the curve and hurts a lot. Given a few years of correct exercise it will catch up and stop hurting nearly as much. To speed the healing process, hydrotherapy is the only thing that works. Either alternate between hot water for 3 min and cold for 30 sec, or just use cool water, slightly below body temp, for 20-30 min a day, twice if you can. This draws blood to the area and quickens tendon and ligament thickening. This method works anywhere on the body, but is especially useful for injuries to the extremities (fingers, joints, etc.) Avoid NSAID's if you can, they relieve some pain and swelling in the short term, but the process they employ actually slows healing time, don't want that, do we?

Thanks, all--much useful advice here. Also, makes it easier to look outside on a balmy day and know I'm not the only one who has managed to screw himself out of several weeks of climbing.

Reverse wrist curls help, but adding standing rows along with the wrist curls totally solved the problem for me.

What's a standing row?

In a standing position hold a weighted barbell with your arms relaxed and palms facing inward, lift the barbell to your chest by bending your elbows outward.

I climb ice and perhaps these exercises are specific to the motions to swing, pull, and clean your tools - but it worked for me without having to give up my caffeine addiction.

I work as an orthopedic physical therapist in private practice. I have been using a new treatment called ASTYM (augmented soft tissue mobilization) for tendinosis and tendonitis issues. It is a really remarkable system and has a lot of research and sound physiology to back it up. I have had great results with it. The big down side is it has to be done by a PT with a certification in the system. If you have access to PT then try to find an ASTYM practictioner. With 4-9 visits depending on severity and chronicity you can be back to normal with a much healthier tendon.

Here's link to thier website with some info and a list of certified practitioners.
performancedynamics.com/

I lost years to this problem. In the last three years, though, I've been (elbow) problem-free. I agree with the reverse wrist-curls recommendation, but for me, it was improving my triceps that did it. A lot of people have mentioned pushups here, which work the triceps, but here are a few thoughts:

1. Mix up the pushups between "regular" and "planche" style (hands closer to the abdomen).

2. Benchpress with two dumbells was the best for me since it doesn't lock your hands at a specific width but lets them move through a more natural range of motion, plus you can warm up at a lower weight, or do pyramids or whatever, versus only having your body weight.

3. I hit the weights gym hard (3x/week for three months) while still climbing once or twice per week. Since then I've just maintained with some wrist-curls and pushups. It's great to be able to train and improve after years of frustration.

Best of luck.

EUREKA! After seeing the phys. therapists, two orthopods, and an acupuncturist and shelling out, oh, $2,000, I finally lucked onto the cure for my 10-month-old case of tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis). A chiropractor (Jason Gridley, in Denver) did some relatively painless stretching and then used plastic implements (apparently akin to ASTYM) to break down the scar tissue. Within three short visits I was basically cured. And I've climbed hard with no relapse. And get this: when's the last time you heard a chiropractor say, "Get out of here; you don't need me anymore"? That's right, booted me out after four visits and said don't come back unless it gets sore again. I was about to go all the way up to Ft. Collins for ASTYM treatments, which probably also work, but this guy's two miles from my house. I'm as excited as a lowlife who just got religion!

check out this article from the new york times. It presents the results of a 'new' study, and it includes a video explaining how to implement their fix.

well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009…

hope that helps.

I think someone mentioned this before, but what do people think of platelet (sp?) injections, I believe it's called Prolotherapy? Basically centrifuge blood to get out your platelets and then inject them directly into the tendon. A friend had a Dr. Carly at Stedman in Vail do it and said he's cured...both my elbows are killing me and I'm beyond bummed.

I consistently get tennis elbow from climbing. Most recently I got a bad case from 2 hard 4 hour gym sessions with only 1 day rest.

I took two weeks off from climbing altogether. Started taking glucosamine condroitin.

Went online and found some exercises described by John Bachar. Reverse wrist curls. 3 sets of 15 - around 15 pounds. And 3 sets of Lateral wrist twists. 10 pounds on one side of an adjustable dumbbell, no weight on the other side. Put your elbow on the arm of a chair or sofa and hold the dumbbell weight side up straight out. Slowly twist the dumbbell 90 degrees each way for a full 180 degrees of movement. 15-20 times. Should really pump/burn in the top of your forearm by the end of each set on both exercises. I do these exercises after about 200 slow pushups the day after climbing.

I have also stopped climbing every other day and now climb every 4th day. As an added benefit I seem to be getting stronger quicker.

I haven't been back to the climbing gym since the injury, but I would make sure to take at least 3 days off after a long gym day. It's just too easy to overtrain at a gym.

In conclusion, I haven't had any tendonitis since taking the supplement and incorporating the exercises. I think it is probably mostly the exercises that have helped. If you look at the underside of my forearm it is ridiculously huge. Maybe bigger than my bicep. Then the top of my forearm is pretty puny. Pretty serious imbalance. I'm sure most climbers are the same way.

I had the cortisone, and more importantly the Platelet Rich Plasma injection.
I'm 54 and have been racing/riding motocross and Hare Scrambles (XC) for over 40 years - until last year. I was in peak physical condition. Mine occurred from twisting throttle too much and too many times. Yes I won plenty.
I am 6 weeks from PRP shot and my therapy consists of building barbwire fence (don't tell ortho). Point: I'm swinging hammer stapling into PT hardazz wood repetitively.
This is your only choice barring surgery. Prior to PRP, picking up a gallon of milk was impossible and torture. It still hurts some. I had to have someone cut my steak and any heavy lifting- very humbling from someone that used to be in peak fitness.

This is the cure for your microscopic destruction of cells in the elbow area. I would rate myself as 75% of one year ago. I understand I cannot ever ride again and it is heartbreaking. I now will finish my days mountainbiking/roadriding and cruising on bicycles.

To anyone going for PRP- please give it 6 weeks to heal- even I obeyed doctors orders- some have had better results than I. My lifestyle would be completely over had I not had the PRP.
I wish the best for all of you suffering from this devastating malady.

Dur2Moab
Has anyone had the surgery?

You'd be amazed at how much riding a bike works the pushing muscles. Esp. the triceps. Something to keep in mind if you want to keep exercising, but have to take time off from climbing.

Don't climb through the pain!

I had a similar problem when building my house and climbing at the same time. Cordless drill/hammer + climbing isn't a good mix all at once. I had to take time off, ice after climbing, massage, and work climbing back way below my highest level for a while. Some days I could climb for hours on easy stuff and then one hard move and the pain would start. This helped me build a good base, which I was lacking anyways. Weights also helped. I would try to hit everywhere...obviously target the pushing muscles as mentioned before.

Dur2Mo wrote: Has anyone had the surgery?

I had surgery for tennis elbow I got from boulder too much... It made it much worse! It took a year to be able to comfortably move my elbow again and even now it is much stiffer! As for the tendinitis... it still hurts. I've basically stopped bouldering and now focus on trad climbing with only occasional crimpy sport routes. The lots of low intensity trad climbing seems to have helped my elbow a bit, but it still is nowhere near as good as 4 years ago before I started suffering from tendinitis.

I think surgery only helps because it forces you to stop using your arm completely for 6 months and makes you lose all of your muscles so your tendons have time to rebuild... I would recommend just putting your arm in a cast for a couple of weeks rather than surgery...

(yes, I did PT, massage, multiple cortisone injections, and every other cure from acupuncture to rolfing... nothing worked so I tried surgery...)

Ok, I forgot to mention the ortho gave me a wrist brace to eliminate the wrist movement during sports/ work. It really helps, def recommend it. (eliminates the movement that caused the injury).

I want to try the rubber stick therapy in J Albers NY times video.
I will not go for the surgery after hearing Julius. He shares my opinion of having a cast - for people with active lifestyles that will not alter their lifestyle until excruciating pain forces you to- sound familiar? Thats me for sure.
This is the best forum for this problem I've found- thanks everyone.

PRP fo sho. It is not an overnite cure- give it 6 weeks. Ice/elevate and chill. I found 2 positives:
1. You get the fire to return to the hills big time, on medical down time.
2. Random Women feel sorry for you when they see two braces on your arm! Women who know me have no sympathy- What the hell?

I would like to know elbow splints price because, doctor told me that i also have tennis elbow...

draxe.com/tennis-elbow/

First hand experience that volleyball definitely doesn't help

I've been recovering from a nasty case of tennis elbow. I took two weeks off and got a gyro ball, which definitely helps. I slowly phased climbing back in, being careful to avoid the tweaky holds and never climbing two days in a row. Oddly enough, light climbing on positive holds seems to actually help, even if it's on severely overhanging routes. As long as it's jugs, I usually feel better the next day.