Elbow death!

I got the Nitis! Either that or a brain eating lizard is incubating on the inside of my right elbow... Ice baths, forearm stretches, and lonely one handed massages by candle light have been the treatment this past week.
Question is, folks who've dealt with it, did you find climbing moderate grades (maybe 2 or more below normal redpoint level) to still aggravate it?
Also, miracle cures are welcome (For either brain eating lizards or tendonitis)... I'm not 100% sure which one it is...

FWIW, I've had rubbish elbows for years and nothing seemed to help incl climbing easy grades. In fact, I took two years off climbing as I was too busy with work, and within a few weeks of starting up again my elbows were giving me gyp. About three months ago, though, I bought an Armaid self massager and that seems to have done the trick - best money I've ever spent. It lets you do deep tissue (i.e. painful) massage that totally nails the tendons and other hot spots. No hesitation recommending you check it out.

Do 100 push-ups a day. Seriously, it works.

Depends on whether you have bursitis or tendonitis. Lucky me, I've had both in my elbow.

Bursitis: Take ibuprofen for a few weeks, and don't ever bump or rub the elbow against anything! Once I stop the ibuprofen, it usually pops up again for a week or two, then is gone.

Tendonitis: Find a really good physical therapist. Deep tissue massages from someone who really knows what they are doing helped; laying off it and even taking it easy did not. In fact, the good news was that I kept on climbing during treatment.

Hope you find something that works for you.

I took a month off.. then climb easy for a while when you feel zero pain. Pushups help, especially after climbing.

I had every type of 'itis possible for years from the time I was a teenager. I started eating real food with an emphasis on higher fat and lower carb and magically this stuff disappeared.

As far as ibuprofen, I highly recommend doing some google scholar searches on the stuff. Summary, it will probably lead to longer term tendon and muscle issues. In simple terms, it starves tendons and muscles.

Ibuprofen is like a tourniquet, it stops the bleeding but doesn't fix the root issue, and eventually you still lose the limb or die. My point, fix the issue and forget about ibuprofen for anything but rare and short term acute issues.

THIS:

vimeo.com/37446631

Seriously, eccentric exercises have strong evidence in their support. Push ups are helpful for prevention but not as good for rehab from tendinitis. Ibuprofen is a wonder drug -- but only for a specific aim-reducing inflammation and pain. It has negative effects on healing and should be used sparingly.

Do your PT and you will get better. When you are healed, don't forget about the pain and try to do opposing exercises when climbing a lot (focusing on extensors and triceps).

Cheers

Personally, I would skip the ice. I think it makes it feel better temporarily simply because you are numb, but inhibits actual healing.

I have had inside left elbow flare-ups on and off for the past 15 or more years. I've found what makes it happen - too much hard, very steep climbing, or repeated, powerful 2- or 3-finger pockets (esp middle and ring fingers).
When I get a flare-up, I rest for a week or more, no ice (like Sprague), stay away from steeps and finger pockets, and lots of finger and pizza-roller massages up and down the (left) forearm, all the way down to the "funny bone".
I am right-arm dominant and I've never had any problem with inside elbow pain on my right.

big fan of the zottman curl: youtube.com/watch?v=ZrpRBgs…

I have an Armaid. I am a mechanic so I also get it outside of climbing from repetitive gripping. The Armaid is simple to use and completely works. I also works with other elbow and wrist ailments. At least research it. ( armaid.com

Dude, I had terrible elbow tendinitis. Made washing dishes impossible. Google Theraband Flexbar. Buy the green one. It's an eccentric exercise that is a miracle cure. Good luck my friend and keep the flex bar close.

Find the weird video on YouTube. Fixes tennis elbow too.

Dude, I had terrible elbow tendinitis. Made washing dishes impossible. Google Theraband Flexbar. Buy the green one. It's an eccentric exercise that is a miracle cure. Good luck my friend and keep the flex bar close.

Find the weird video on YouTube. Fixes tennis elbow too.

Hold a hammer and your hand. Rotate said hammer about the axis of your harm as slowly as possible.

I would give this eccentric exercise a try;
youtube.com/watch?v=UHXpMPQ…

paul y. wrote:eccentric exercises have strong evidence in their support.

So what is that evidence?

Actually almost all resistance exercises (whether for rehab or strength-building or bulk-building) already include eccentric contractions.
. (along with concentric contractions)

Like I do a two-sided variation of the hammer exercise (in the video immediately above this post) by rotating the hammer to both sides (both pronation and supination of the wrist joint), so it puts both eccentric and concentric on both the "golfers elbow" and "tennis elbow" injury sites. Seems like I'm getting more preventive benefit for expending the same elapsed time.

So where's a well-controlled study that compares a similar exercise motion:
(a) eccentric with concentric return blocked out; against
(b) eccentric paired with concentric return (likely with a lower resistance than eccentric only)

for rehab of some tendon or muscle injury?

Then how about a report of such a study specifically for rehab of "golfers elbow" (the elbow problem climbers sometimes get).

Ken