Tennis elbow anyone???

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.

I have the same thing, "medial epicondilitis", or something like that. Weakness/aching feeling in the elbow, towards the body and inside of the bend of the elbow on the medial side.

Mine has never gotten too serious and usually hurt most when I stopped climbing(immediately after coming down and between hard pulls). I find it comes back if I crank hard for 3-4 days a week for 2+ weeks.

My experience is that the best thing to do is to take time off and do self massage. Maybe some supplements might help too... maybe some lightweight curls would help, don't know...

My solution(not qualified, except this is what works for me):
1. take 2 weeks off with:
-self massage, good nutrition, light non-pull exercises
2. slowly and carefully start pulling again,
3. anytime a flare up seems to be coming on, take it easy, just gotta commit to self care... the quicker I halt activity, the quicker the recovery

Best wishes for healing!

I'm going to try using a Dyna-Flex gyro exerciser for my tendinitis to see if it helps at all. I like the thing itself, it's kind of fun to use.

The Dynaflex is more suited for lateral epicondilitis as it helps strengthen the extensors which are antagonistic to your "grip muscles", i.e. flexors. Your best bet for tennis elbow is to decrease your workload but still keep active. Some massage to the muscles (not the tendon attachment) helps as does daily icing. If you can find a neoprine sleeve with a icepack ( usually used for shin splints so buy a small size) that helps. Also check out Topricin, a topical anti-inflamitory available at Vitamin Cottage, that works amazing.

Here is a good article on the subject: athlon.com.au/articles/r&i_…

All good advice from the Veteran's here, but if you want to heal and still do what you love try some slab climbing! Also I'm sure you are aware drilling is tough on the bow's.

Best of luck
AT

Reverse curls saved my ass.

I had to take a month off last year it hurt so bad. I get it every now and then (when I don't take rest days) and push-ups and reverse curls help alleviate the pain.

Go out and get a 1 3/4" piece of wood, drill a hole through the diameter, and string some weight on it for reverse curls.

Similar to the above - PUSHUPS.

Climbers tend to over-train the body with too much pulling. When my elbows start feeling funny, I get down onto the floor and start doing push-ups to help balance the strength of the muscles in my arms.

True, this solution takes a couple of months to help. Nor will it help if you keep pulling down hard over-hanging routes at your current level. Someone else already recommended slab routes for a while and they are dead-on correct. Give the sore joints some rest, strengthen your arms (reverse curls or push ups).

After climbing or anything else that aggravates the pain, use ibuprofen and ice to limit the pain/swelling. This suggestion shouldn't be used to help you finish that next hard red-point, but it will help if normal day-to-day stuff is causing you problems.

Classic problem with (I found) and easy solution. Problem is that you have overdeveloped your forearms and the muscle group on the other side is weak. The tendonitis comes from the imbalance.

Reverse curls probably help. But not as much as something like a wrist roller or reverse wrist curls. Don't move the entire arm, just the wrists. See this:

wannabebig.com/article.php?…

Think of it this way - for each move up you should be doing an equal amount the other way. If you stick to this I can almost gaurantee results in a month or so.

Also, once you have the pain - that's it. You gotta stop. It only gets worse. Switch to complete rest and then slowly mix in some weight training days. You should be on NSAIDS as well. You have to reduce the swelling in order to heal - ICE!

Check out this book on it: One move too many

Ray

My bow's have hurt off and on during my climbing years. The best thing to do (other than rest) is to cross train. For every two days of hard climbing, I force myself to spend one day cross training. I incorporate all the movements you don't do while climbing. Mainly, reverse forearm curls (low weight, high reps. I use a 15lb weight, and do 60 reps 5 times), and push ups! I do all sorts of them, but the ones that help me the most are these : Start all the way up, lower yourself until your chest is almost on the ground, then quickly push up just over half way (arms are now bent at 90 degrees) and back down five times then go all the way back up (this way you are doing the opposite of a lock off, which is usually what flares up the tendentious). That is one rep. Try 10 reps to start with at 5 sets. I also do lots of other stuff already mentioned. The more I cross train, the better I seem to climb and feel.

Good luck.

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.

Are you doing pull-ups for training? If so, consider that you may be pulling up too high on the bar/holds. I know from personal experience that can cause severe tendonitis.

If it's on the inside of the elbow, right near that little bump, it's acutally "golfer's elbow."

I suffered through that for about five years. One thing I wished I would have done early is brace the area. Sadly, I had Kaiser at the time and the doctor was totally unfamiliar with the cause or treatment so basically did nothing for me.

You can find nylon braces at the drug store that are about two inches wide that you use to brace the area right above your elbow. While I've read that some believe the bracing to be ineffective, it relieved enough of the discomfort to permit me to do everyday tasks without feeling like I was reinjuring the area grabbing a jar off the shelf.

The biggest thing is rest though. Anti-inflammatories work OK. Stay away from cortisone since, although it relieves the inflammation temporarily, it ultimately weakens the tendons. Training your antagonistic muscles will help, but only start doing that after the area has felt like it's healed some.

It was a few years before I could return to climbing at the level before injuring it. But again, that was likely to not getting good treatment at the outset. If you have decent medical insurance, get a referral to an orthopedic who handles sports injuries and try to get into therapy.

I had a huge problem with this a few months back. I tried taking time off, and training opposing muscles. None of it helped, I was still getting intense pain in my elbow. I was convinced it was tendinitis so i went to the doctors. He asked me how much caffeine i drank, and i said allot. It turns out that caffeine causes your tendons to swell, this combined with the strain we place on or body during climbing can mimic the pain felt during tendinitis. I stopped drinking caffeine and the pain went away. I hope you dont have tendinitis because it is super shitty. hope you feel better.

-Nate

A lot of great advise. Thank you very much for your time on these responses. It is a great feeling to have hope.

Hi
Wear a copper bracelet that will oxidise when you sweat and turn sections of your arm (wrist) green. It is not a quick fix but a long term solution that eliminates any surgery needed. you could find the bracelets in a health shop or vita shop. Magnets is not neccesary.

Nate Johnson wrote:I had a huge problem with this a few months back. I tried taking time off, and training opposing muscles. None of it helped, I was still getting intense pain in my elbow. I was convinced it was tendinitis so i went to the doctors. He asked me how much caffeine i drank, and i said allot. It turns out that caffeine causes your tendons to swell, this combined with the strain we place on or body during climbing can mimic the pain felt during tendinitis. I stopped drinking caffeine and the pain went away. I hope you dont have tendinitis because it is super shitty. hope you feel better. -Nate

Anybody have any info on this, I've never heard that. Other than the general "caffiene is bad" that is. I certainly have more than my fair share.

Got the "real" tennis elbow, aka lateral epicondyle pain, from (a) doing narrow push-ups or (b) shifting with left hand in rough African boonies. After three weeks of hoping it would just go away, rather than risk making it worse, I quit all upper body exercise--climbing, push-ups, the works (just abs and cardio). Rather than try any of the often conflicting advice on therapeutic regimens, I'm looking for a physical therapist who is also a climber (or at least understands the injury) and who works in the Denver area. Any ideas? Buehler? Anyone?

Reverse wrist curls.

I get tennis elbow every 8 months and make it disseapear quickly with reverse wrist curls.

""Anybody have any info on this, I've never heard that. Other than the general "caffiene is bad" that is. I certainly have more than my fair share""

Caffeine is bad because it constricts the smaller blood vessels (ie capillaries). This means that there is less blood flow to the scar tissue areas (or tightened/damaged tissues). The less caffeine you drink, the more blood flow you can get to the affected area. This is why most people recommend massaging the muscle too (perpendicular to and parallel to the muscle)

Also I'm surprised nobody mentioned, you want to start off with a 2 week regimen of stretching and massaging to loosen the tendon and break up scar tissue. (lots of rest too!!)

after that 2week - 3 month period, you then begin rebuilding the muscles, I use hammer twists. Twist at the wrist like turning a door knob with a hammer in your hand.

The exercise you choose is dependent on the weakest muscle groups. This is best determined by somebody cranking on your arm in a few positions (physical therapists).

These are all recommendations from my physical therapist. I have experiecned severe lateral epicondylitis, and mild medial epicondylitis on both left and right arms.

Hope this helps.

I had tendonitis on the inside of my right elbow when I was training 3-4 days/week at the climbing gym. I tried all kinds of antagonistic exercises, stretches etc and then finally just quit training. No change. why? because I was spending 8-10 hours/day typing on a laptop. constantly curling my right hand to use the trackpad was completely effing up my ergonomics and produced tension in the elbow area that lasted for hours after I stopped typing. my solution was to use a real keyboard and take breaks for stretching while typing.

I have had two different bouts with lateral tendinosis/tendinitis. I'm not sure if I heal slower than others or what, but I had real difficulty healing mine. In 2007 it was the left elbow and in 2008 it was the right. I never knew whether to attribute my problem to skiing or climbing. Each bout occurred after a full season of skiing most weekends and climbing two days on the weekends.

When I had it, I cut my climbing way down, but never really stopped climbing for more than 3-4 weeks at a time. And I was not pushing hard. However, each case took 6 months to fully resolve. I hope it's not the same for you.

I have a full regiment of physical training that I created from papers I read and people I spoke with. It consisted of reverse wrist curls, using a barbell with a weight on one end and rotating my forearms, and using a rubber band around the fingers and extending my fingers while driving in the car. I continue to do this to prevent it.

If you want anymore else, I am happy to what I came up with to you. Just send me an email.

Best Wishes! I know, it really can suck... bad. Physical therapy is heplful, I think, to make it heal stronger. But your best bet is patience and time. That's also the hardest part.

Most of the aforementioned things are good. A PT showed me a treatment that worked wonders when I had sever tendonitis in 1 elbow and then a yr. later in the other one. Find the spot that hurts the most. Kneed it w/ an index finger and alot of pressure. This will really hurt but do it for 20- 30 seconds and then let up . Do this off and on for several minutes 3-4 times a day. This seems to release some of the inflamation. This w/ ice, compression wraps,rest and for me- a single cortizone shot helped get rid of the problem. The Ortho Dr. said 400 to 600 mg of Ibu. 3-4x a day along w/ the resting of the arm would reduce the inflamation thus reducing the pain. Glucosamine also helps --it takes 30 days to build up in you system. Good luck.