Tennis Elbow success stories?

I'm not really looking for advice as much as I am looking for success stories of people overcoming this really annoying injury...

I've had Tennis Elbow (lateral epicondylitis) for over 7 months now after pushing myself hard in the gym about 2-3 days a week for months early this year. I've been doing all the exercises my PT prescribed to me religiously. Throughout the last 7 months I've still been climbing, but pretty casually, and way less often. I've mostly tried to avoid the gym, as after about 2 routes there, the tendon flares up very quickly and is quite painful. Slabby routes outside I seem to do fine on, however... So ya.. 7 months in and I've seen little improvement, despite all my efforts. If I hit the 12 month mark without much more improvement, I may start seriously considering some sort of surgery.

Has anyone beat this thing without surgery? I'd be really curious to hear some detailed stories from people. Most posts I see are people asking for advice about tennis elbow, but I see very little success stories!

Thanks

Hi Avram. 

I have had two bouts of serious medial epicondylitis.  Both were frustrating, debilitating, long lasting, and stubbornly resistant to all interventions, including rest, eccentric exercies, special stretches, and so on.  

Both cases lasted for over one year. And both times the injuries resolved.   Why?  How?  I finally identified the repetitive movement that was causing the pain...and it wasn't climbing.  

The first period took place when my daughter was a child and just learning how to walk.  I was the primary care giver.  My elbow pain dissapeared almost immediately after I started picking her up and carrying her with my left arm and not my right arm (my dominant arm and injured arm).  When you have a little kid, you pick them up dozens of times a day, carry them for hours.  That repetitive stress was causing the injury.  

The second period took place when I was doing rehab for knee injury from skiing (welcome to the life of an aging athlete!). To stay fit and sane I was using an upright ski ergometer, which allows you to get a gread cardo workout without using your knees too much. It is a gentle but repetitive motion.  Frustrated by my knee injury and my elbow injury, I stopped using the ergometer for about a week and...the elbow pain went away!

It still twinges occasionally, and I and very aware of it, and avoid certain movements, but I have found that consistent strength training, putting real force through the elbow pushing and pulling, is what helps the most.  Push ups, pull ups, curls, shoulder press, and so on.  Avoid full ROM if that causes pain.  Stretch to comfort.   Don't stop.  Keep moving it.  The worst you can do is rest completely.

It can go away.  There is hope.

Thanks Bruno. Real strength training is not something I have tried yet to beat this thing. I've mostly been doing wrist extension exercises with a 10lb weight, hangs, and finger exercises with a rubber band. 

I will talk to my PT about adding your suggested exercises into the routine. Thanks again!

Almost two years of tennis elbow trying just about everything PT wise, balms, etc. I was recommended a physical therapist who only did deep tissue massage and graston once a week at the office. Daily 15 minute stretches. Oh, absolutely no anti inflammatories. Two months later and my elbow was basically back to normal. 

My epicondylitis took almost two years to resolve but I came out the other side climbing stronger. Two things that really helped... first, I kept climbing but just figured out what climbing didn't irritate the elbow (get out of the gym and climb outside). Second, I took responsibility for my recovery and didn't put all my faith in my PT (advice from Dave MacLoed). I saw several PTs and they all had a rather limited view of how to treat epicondylitis. I started doing extensive research and found alternative views for how to treat the injury and exercises to try. And then I tried every exercise in the book to see how it effected me. I eventually found a series of exercises that no PT had recommended that relieved the symptoms. For me they were heavy weight baring exercises for my forearms. 

So, don't just stick to what your PT says! Start experimenting on yourself to see what works for you.

This may or may not apply based on how much multi-pitch / belaying from above you do, but I do that pretty regularly in the warmer months and started to get some tennis elbow that I realized was being driven by belaying from above with an ATC. there is just so much friction pulling rope through that it really stresses the elbow. switching to belaying from above with a grigri ultimately solved the issue. there are also other plate devices you can get that I'm less familiar with which also have a lot less friction than an ATC

Mark NH wrote:

Almost two years of tennis elbow trying just about everything PT wise, balms, etc. I was recommended a physical therapist who only did deep tissue massage and graston Once a week at the office. Daily 15 minute stretches. Oh, absolutely no anti inflammatories. Two months later and my elbow was basically back to normal. 

Wow! I'm so glad you got that figured out... TWO years? You must have been really frustrated. I've done a bit of graston, but reading this makes me want to try it more regularly. Thanks!

Adam Brink wrote:

My epicondylitis took almost two years to resolve but I came out the other side climbing stronger. Two things that really helped... first, I kept climbing but just figured out what climbing didn't irritate the elbow (get out of the gym and climb outside). Second, I took responsibility for my recovery and didn't put all my faith in my PT (advice from Dave MacLoed). I saw several PTs and they all had a rather limited view of how to treat epicondylitis. I started doing extensive research and found alternative views for how to treat the injury and exercises to try. And then I tried every exercise in the book to see how it effected me. I eventually found a series of exercises that no PT had recommended that relieved the symptoms. For me they were heavy weight baring exercises for my forearms. 

So, don't just stick to what your PT says! Start experimenting on yourself to see what works for you.

I have done some experimentation with massage, and stretching. Haven't really experimented much with exercises though. I'll have to google the weight bearing exercises. That sounds promising. Thank you.

Owen Wilkins wrote:

This may or may not apply based on how much multi-pitch / belaying from above you do, but I do that pretty regularly in the warmer months and started to get some tennis elbow that I realized was being driven by belaying from above with an ATC. there is just so much friction pulling rope through that it really stresses the elbow. switching to belaying from above with a grigri ultimately solved the issue. there are also other plate devices you can get that I'm less familiar with which also have a lot less friction than an ATC

I've been using a reverso to belay from above. I definitely see how that repetitive motion could definitely contribute to that arm issues. Good thing to consider. Thank you.

I am dealing with tennis elbow right now ... it has only been 4 weeks but my condition has dramatically improved and I am back to climbing nearly as hard as before. The initial flare-up was bad enough that I stopped climbing entirely for the first week. Mine was definitely from climbing and not from other repetitive motions or stresses.

I did 3 things for my condition: forearm stretches, self massage with an Armaid, and eccentric twists with theraband flexbars. I think the flexbar exercises have been crucial, and the armaid massage perhaps most 'ymmv'.

I bought a set of 3 flexbars despite reading that most people only use the middle (green), and am glad to have all 3. Initially the weakest (red) was very difficult to resist with the effected arm so it was useful to me. I am about to move onto the strongest bar (blue) and intend to keep doing this exercise with both arms after full recovery, for prevention.

I bought the armaid after constantly feeling the urge to self massage near the elbow with my opposite thumb, and wanting something easier and more effective. It is expensive, but exactly what I was hoping for. I could imagine someone else using it and thinking it doesn't really improve their condition though. The company has how-to videos on youtube (including one specific to treating tennis elbow) and I think effective implementation might require some persistence/technique.

Perhaps my bout with tennis elbow hasn't been as severe as previous replies (comparatively quick recovery), but the change in my arm pain/strength has been pretty significant in that time. This is my first occurrence of elbow issues in well over 10 years of consistent climbing.

How’s your shoulder mobility?
mine is crap. I didn’t realize it was contributing to my golfer elbows until I started working on overhead shoulder mobility. It caused me to excessively strain my elbow in overhead reaches and hangs. Just a contributor among many, but worth checking.

The things that helped me the most were the green therabar, the wave tool combined with icy hot or something similar, the exercise using a frying pan to slowly lower with your wrist, climb injury free by Jared Vagy, a simple neoprene elbow sleeve from Amazon, and sitting in a sauna for 20 minutes a day or so. Unless you have serious trauma surgery should be avoided. The thing to remember is that it’s a tendon injury not a muscle injury and thus takes much longer to heal. My experience was that climbing outside didn’t bother it as nearly as much as pulling on plastic indoors. Take it slow and you’ll get there 

I don't want to discount anybody's experience, but, for me, the therabar, the eccentric lowering exercises with a hammer or frying pan of whatever, the massage guns, the heat and cold therapy...did nothing.  Again, for me, the only things that helped were 1) eliminating the iritating movement, and 2) putting real force through the joint and tendons with consistent strength training. Good luck!!!

Re: James -

I do have the flex bars, but I ditched them for wrist extension exercises using a 10lb weight. Perhaps I should add the flex bar back in to my routine. I do have an arm-aid also. I think I was using it wrong, because I ended up doing some temporary nerve damage and couldn't move my hand very well for a few days! 

Re: Steven Lee -

I'm not aware of any shoulder issues, but I will have my PT do a shoulder mobility test next time I see him! Thanks for the advice.

Re: Don -

I hope you're right and I just need to stay persistent. I definitely want to avoid surgery. I am considering an MRI at least, however. It just feels really messed up in there! 

Re: Bruno -

Excited to ask my PT about the strength training

Another plug for the Therabar for tennis elbow. I used to get it every summer while I was training for tennis, therabar completely eliminated it.

golfers elbow on the other hand, therabar did nothing for that. Weird.

I imagine there is great value in doing antagonist strength training - I intend to add things like wrist extension with weights after I'm fully recovered. But for me, doing concentric exercises while injured seemed to make my elbow tendonitis worse. Wrist extensions, and the lifting part of hammer rotations both further aggravated the area near my elbow.

In contrast, the eccentric flexbar twisting make the area ache initially but feel better over time. I don't know why that would be... maybe it is simply a matter of lower intensity.

I had a moderate case that lasted almost 2 years after getting overexcited about a home woodie when the pandemic started. Went to a few PTs and did plenty of self-treatment with varying success. At some point I was doing weighted wrist eccentrics with 40lb dumbbells... all of the PT got me down to a 2-3/10 pain level but it didn't go away. Super frustrating, obviously. 

The thing that has finally worked is hiring an experienced climbing coach (shout-out Malcom Godowski) - he was able to identify shoulder weakness that he theorized was causing knock-on effects down my arm. A few months of band exercises and shoulder-focused strengthening on and off the climbing wall and now I have no trace of the elbow issue remaining.

All that to say, don't despair if it's been a long time! Surgery isn't a must for persistent cases.

Re: Big Red -

That is super interesting. I've never felt / noticed any kind of pain or mobility issues in my shoulder. All my pain feels very localized to the forearem/elbow area. I'll show your post to my PT (who is also a climber) and see if there's anything he could do to help identify if my shoulders could be possibly contributing to the issue. Thanks a lot for the anecdote.

Avram Neal wrote:

Re: Big Red -

That is super interesting. I've never felt / noticed any kind of pain or mobility issues in my shoulder. All my pain feels very localized to the forearem/elbow area. I'll show your post to my PT (who is also a climber) and see if there's anything he could do to help identify if my shoulders could be possibly contributing to the issue. Thanks a lot for the anecdote.

Yea I was surprised as well - never any pain or issues (knock on wood). I knew my shoulders were a weak point but I was surprised how quickly my elbows resolved once the shoulders got stronger.

It is worth mentioning that in my personal experience (as in my experience with my own body) pinched nerves can often give similar symptoms to tendonitis.  If you have symptoms which are unresponsive to the PT which has been shown to work for tendonitis then you might look into it being a pinched nerve.

I have solved it multiple times over the last 10 years. SAY NO TO SURGERY - YOUR CLIMBING  HABITS WILL BRING IT RIGHT BACK. I would also argue that 99% of doctors and PT's DONT know how to fix it. 

1. You need regularly: pushups, eccentrics (get the rubber Theraband bar), forearm stretches.  Like before and after you climb every time. 

2. You will need to back off crimps when the pain is acute. Mega overhangs can overload the elbows as well. Crack climbing has never irritated my elbows. 

3. Don't be lazy - take your hydration and warm up seriously. 

4. Pure rest will NOT fix it. You need to use the tendos/ligaments but load them in a constructive manner. Crimpy, overhanging V5s are going to piss your elbows off if you are in a flare up. 

Get a theraband flexbar.  Solid rubber, comes with an exercise guide.  Great for tennis, or climber's elbow.

Adding this: you should implement the habits from my post above ASAP. Then expect it to take about 2-3 months to fully work.

For some optimism: I have had Tennis Elbow severely twice and have beaten it twice with no surgery. I am now climbing harder than ever.