injury and when to resume

[wwings]

Hi Cathe,

I have just finished Meso 2 week 3 and experiencing soreness/pain in elbow joint. It hurts to make a fist or lift up a glass of water. My questions is should I take a break from STS training or continue with lighter weights? If I take a break from STS, do I pick up where I left off or which cycle do I resume with? I don't want to lose what I have gained so far and don't want to start all over again.

Thanks,

Wanly

 

[kali1]

I'm not Cathe but I would see a Doctor about this. Soreness is one thing and is expecited. Pain...that's something else. I'd see a doctor right away. Better be safe than sorry....

 

[Traildoggie]

Where is the pain? is it a specific point pain on the outside of the elbow itself? look up "epicondylitis" and see if it sounds like the pain you have. If it sounds like it, buy a wrist splint at pharmacy for about $10 and wear it at night while sleeping. It may take a few weeks to work. meantime, I would skip exercises that cause it to hurt.

 

[wwings]

Thank you for the advice! I looked up epicondylitis and it sounds closer to that than anything I've been able to find. I've been icing the area and TRYING to reduce any weight loading activities but it's tough considering it's my right elbow and I'm right handed. I'm also a group fitness instructor, so following my own advice is also a challenge. ie: rest, taking a break from exercise, etc.... : ) Thanks again!

 

[Traildoggie]

epicondylitis ( tennis elbow) is a pretty common injury. the wrist split keeps the area quiet and unstressed at night so it can heal. antiinflammatories might help too if you can take them. keyboarding seemed to aggravate it so sometimes I wore the splint for a while during the day.
both myself & husband have had it several times. bummer that it's the dominant side, I usually get it on the non dominant side. If you have an idea what might have caused it you might want to avoid doing whatever it was. I developed it from shoveling, bark and snow at different times. It gradually went away after wearing the splint for a maybe a month or so. If that doesn't improve , have a doc look at it.

 

[wwings]

I wish I could avoid doing what caused it... scrubbing my shower! ;-)
I'm pretty sure it was the pressing down hard with a sponge, thus placing constant tension on my forearm muscles. I remember my arm/elbow was sore for a bit afterwards. I'm sure it would've healed but then I began STS Mesocycle 2 with the increase in weights which probably added to the soreness and made it worse.

When you had it did you continue with your strength training?

 

[Traildoggie]

I wasn't doing any strengh training at the time. think I did push ups which used to be my only upper body routine and it didn't bother my elbow to do those. wrapping my hand around something and gripping it, like a shovel handle, is what killed me. but we're all wired together differently. I'd take a week or two off and then try much lighter weights and see how it feels. No over-enthusiastic shower scrubbing either! there might be specific moves that agravate it.

I recently took 2 months off upper body work because of surgery and a complication. I was surprised that when I started up I hadn't lost that much ground. some, but definitely not back to square one.

 

[kathryn]

If it is epicondylitis, that is something that can easily become chronic if it is not treated correctly.

I strongly encourage you to take a trip to the doctor to get a diagnosis, and maybe some PT exercises to do.