Advice for Tennis Elbow

[janiejoey]

I sure could use "at home" advice on tennis elbow. I looked it up on the internet and the symptoms are exactly what I have.

Does anyone know of a remedy that they have tried and worked? There are lots of stuff out there to try, but would like your advice most of all.

In pain!

Janie

 

[Trixoo]

Janiejoey -

I know this will be the last piece of advice you want, but the answer is rest. :-( NSAIDS are also helpful if you can tolerate them, but only for controlling the discomfort, not for actually Improving the underlying physical problem.

I don't have tennis elbow, I actually have the opposite where it's my triceps tendon that's involved and not my biceps tendon, but same thing, just in reverse. The one and only thing that worked, after years of flare ups and treatments, was rest...serious long term rest, in slings. I had a bad case that in hindsight I didn't properly rest when it first started, so I doubt you'll have to do anything like that, but if you truly have tennis elbow, consider stopping all weight training, including body weight movements, until you are truly symptom free. Avoid anything that causes you pain, if possible. It will be very hard to give up workouts, but tendinitis tends to be a pay me now or pay me later thing. I'm now able to do whatever I want, provided I stop an activity if I begin to feel twinges, which doesn't happen very often.

There is a great thread on tendinitis from the last week or so(it was started much earlier, but just updated recently)...there was a lot of helpful information from Cathletes. You definitely are not the only one of us with this problem!

I hope your elbow is feeling much better soon!

By the way, how's everything going (other than your elbow). I look forward to your updates!

 

[janiejoey]

Trixoo,

Thank you so much for your knowledge on this and support. I knew I was in for a long haul and prepared myself for it. If only I wasn't so darn OLD! Anyhoo, I will take your advice and will rest my arm and everything that will make it hurt. Thank goodness for muscle memory when I can get back to it. I am now in a sling and it feels so much better not using it. These injuries do take their toll especially when my goal is sooooooo in reach, well kinda sorta.

My husband thinks I should quit altogether, but what he doesn't understand is I need to go back and get the smaller muscles in good shape first before trying to use the big weights. I over did it and thought I was ready but in reality I wasn't. Paid for it.

I'm in search right now for that thread from last week or so.

My update: Well I was lifting 68-75 pounds with the chest press, (depending on what I was doing) and also my weight went up throughout all my workouts. I was really proud of myself. I guess I got too caught up in it and didn't give my body a little room to acclimated to it.

Well off I go to find more info from our Cathletes.

Janie

 

[Trixoo]

Wow...you've made amazing progress! I totally understand how addictive those strength gains are and how you just want to push, push, push to see how far you can go. Then sometimes the body interferes with more than DOMS to let you know you've pushed too far. :-(

It stinks! But, the good news is that if you've caught it early, you won't have to rest too long before you'll be back at it. Please don't give up....you have not suffered a debilitating injury ( although it does hurt!), just an overuse injury. It will get better and as long as in the future you listen for those twines and back off when you feel them (oh SOOOO hard), you should be fine. I'm not a dr, though, I can just speak to my own experience.

And it's not so much an age thing...I first developed it at age 17!

Hang in there...and although you husband wants you to quit, it may be just because he doesn't like seeing you in pain.

 

[Stebby]

Ice it too! And stretching helps (extend arm, palm facing down, pull fingers toward that arm using the other hand). I recently went through a 6-month bout with tennis elbow, both arms. It was caused by trying to do all the pull-ups in P90X, and not giving up when I should have! During my recovery I did a lot more Spinning and lower body work. My arms are good now and I'm gradually building up my biceps & triceps strength with lighter weights. I'm also doing more forearm curls and extensions.

Stebby

 

[janiejoey]

Ice it too! And stretching helps (extend arm, palm facing down, pull fingers toward that arm using the other hand). I recently went through a 6-month bout with tennis elbow, both arms. It was caused by trying to do all the pull-ups in P90X, and not giving up when I should have! During my recovery I did a lot more Spinning and lower body work. My arms are good now and I'm gradually building up my biceps & triceps strength with lighter weights. I'm also doing more forearm curls and extensions.

Stebby

Thank you Stebby,

I'll for sure take your advice and stretch as you say. Also I'll ice it as well. I'm going to wait until Jan. 1st to start again and slowly and making sure the weaker muscles are in tip top shape before I attempt heavy weight again.

Like you, I'm thinking it will take me 6 mos also to catch up where I left off. Must have been disappointing for you, wasn't it? I feel for what you had to go through. Can't wait to get going on my lower body. Will start Mon. (tomorrow). Don't know what yet.

Thank you for your support,

Janie

 

[Stebby]

Good luck, Janie! Yes, it was definitely disappointing for me. Six months is a long time but you do get through it eventually - you just need to change your path for awhile. I saw my chiropractor about it too but she wasn't able to do much for it, other than provide the stretching and icing advice - she did tell me that healing would mostly come from the passage of time and me respecting my limitations, and she was right. When I started lifting again, I started really light ... as in 5 lb. dumbbells ... and made sure I was activating the right muscles. You are absolutely right about needing to get the smaller muscles in shape. Going light allows you to train them as well as re-train the larger muscles to fire correctly.

One thing to watch out for is lugging heavy grocery bags, or any heavy items, in such a way that it stresses your biceps and forearm! I set myself back a couple of times picking bags up from the car trunk improperly. I eventually learned to put both arms around anything I was lifting and treat everything like a box.

Stebby

 

[complik8td]

Tennis Elbow

Hi Janie, Stebby, & Trixoo,

Here is the tennis elbow thread in question. Laura and I are both currently recovering from surgery and we've been communicating with one another about our recovery and therapy via PM.

The suggestions presented in this thread are all sound: rest, ice, limited use, etc. I would highly recommend heeding this advice so as to (hopefully) prevent a chronic condition. Prior to having surgery, I received cortisone injections on two occasions (over the term of perhaps three years). The shots are not a permanent solution, and too many of them can cause irreparable tissue damage. During this past year, I would have good days and bad days, but most recently, my pain got so bad that I knew I had to address it. I went to see a rheumatologist about the arthritis in my hands and the tendonitis in my elbow. The rheumatologist then referred me to an orthopedic doc for the "lateral epicondylitis." The day I went to see the orthopedic doc, my elbow was not really painful , so I had thoughts of dismissing the appointment. During my consult with the doc, I was informed that once the tendon becomes overly inflamed, the only option for pain relief is to surgically remove the diseased tissue. I am now nearing one month post-op. That awful, searing pain in my elbow is gone, thank goodness. I've been going to PT twice a week. My elbow is still a bit stiff. I do a lot of flexion/extension of my arm as part of my PT regimen. I was told by my therapist that I should be able to return to my previous level of activity within a few months. We'll see.

Stebby, you sound just like me with the spinning. The month prior to my surgery, I laid off ALL upper body work. If my elbow felt good and I worked out, I ended up paying dearly later. All I did was take spin classes at my gym 3x/wk. I am so pleased that I have a spin bike at home because I can ride with Cathe and she will help me work back up to my previous riding level of the spin classes at my gym. The good news is that I AM back to spinning and I did HiiT 30/30 the other day (minus the squat thrusts, of course ) I don't think she would mind if I mentioned this, so I will tell you that Laura was told no cardio by her therapist. (She had surgery about two months before me.) I believe her therapist thought the cardio activity might compromise her arm. Not sure exactly. I didn't ask my therapist if I could go back to cardio... I just did it.

Janie, I hope you find some pain relief very soon. If I can be of any help, feel free to ask. Take care!

 

[Lee Jones]

Hi! I just want to add on to what Carol said. For me, I didn't even realize I had tennis elbow at first and thought if I worked through it that it would go away. Wrong!..lol. Mine started about two years ago this November. I had three steroid shots all together. The first one was a miracle! My arm was 100% and I went right back to lifting. After 5 months exactly it came back. I had two more shots from there in a period of a year. The third one never even took. My doc then sent me to a sports therapist who then sent me to PT for almost 2 months. I knew it wasn't working and I kept telling them. So from there I got another opinion from a hand specialist and within 5 minutes of meeting him we were scheduling my surgery for the next week...lol.

I'm glad I did it. My arm is feeling so much better. As I go through PT and regain strength in the arm I notice much improvement. I had my surgery on 8/31 and when I asked my PT about cardio she wasn't too thrilled. But I started this past Monday and I'm having no problems.

I feel that if I had recognized the symptoms early on and did the resting, icing, heating etc, that I could have possibly nipped it in the bud. I'll never know, but it sounds like you are all doing the right things to start with.

If any of you have any questions, please feel free to IM me.

Laura

 

[jillybean]

Maybe I should consider surgery.

Both of my arms have been bothering me for two years. At first it was only when I did certain movements. Around January of this year, however, they became the worst they’d ever been to the point where just sitting still doing nothing left me in terrible pain.

I went to my doctor and she recommended an orthopedic guy for me to see. He said it didn’t seem like tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow but rather a severe straining of the brachioradialis in both arms. He sent me to PT and I did heat, ice, rest, compression, massage, etc. They got a little better, but there was still a noticeable soreness at all times.

Then I'll do something unintentionally, like lift a lot of laundry baskets, and the pain comes right back, full force.

I have not lifted weights of any kind in almost a year. Not even 3 lbs. I can’t do most types of cardio (definitely no boxing!) as even simple arm movements during step or hi/lo leave my arms throbbing after a minute or two. I’ve tried doing step while keeping my arms behind my back or at my sides and just the impact of stepping onto the step bothers my arms. (I tried jogging and got plantar fasciitis in both feet. Boy, it sure sucks getting old!!!)

At first I just wanted to work out again, but now, I just want some semblence of a life back!! I can’t clean my house, sweep my floors, do yard work, hold my baby niece, do any type of crafting (sewing, scrapbooking, etc) because my arms won't let me!!

I am so depressed. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to sound overly dramatic, but I feel like the situation I’m in is ruining my life. If I have a weekend of doing too much (like if my husband is out of town and I’m the only one there to grocery shop, do laundry, scoop kitty litter, etc), my arms suffer for it for at least an entire week of pain so bad I can't sleep and it hurts like mad to do my job (which is mostly typing). I’ve taken so much Advil over the last few months it doesn’t work anymore.

Sorry for all the whining. I am having a particularly 'bad arms day' today.

 

[janiejoey]

Maybe I should consider surgery.
I went to my doctor and she recommended an orthopedic guy for me to see. He said it didn’t seem like tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow but rather a severe straining of the brachioradialis in both arms. He sent me to PT and I did heat, ice, rest, compression, massage, etc. They got a little better, but there was still a noticeable soreness at all times.

Jillybean,

I'm so sorry you are having so many problems. I really feel for you, and my heart aches for you.

Not being able to do the things you most like in life is insane! Go back to your doctor or get a second opinion and do what you need to do to live again. My goodness. I would cry everyday if I had to go through what you are going through. That is no way to live. However don't ever give up, there is an answer for you somewhere. Don't ever give up!

Let us know how you are doing once you go back to your doctor and fix this thing that is going on with you.

Do take care of yourself, I know these types of injuries take a very very long time to heal. Hang in there.

Janie

 

[jillybean]

Thanks for your reply and kind words, Janie!

I am making a dr. appt on Monday morning. You are right; life is way too short to sit around in misery every single day!!

Never thought I would miss working out as much as I do. If I ever do get better, hopefully, I won't take my health for granted!

Thanks again!