How do I keep upperbody tone while sidelined with injury?

P

pjdavis

Cathlete
Hi Cathe,

Thank you for all your GREAT dvds! They give results like nothing else. I am nursing a (chronic) tennis elbow injury and just had steroid injections again. I have too much pain to do any upper body work. Do you have any suggestions - isometric exercises - or any ideas how to keep tone while recovering? Resistant band work is even more pain evoking than weights.

It's very frustrating and I'm starting to think there might be some truth to the saying, "things start to fall apart at 40"!

I appreciate any ideas you may have

Pam
 
HI, obviously not Cathe but I can relate to your problem! Last yr I had shoulder issues the first part of the year. I did the very tough rest period. It's harder to back off that it is to workout sometimes. I took an entire month off upper body work & very slowly re-introduced upper body weights using PUB. I used ridiculously low weights to start -we're talking 1's & 3's at times....but ya know what? It paid off!! I just finished meso 2 of STS this wk & have done it previously also.
Hang in there, it will come.....;)
 
thanks for your encouragement. It is so hard to rest an injury...which is probably why this has become chronic. I had thought about re-starting with PUB & light weights after it heals, sounds like that worked for you. How long did it take you to increase in weight?
 
Do you think you know what caused the "chronic" injury to begin with? what aggravates it? is it one arm or both? Not being snotty here, but I've had tennis elbow several times and it was not from lifting weights or tennis, but from shoveling heavy stuff. I'm more careful and alternate arms and no repeats.

Have you tried wearing a wrist splint at night (while sleeping) to immobilize it? I'm thinking if you've had injections, probably the wrist splint was suggested before. the splint always works for me though it takes a couple weeks. no harm in trying if you haven't tried it yet. the theory is the wrist motion puts a lot of torque on the outside of the elbow and the splint at night keeps your wrist in a neutral position and it heals faster.
 
My Dr has never given me a wrist splint, only a forearm strap which I didn't have any relief from. I see your point though, perhaps I'll try that. They injury started after doing leviation holds from the core max dvd. I felt this awful pain and then and couldn't do any push-ups/rolls in on the ball ect. The Dr injected it, but I don't think it ever healed completely b/c everything now aggravates it...picking up kids, carrying groceries, raking, shoveling. So I've been getting steroid injections every 4 - 6 months and they're considering surgery if this continues.

I'm will try the wrist splint though...anythings better than surgery.
 
With my tendonitis I never felt an injury at all until I woke up the next morning and any wrist/lower arm movement caused pain.... lots of it. maybe you're not dealing with a plain, overuse type issue. Is it a dime-sized burning pain on the outside of the elbow? DH is an MD and has recommended wrist splints to many. Nothing is 100% but it won't hurt to try. You can get them in any well stocked pharmacy OTC near the ankle and knee braces etc. they're sometimes in different sizes and right or left. put it on when you go to bed and remove in the morning.

We've both had tennis elbow several times and it has worked for us personally after a couple weeks. don't expect anything over night.

good luck, I know how uncomfortable it is just in everyday activities, especially if it's your dominant arm.
 
I hope you feel better real soon. I know how you feel. I have a knee injury :mad: that doc said take a few wks off and start from scratch with the weights and go slow to start....it's 2 wks and i'm itching to get back to it, been doing upper body but with a knee injury that effects cardio and lower body in general. I am so frustrated. Any idea's as to lower body workouts that wont hurt a strained knee?
autumn
 
Hi Pam...I completely understand your frustration. It is very hard for us active people to be patient through an injury. But do try because tennis elbow is tricky and loves to just instantly come back to haunt you if you don't let it go away completely.

I had it for 6 very long and painful months (but I couldn't stop thinking about it for 2 years after that). I think my recovery would have been much less but every time I was almost better I quickly went back to my weight workouts and it would come back. Finally I learned my lesson and when I thought I was pretty much healed, instead of going back to my weights I waited until the very last annoying ache disappeared and then I FINALLY was healed for good and never got it back.

Funny "recovery measure" story, I used salad bar tongs as my recovery guide. I would always feel pretty good near the end of my recovery but the only thing that would still hurt was trying to squeeze the salad tongs at the salad bar. So I dismissed this last little dull ache and would go back to the weights and the tennis elbow would resurface. So finally I said to myself the day I squeeze these tongs and feel zero pain, I will go back to my weights. That is exactly what I did and was finally fully free tennis elbow for good.

My best advice is to do only the exercises that your physical therapist gives you and be very patient. Good luck with your recovery.


pjdavis said:
Hi Cathe,

Thank you for all your GREAT dvds! They give results like nothing else. I am nursing a (chronic) tennis elbow injury and just had steroid injections again. I have too much pain to do any upper body work. Do you have any suggestions - isometric exercises - or any ideas how to keep tone while recovering? Resistant band work is even more pain evoking than weights.

It's very frustrating and I'm starting to think there might be some truth to the saying, "things start to fall apart at 40"!

I appreciate any ideas you may have

Pam
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