Tennis Elbow

[AVeyRa]

I have been dealing with “tennis elbow” for about a month. It was mostly healed after I backed off on weights for the last two weeks. It was about 80% healed so I started XTrain (just weights) today. Did chest, back and shoulders this morning (which I LOVED) but now my tennis elbow is back with a vengeance. Very sore. I put Xtrain (just weights) in my rotation this month but now that’s not looking like it’s not going to work.

1) How long do I rest the elbow until it heals? (It’s not torn or anything severe, just very sore. It’s in my dominant arm so writing and cooking even make it flare up). Two weeks of babying it really helped. But that was obviously not long enough.
2) What do I do in the meantime? Just cardio?

Thanks in advance!
Anita in SC

 

[jillybean]

I had golfers’ elbow so I don’t want to suggest anything that won’t help or might damage it further, and I am not a physical therapist, but what helped me was looking up “golfers’ elbow eccentric exercises” on YouTube, and then doing the exercises I found. That is the only thing that helped. And while I did those religiously, I also backed off of weights completely and just did cardio and some band/tubing/loop work but nothing very bicep intensive (no weights and no kickboxing). And it healed!! Another thing that helped was staying off of my phone and iPad because those tend to tense my forearm muscles which really exacerbate my golfers’ elbow. HTH!

 

[AVeyRa]

It does Thank you! I have a few videos I’ve already found that look promising.

I’m looking around in the workout manager for a rotation that just emphasizes cardio, but can’t find one. ”Step Lovers” looks like a good one to edit for my needs, but I might just go down to the basement and look though all my videos and start at the beginning, working my way through all the Cathe (non-upper body) cardio I can get my hands on.

Filed under “Finding the Silver Lining”:
I’ve also considered that resting my upper body might be an opportunity to really work my legs, abs and increase my VO2 Max — all areas where I can improve… Sometimes blessings come in disguise. ;-D

 

[Debinmi]

AVeyRa, sorry, no advice here but wanted to send sympathy sentiments .... what a pain, literally & figuratively. I think it's in STS that Cathe mentions that not only do forearm muscles have to get used to holding heavier weights, but tendons/cartilage too (& they take longer to repair due to less blood flow). Maybe a little extra collagen with VitC to aide the tendons while you ease up on weights & heal?

 

[Traildoggie]

my doctor recommending using a wrist immobilizer at night when sleeping. a brace keeps you from bending the wrist while sleeping. they are about $15 at amazon. I like Mueller brand. forces that pull on the elbow come from above and below, so restricting motion at night allows the elbow area to heal. it has worked for me every time Ive developed tennis elbow.

 

[psusoccer17]

I work in an orthopedic office, we recommend the Airiest Pneumatic Armband, It is $14.88 on amazon. We recommend you use it whenever you are lifting.

 

[Ayse Lynn]

I've been living with tennis elbow since March this year. Which means, it's been almost 9 months. It is very annoying actually, because I love to lift weights and I've been pretty consistent with my resistance training. I was working out regularly 3-4 times a week alternating cardio with weight workouts. Sometimes I would do Cathe's circuit workouts where you do both. Until I couldn't - I can't remember which workout finally caused the tennis elbow but I'm sure it was one of the heavy lifting ones, like Gym Style chest and triceps or Muscle Max. Long story short, I had to stop lifting altogether. I only did cardio workout where you use mostly lower body. I didn't see any improvement for months... I wore an arm brace and did muscle exercises (where you only work the forearm muscles). Then in summer, we went on a month long holiday when I stopped doing everything - no workouts at all. That's when I finally saw some recovery on the elbow. I had originally felt the soreness most when I extended the elbow and by the end of summer the pain was gone. Great, I thought, now's the time to start lifting again. I picked up lighter weights and did a few circuit workout (like Low Impact Circuit) - and boom, the tennis elbow was back. Sooooo annoying. Now it is December and I still feel the tennis elbow albeit much less. I would love to get back to lifting again, because I feel so weak in upper body. Also jiggly arms truly bug me. But I'm so afraid to start weight training and have the tennis elbow return. I'm planning on checking in with my doctor and asking for PT referral. I'm hoping they might have some suggestions.

 

[AVeyRa]

I've been living with tennis elbow since March this year. Which means, it's been almost 9 months. It is very annoying actually, because I love to lift weights and I've been pretty consistent with my resistance training. I was working out regularly 3-4 times a week alternating cardio with weight workouts. Sometimes I would do Cathe's circuit workouts where you do both. Until I couldn't - I can't remember which workout finally caused the tennis elbow but I'm sure it was one of the heavy lifting ones, like Gym Style chest and triceps or Muscle Max. Long story short, I had to stop lifting altogether. I only did cardio workout where you use mostly lower body. I didn't see any improvement for months... I wore an arm brace and did muscle exercises (where you only work the forearm muscles). Then in summer, we went on a month long holiday when I stopped doing everything - no workouts at all. That's when I finally saw some recovery on the elbow. I had originally felt the soreness most when I extended the elbow and by the end of summer the pain was gone. Great, I thought, now's the time to start lifting again. I picked up lighter weights and did a few circuit workout (like Low Impact Circuit) - and boom, the tennis elbow was back. Sooooo annoying. Now it is December and I still feel the tennis elbow albeit much less. I would love to get back to lifting again, because I feel so weak in upper body. Also jiggly arms truly bug me. But I'm so afraid to start weight training and have the tennis elbow return. I'm planning on checking in with my doctor and asking for PT referral. I'm hoping they might have some suggestions.

I don’t know why it takes so long to heal, but yes — super annoying. My rear delt was also injured at the same time. It takes longer to heal, if you can believe that. Heal up! You’ll be back to weights before you know it. It just takes awhile. Take it slow.