tennis elbow

[beserker]

Tennis elbow has been plauging my workouts and day to day life for 4 friggin weeks now . I have been using a tensor cuff on my forearm but doesnt help much. Does anybody know what the negative side effects will be if i choose to just go for the cortizone shot ? good idea or bad ? This sucks balls as i cant work biceps with any intensity or weight as the pain is brutal.....

[tiramisu]

... cortisone shots usually result in poor healing and likely reinjury.

Is there something that makes you think you can skip rehabbing it?

5 days rest.
+ Ice 20 minutes 3 times a day
A loose tensor worn at night
don't sleep on it.

Then
* easy elbow and wrist rotations // stretch extensors and flexors daily
* do only exercises that do NOT hurt - add wrist curls/extensions where you can feel it but it doesn't quite hurt (use straps)
* Aleve as an anti-imflammatory
* Continue to ice pwo and post stretching as long as it helps.
* Start self massaging the tender area every second day until localized pain is gone.

Return to normal exercise slowly and keeping yourself out of pain adding weight and/or reps as you can.

In 8-12 weeks you will be fixed.

[beserker]

My doctor (mistake #1 listening to him) told me to take a week off and ice etc.... I did this to no avail , went back and he suggested cortizone as a solution of which i was reluctant. Ill take your advice , thanks

[tiramisu]

If you catch it early rather than trying to work through it you can generally get it turned around in a week or two. If you attempt to exercise through it till it hurts enough to screw with your workout you are generally into a couple of months of rehab.

Next time jump on the rehab modalities early and don't try to work through the damn pain.

Sadly I've usually got a couple of joints in some form of rehab. Shoulders, elbows, wrists, it bands. I'm told that if I stop trying to pick heavy shit up all the time it will stop hurting :)

If you're young and you have good joints you really shouldn't be having these problems at all. Have a serious look at your technique and programming. I'm old, fairly stupid, and have an addiction to lifting to often in the 90%+ zone.

[beserker]

Hahahaha yeah im 34 so definately not a spring chicken . I always try to not sacrifice weight for form but sometimes it happens ... live and learn (unfortunately the hard way every time) :)

[brandt]

Know what you mean, I've iced mine and massaged. Finally went to get some accupunture. Another session coming up and compared to week and a half ago I feel a lot better now. Also used an over the counter product roll on similar to A5-35 a few times/day.

[St]

RICE=rest,ice,compression,and elevation.

[ASGARDIAN]

Tennis elbow was really preventing me from training. It had persisted for 7-8 months getting pretty bad towards the end. The end meaning when i finally went to get help.

I had 4 sessions of accupuncture for a 1/2 hour followed by ultra sound treatment on the injured tendon also for a 1/2 hour.

After those sessions, i had prolotherapy treatment done to my injured tendon. This is another alternative to PRP which uses your own blood, where prolotherapy is an injection of dextrose and water with a little lytocane.

Each session improved the tendon greatly and i am now back to training the upper body. Recovery time is greatly reduced, but the injury must be treated with great respect while rehabing. Tennis elbow is a very stubborn injury to heal. Thus, i am taking it very slow feeling out what my limits are. So far, i am lifting light but with no pain.

I highly reccomend this type of treatment. It has worked very well for me.

[JMP]

Out of curiosity, do you recall what you were doing when you injured it (what exercise?)

[ASGARDIAN]

I think it was last year in May when i was doing push presses of the rack. It may have been something else too. I'm not sure exactly what exercise set off the injury to be honest though. I train for strongman contests. I love the power clean so it may have been that exercise. As i recall it wasn't one particular exercise that set it off....

[Prisoner#22]

maybe stop playing tennis for a while till the elbow heals :)