ikb Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 Ive had a pain in my elbow for about a month and via the wonders of the Web I have diagnosed it as Tennis Elbow It seems worse after Ive been out on the bike so it may be Trials related! I was wondering if anyone else has suffered from this condition and what can be done about it? It looks like rest may be the answer. I will be visiting my GP of course!!! Thanks Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titanium Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 GOOD LUCK! I had what they call golf elbow, just the opposite of tennis, its on the lower side of the arm. (I don't even play golf) I think I got it from playing hockey. Anyway I couldn't bring myself to rest it, so it ended up taking a year to heal. Of course I'm sure the younger you are, the quicker it will heal. The worse thing it caused was arm pump, which I attribute to overusing the surrounding muscles to compensate. There are some devices you can put around your arm and snug up, these helped me somewhat, especially if I was working out. I started taking coral calcium and my symptoms went away in a few weeks. Now I'm not saying it cured it, but I had it for a year and started on the cc and it went away. You decide, its cheap to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 Yep had similiar "tennis elbow" thingy. Took long time to heal cuz I am too stubborn to stop doing the things I enjoy. Tried the arm band thingy that goes just under elbow. Seemed to help some. And one day I realized "hey, my elbows don't hurt anymore" Has not been back since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betarev3man Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 courtisone injection needed but extremely painfull and that hurts good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy m Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 (edited) I had it a couple of years ago, it takes time and as others have said already rest etc. What job do you do? as that can sometimes be the problem. I am a bricklayer and that is why I got it. My other half was diagnosed with it and it ended up they were wrong and she had 2 pro lapsed discs and the elbow was the first place she felt pain. Two years on she still aint right . Hope you only have tennis elbow, give it 6 weeks. billycraigs your man, he knows his onions on these matters but I don't think he posts on health matters any more..... I may be wrong. Edited April 22, 2008 by bo drinker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billycraig Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 Its generally an overuse injury which could be caused by many things, poor technique etc. As already mentioned it could be part of a chain of damage. Generally i look at C-5,7 disc to check alignment. The muscles around the elbow brachialis, brachioradialis and anconeus have nerves that link. Search google for musculocutaneous and radial nerve pathways and then massage and stretch the muscles that the nerves run under. Key ones to look at are pec minor which in my experience is usually the main problem. If your head carriage is forward through tight pec major/minor then it changes the whole way your body works, (if you imagine the tracking on a car) so your out of line. This isn't the normal action taken by most physio's (that i've seen), but, in the last 10 years i've seen and rehabed a lot of elbows. Those that ignored it and carried on overusing (at the gym) seemed to develop shoulder injuries such as frozen shoulder/torn rotator cuffs possibly due to altering their movement pattern even further. Hope that's understandable, its 12:30 am so i may of spelt a few things wrong. Let me know if you want to know anything and good luck sorting it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigel dabster Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 There is a few things you can do but get to know a good physio if you can even if you have to pay, I do and it is worth every penny to have a tame one. One of mine was sorted using cortisone the other took much longer with acupuncture and my inabibility not to work. The arm band thingys work as does stretching the hands before trialing. good luck no quick fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 Yea I reckon we all come to that ..Are you approaching middle age? I had it through early years of my forties tried and did everything mentioned above. My understanding is that we have a bunch of tendons to anchor muscle to bone which are housed in a sheath (I imagine a multicore wire) these tendons get inflamed , the body releases platelets (that whit/clear mucus you get when you graze yourself) the platelets tend to gum up the tendons which if we overwork them get even more inflamed and it is a vicous circle. Whether it was co incidental to arriving at middle age i'm not sure but what I ended up doing was moving my handlebars back so as I was standing on my feet .effectively what I had to do in order to go on enjoying riding was to modify my attitude to suit my aptitude ..result still enjoying at 57. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ham2 Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 (edited) I had it in my left elbow for ages and just trained through it...making it so bad I had to stop using it for weeks(which made me stir-crazy)but it still didn't improve. Someone asked if I was over-compensating by using my elbow or fore-arm too much?? Then I twigged that I couldn't pull the bars/front wheel to the left anymore and that I'd tolerated having a stiff left shoulder for ages. Cue:- shoulder stretches. Exit :-elbow pain ?? The shoulder is improving but the elbow is A1 Coincidence?......I don't know or care..it's better. The stretch...warm up with arm swings/windmills and gentle shadow boxing,then lie on your back looking straight up with your hands behind your head (palms up). You should look like a council worker basking in the sun. My right elbow was touching the carpet but my left couldn't. Disclaimer time..CAREFULLY.. get someone to stand on your elbow to push it into the carpet,you should be able to feel the stretch,hold for thirty seconds. Repeat once a day It took less than 2 weeks for me to notice a big difference. Edited April 23, 2008 by HAM2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billycraig Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 Or place your arm on an Exercise Ball (or a chair). Depress the shoulder down to the floor lightly and increase the stretch by looking away from the ball The other stretch is quite handy for trials riders as well.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ham2 Posted April 23, 2008 Report Share Posted April 23, 2008 Or place your arm on an Exercise Ball (or a chair). Depress the shoulder down to the floor lightly and increase the stretch by looking away from the ball The other stretch is quite handy for trials riders as well.. Yes,that main photo looks like the same sensation but your method doesn't require a partner..even better. Slightly off topic but: BillyCraig ,you gave me some help with my knees a few months ago (stretches),well to give you some feedback..they're much better now.Thank you. In fact I got back into the stretching so much I went back into Martial arts again....at 41? how did that happen? The logic was..do I spend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikb Posted April 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Thanks for all the replies, I am over 40!!! and I think my tennis elbow is the result of an injury rather than bad posture. I have been doing some building work where I may have strained it or likely it could have been dragging the GasGas over rocks!! Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil king Posted April 26, 2008 Report Share Posted April 26, 2008 Ian, it took 3 years for my left elbow to become pain free. I injured it by picking up a 30lb freon jug with my arm extended straight out and the palm of my hand down. I found some exersises/stretches and massaged the tendon with my finger tips, this helped tremendously. I hurt my right elbow and reinjured my left last year at a trials comp, but not near as badly as the first time. I was able to modify my riding style eventually to keep the pain from reaccuring after riding. I don't know exactly what I did but probably loosened the death grip on the bars. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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