Cracking in Left Elbow

Training Bodybuilding
1

Hey guys and gals,

I started lifting a couple months ago, and I haven’t done anything too intense as I’ve had an extremely busy winter break. I started working out regularly again last week, but I noticed a problem in my left elbow when I was doing bench presses, dips, and other things placing stress on the triceps. I’m getting a slight jolt of pain and an audible cracking sound every time I’m about 3/4 of the way up in my rep. It doesn’t seem to interfere with my strength at all, and I just worked through the pain for that workout. I iced it when I got home, and every once in a while over the past week I’ve tried a dip or a bench press in my basement and I’m still getting the same pain followed by a cracking noise. Oddly enough, I haven’t noticed these things while doing overhead presses; my elbow is fine when doing military presses, etc.

I’m not even 20 yet, and I’m a righty. I didn’t really play any sports in high school that put serious stress on the left arm (soccer, basketball, tennis, track, xc), and I was wondering if anyone could help me out. If I kept working out through this pain, how bad would it be for my elbow in the long run? What could I do to relieve some of the stress on my elbow while still working the triceps and chest? I’m due for my physical in about a month, so I’ll ask my doc if nobody can give me a good answer provided the information that I posted. Thanks guys.

Edit: I’ve had no major injuries to my upper body with the exception of a broken right wrist several years ago.

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[quote]mpd21487 wrote:
Hey guys and gals,

I started lifting a couple months ago, and I haven’t done anything too intense as I’ve had an extremely busy winter break. I started working out regularly again last week, but I noticed a problem in my left elbow when I was doing bench presses, dips, and other things placing stress on the triceps. I’m getting a slight jolt of pain and an audible cracking sound every time I’m about 3/4 of the way up in my rep. It doesn’t seem to interfere with my strength at all, and I just worked through the pain for that workout. I iced it when I got home, and every once in a while over the past week I’ve tried a dip or a bench press in my basement and I’m still getting the same pain followed by a cracking noise. Oddly enough, I haven’t noticed these things while doing overhead presses; my elbow is fine when doing military presses, etc.

I’m not even 20 yet, and I’m a righty. I didn’t really play any sports in high school that put serious stress on the left arm (soccer, basketball, tennis, track, xc), and I was wondering if anyone could help me out. If I kept working out through this pain, how bad would it be for my elbow in the long run? What could I do to relieve some of the stress on my elbow while still working the triceps and chest? I’m due for my physical in about a month, so I’ll ask my doc if nobody can give me a good answer provided the information that I posted. Thanks guys.

Edit: I’ve had no major injuries to my upper body with the exception of a broken right wrist several years ago.[/quote]

Typically if something cracks and there is no pain then there is no problem.

If you are getting a jolt of pain, you should have it looked at when you have your physical. The problem is that the jolt of pain could get suddenly worse, and if it is severe enough, it might cause you to fail on a lift.

Pain signals are there for a reason, and if the signal is strong enough, your body will do whatever it can to avoid it (i.e. dropping weight on chest).

If you are going to lift in the meantime, stay away from whatever aggravates it, and try using dumbbells. Often DB’s allow you to change hand/wrist angle enough to alleviate pain. Also if you have to drop the weights, DB’s are safer than the bar.

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[quote]CubanMeat32 wrote:
My guess is that perhaps since you have not worked out in a while the tendon in not used to feeling that kind of pressure or stress, so it is cracking. Trying doing a good stretch before hand, and massage it a little. I am a college pitcher and my elbow always cracks when I lift during the season to the undo stress im causing from throwing and lifting together.

A good strecth I use for this that is done in baseball is a rotator cuff stretch but it also hits that area good. Hold your arm up at 90 degrees like your saying “HOW!” like an American Indian then have a partner put one hand on your tricep to stabalize it so it doesnt move and he will then proceed to torque your forearm back, kinda like a hyperextended external rotation, it works like a charm for me.

OH, and dont forget to ice! that always helps, if pain continues definately go get an MRI and check it out[/quote]

Tendons don’t crack. They can be associated with a cracking/popping sound as they roll over a bony prominence, but they don’t crack in the same way a joint ‘cracks’.

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Tedons don’t crack, but they can get irritated and swell up. This will hinder the free movement in their sleeve and this could be interpreted as cracking.