Elbow Injuries

Bigger Stronger Leaner Over 35 Lifter
1

I’m looking for advice from others who might have experience with elbow arthritis. I’m only 38, but have developed bilateral elbow arthritis. It’s gotten to the point that the pain is quite debilitating.

I lift 3-4 days a week still, but it’s hard finding lifts that don’t hurt. I have had to stop benching, not because of the pain, but because I can’t lockout my elbows any longer. Both of my arms are probably 20 degrees from full extension.

Golf, tennis, mountain biking, kayaking, and volleyball are all activities that I participate in sparingly, or not at all any more, because of my pain. Even holding a phone to my ear for more than a few minutes is difficult. Not to mention that the pain is making it very difficult to do my job.

I worked off of the assumption that it was tendonitis for quite a while. Tried rest, NSAIDs, ultrasound therapy and Celebrex. After recently xraying my elbows, I now know that the reason for the pain and decreased range of motion is an extensive amount of arthritis. Surgery was recommended.

Also, another of my colleagues recommend that I look into prolotherapy. I don’t really want to go the surgical route, but it may be the only option, especially for regaining the range of motion.

I mean even if there was absolutely no pain, I would still be stuck with the reduced range of motion, inability to lock out on lifts, and posture that resembles an ape, from carrying my arms in a bent fashion.

So, has anyone dealt with a similar condition? If opting for surgery, how was the recovery? I’m self-employed, and don’t get paid unless I’m working, so I can’t afford to take much time off.

Thanks for any advice.

2

I see you got no replies so I am bumping this for you. I have Elbow pain from football and I use NSAIDs and DMSO to control it. But allot of the time it isn’t enough. I hope we get some good answers but I am afraid the answer is “Stop doing that” which sucks ass and is no real answer. However I ignored it last year and lost the Tri-tendon becuase of my stupidity.

3

I’ve got a ton of pain in both elbows. I’m 35. How long did you go before diagnosis? My sports medicine guy told me I have tendonitis and it will go away, but it has been going on for months now.

4

Has been going on for past 6 yrs for me…actually caused me to lose my job due to disability.

Stopped lifting for about two yrs (was most doing triathlons, ultramarathons and adventure racing). Within two weeks of getting back into gym and starting to go heavy, elbows were in extreme pain.

Have tried physical therapy, ultrasound, corticosteroid injections, ART, Graston technique…nothing much helps.

I’m pretty sure mine is tendinitis that has deteriorated into tendinosis…but I went to the best doc in town for hand/sholder/elbow and he recommended against surgery (in my particular case)…said the best he could do was corticosteroid injections twice a year

In my case I have just learned to work through it by adapting my lifts and pretty much ignoring the pain…am finally back to where I can do a single pullup - woohoo!

Don’t really have much to offer either in the way of hope or advice, just throwing in my two cents worth.

It kind of sucks, but at least I have two arms and two legs!

Good luck.

5

[quote]testolius wrote:
Has been going on for past 6 yrs for me…actually caused me to lose my job due to disability.

Stopped lifting for about two yrs (was most doing triathlons, ultramarathons and adventure racing). Within two weeks of getting back into gym and starting to go heavy, elbows were in extreme pain.

Have tried physical therapy, ultrasound, corticosteroid injections, ART, Graston technique…nothing much helps.

I’m pretty sure mine is tendinitis that has deteriorated into tendinosis…but I went to the best doc in town for hand/sholder/elbow and he recommended against surgery (in my particular case)…said the best he could do was corticosteroid injections twice a year

In my case I have just learned to work through it by adapting my lifts and pretty much ignoring the pain…am finally back to where I can do a single pullup - woohoo!

Don’t really have much to offer either in the way of hope or advice, just throwing in my two cents worth.

It kind of sucks, but at least I have two arms and two legs!

Good luck.

[/quote]

well based on your av you’re still in pretty sick shape. best of luck to you.

6

Thanks for the replies fellas. I’m sure that a portion of this is tendonitis. And I could ALMOST deal with the pain. But the inability to straighten my elbows is hampering just about everything that I enjoy doing, including lifting. I’m guessing that it’s partly from the job I do, and I’m concerned that I’m going to have to eventually get out of the profession that I love. Not to mention, I still have many years of student loan payments left to make. :frowning:

Cortisone injections didn’t help at all BTW.

Ya know, the kicker is that I’ve lifted on and off for 20+ years, but didn’t really lift with any purpose until I found this website nearly two years ago. I have been steadily progressing in my lifts, utilizing the nutrition and training advice that I’ve gotten here. Finally got my bench back over 300, before recently having to give it up.

Well, like I said I was just hoping that someone else with similar experience could let me know the route they took. I suppose that I can just follow the ortho’s advice and have the surgery.

Test: this is why I was considering the gear. Hoping to get some soft-tissue healing out of it, and the physique changes that you’ve experienced. It’s hard to make any real progress when you can’t do any pressing movements.

Thanks again for the replies.

7

[quote]
Test: this is why I was considering the gear. Hoping to get some soft-tissue healing out of it, and the physique changes that you’ve experienced. It’s hard to make any real progress when you can’t do any pressing movements.

Thanks again for the replies.[/quote]

In some respects, gear has just made it worse…my muscles got way stronger way faster than my tendons and I didn’t have enough sense to take it easy.

OTOH, one of the things I did to work around my disabilities was to start squatting and deadlifting* as heavy as I could go, which has resulted in remarkable increases in overall size and strength…so much so that when kids in the gym ask me how to get bigger biceps, I tell them “Squat, deadlift and drink a gallon of whole milk every day”

*in my particular case, DLs cause NO problems for my elbows…your experience may differ.

8

I’ve had the same issue in one elbow for 3 years now. It started out as an aching in my right elbow so bad it was hard to sleep. I went to the GP, he referred me to a Sports Medicine specialist. He took x-rays and measurements. Ive lost 21 degrees of motion in my right arm, 8 degrees in my left (which I hadnt even noticed). Reason - Bone spurs and calcium buildup in the elbows. He gave me 3 things to try - 1. Physical Therapy, no effect. 2. Cortisone, tried one shot, no effect. 3. Open it up and scrape it out. Not gonna happen until I cant freaking move any more.

I deal by lots of glucosamine, and when the pain gets too bad to take anymore I lift light and do cardio for awhile. I try to bulk when my arms feel good and then diet when I cant lift hard.

Not much help, but thats my experience with elbow problems.