I just had my first deep-tissue massage today. It was gloriously painful. The guy gave me ultrasound for five minutes each elbow and then proceeded to make me laugh maniacally because I had no other clue how to react to pain like that. It reminded of a recent article I read from some Marine Colonel in Vietnam who said that the Vietnamese had a natural inclination to smile when things went south, and when the Col was shot in the brim of his helmet in Binh Gia in '64 and bloodied and dazed, he saw his Vietnamese corpsman working over him, smiling, and the Col knew it wasn’t good.
At the Bellagio, where we were married. It was beautiful. Highly recommended. Plus, our whole family was like, HELLS YEAH! when they heard that our wedding was in Vegas.
I had one cortisone shot per elbow today. Specifically in the wrist extensors. The doctor used a ‘fan’ technique, where he inserted the needle once, but moved it several times in my arm to spread the injection. It didn’t hurt at all and my arms are still a little numb from the numbing agent mixed in with the corticosteroid. I forgot to ask him which specific drug was injected.
I am at my wits end. I cannot sleep, I am not training, I am not having as much ‘sexytime.’ This damn elbow pain has infected every aspect of my life, and to top it all off, my ortho was a complete dick. He was adamant about how one shot isn’t going to fix anything, and that I am doing more damage than good, and yet, he still did it anyways, just to ‘prove to me’ that he was right. Instead, he wants to cut both of my arms open and perform surgery on them, oh, only with a deployment coming up in the sometime near future. I am grunt in the Marines. Not gonna happen. And then when I asked him if he could prescribe me some Ambien to help me sleep he replied, ‘why?’ I looked at his smarmy face and pointed my fingers at each elbow like WTF. He was a LtCol in the Army. I have heard he is great, but damn, he really pissed me off when he then said, ‘I am not going to put you on the most addictive drug there is just to help you sleep.’ I wanted to (here you go, guys [from another thread]) kata guruma his ass right there on the spot. Instead, I just looked at him, and even though I haven’t even had a sip of alcohol in over ten years (Feb 6, 1999), I just let it go. I will just watch my beloved Dexter tonight, and hug my wife to sleep.
I am going to take the entire week off of training, continue with the deep-tissue massage (YES, the Navy has guys that have been working on me! Whoa that is painful!), and drink water for a week, then back to training, slowly. I will keep you all posted…as you sit on the edge of your seats…pause…NOT.
Dec 22, 2004: I have been training the past two weeks, two times the first week, three the next, and am happy to report, I AM PAIN FREE. I am very wary that it might just be due to the cortisone still sitting in my arm, but to be honest, I used the tendonitis straps that the physical therapist gave me, even before I had the shots, and notice a marked improvement in elbow pain following training.
I am also getting the deep-tissue massage therapy twice a week, as highly recommended by several of you guys, most adamantly by eddanefels, and while he is absolutely correct, it is freaking PAINFUL, I have gotten a lot out of it, as I believe they are really realigning my muscle and tendon fibers back to where they are supposed to be.
I am also being ‘mentored’ by a Masters Purple Belt who took gold at last years Pan American Games (brazilian jiu jitsu), and he has given me some sage advice on keeping my elbows tight (he is being promoted to brown very soon), especially when on the bottom, because my school is very good with awkward arm locks that I haven’t seen at too many other places.
It is weird, though, they don’t spend much time on traditional stuff, which for me, the basics are where it is at, but, there is a world champion at my school…I really have no idea what that has to do with anything. Here is the link for the elbow straps I am currently using:
http://www.painreliever.com/Elbow-Braces_74717.html
You can get them for cheaper than $13, too. I use them on both arms, and place the pad right on the area where the brachialis meets the wrist extensors, and make it tight enough that I have 90% range of motion, but not so tight that I cannot feel my arms. It is worlds more effective than the neoprene sleeve. Okay, headin’ to NYC tomorrow…picture me ice skatin’!!
Me getting my blue belt in June. I worked so hard for that darned thing, now I have purple in my sights. Gonna be a little while, though. Although, I must admit, getting your blue belt is a huge confidence builder, and also a challenge, because all the crazy white belts who go agro on you because you are a blue, and the other blues who no way want to lose to you, and the purples, who would rather get choked out instead of tap (just ask ‘Shane’ about last Sunday…ezekiel choke, and he just wouldn’t tap…he went out like a light). The black belt who gave it to me is a great dude…very good at MMA, too.
Your outlook has certainly changed.
Did the the massage therapist find any problems in your neck and shoulders which can be a root cause?
Yes, it has. I feel as if I have another chance, but I am taking it easy and still being cautious. Going VERY easy on the weights. While my strength does not respond uber fast when getting back in the gym, my body composition does. After almost twenty years of lifting weights (started when I was around twelve, about the same time I started drinking heavily), hypertrophy ensues after just a few workouts. And for the record, as a 31 year old (please don’t kill me for being in this forum), delayed-onset muscle soreness does not exist in my world. I am sore RIGHT after a rugby game.
As for the message therapists, only one has examined my neck and collarbone for root causes/trigger points and he just really skimmed over it when training a new guy on me. Thanks for the good point, I will bring it up when I go in next.
I wish everyone a happy New Year, and please be safe all. Drinking and stupidity are just fine, but drinking and death are not cool. Have a plan.
Happy New Year everyone. One of my new year’s resolutions is to better listen to my body, and get back under 200 lbs. I am currently about 210, give or take a pound or two. It is fat around my belly that I can stand to lose. I am still somewhat muscular; not jacked, but developed as a 30-something who has lifted for many years should be. I know some of you will cringe, but I am going to substitute most of my compound lifts for muay thai and running, 3 times a week. It mainly has to do with combat conditioning, as I am getting ready to go back into the operating forces, the Fleet Marine Force, and being a grunt, I need to focus on my endurance much more. I owe my future Marines that. I also resolve to make a concerted effort at weening off chewing tobacco each day…God knows I love my Kodiak, but I also love my wife, and like having a jaw. The time has come (as I type with a chopper in my lip).
My bad; the next pic didn’t load properly in this block. Here it is, to give example to me wanting to lose those ten pounds.
As a former “field grunt” myself we found the best way to get in “fighting shape” was to wear our gear while training. Or now to make it easier go buy a weighted vest and do alot of bweight exerecises. You are a stud if you can go through a typical 1 hour P.T. with a 40 pound vest on. and do some barbell complexes, crossfit and some running thrown in.
Watch your elbows you GyRENE!! 
lol. Good luck hope this helps and btw congrats on the Blue Belt.
Fischer
Lift Strong
Edit: From reading your log, remember to ease into this slowly so as to not hurt yourself from your “Gung-Ho” attitude towards everything - which is great - but not so great for your tendonitis.
The exercises in this link cured my tennis and golf elbows. The exercise with the wrench works best for me. You can start by choking up on a hammer to complete a rep. Once the pain goes away you will get strong fast. I now use a baseball bat with a lead weight, and do about 30 reps with each arm about two times a week.
Good luck.
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow/
Good morning to you: When I switched to using dumbells my elbow pain went away. Too many times your elbows are in pain due to the position a straight bar puts them in. Yes I use dumbells for squats and deadlifts.
Also get some DMSO in a white base cream. Does wonders for joint pain.
Lastly, this sounds way out there, but try something called ANODYNE bACKED BY 12 PEER REVIEWED PUBLICHED ARTICLES OF 4500 PATIENTS. iT IS INVISIBLE WAVE LENGTHS OF INFRARED LIGHT DELIVERED THROUGH THE SKIN TO DEEP TISSUE, INCREASING. sEE ANODYNETHERAPY.COM.
At 35 I had a lot of the same anterior elbow pain. On this site, I read something from Charles Poliquin stating that this pain could be cause by muscle imbalances. He suggested doing direct forearm work (which I had not been doing at the time.) I started doing direct forearm work at least once a week, and this completely took care of the problem. Hope this helps.
[quote]FISCHER613 wrote:
As a former “field grunt” myself we found the best way to get in “fighting shape” was to wear our gear while training. Or now to make it easier go buy a weighted vest and do alot of bweight exerecises. You are a stud if you can go through a typical 1 hour P.T. with a 40 pound vest on. and do some barbell complexes, crossfit and some running thrown in.
Watch your elbows you GyRENE!! lol. Good luck hope this helps and btw congrats on the Blue Belt.
Fischer
Lift Strong
Edit: From reading your log, remember to ease into this slowly so as to not hurt yourself from your “Gung-Ho” attitude towards everything - which is great - but not so great for your tendonitis.[/quote]
Eeee-ruhhh! Roger on all, brother. I really like the vest idea…I wonder if my wife would let me wear it while we…
[quote]mark1r wrote:
The exercises in this link cured my tennis and golf elbows. The exercise with the wrench works best for me. You can start by choking up on a hammer to complete a rep. Once the pain goes away you will get strong fast. I now use a baseball bat with a lead weight, and do about 30 reps with each arm about two times a week.
Good luck.
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow/
[/quote]
Mark,
First of all, I feel honored that you decided to make your very first T-Nation post here in my thread. Welcome. But, I have to wonder…is this an alter-ego? Already a Level 2? Wouldn’t be much of an eye-brow raiser if your join date wasn’t today. Hmmmm… Wait, I am derailing my own thread. Disregard on all.
Second, that page is awesome. The wrench one is outstanding. I used a hammer forward and back, but damn, a wrench side to side?! Thanks, man, and HNY.
[quote]philipj wrote:
Good morning to you: When I switched to using dumbells my elbow pain went away. Too many times your elbows are in pain due to the position a straight bar puts them in. Yes I use dumbells for squats and deadlifts.
Also get some DMSO in a white base cream. Does wonders for joint pain.
Lastly, this sounds way out there, but try something called ANODYNE bACKED BY 12 PEER REVIEWED PUBLICHED ARTICLES OF 4500 PATIENTS. iT IS INVISIBLE WAVE LENGTHS OF INFRARED LIGHT DELIVERED THROUGH THE SKIN TO DEEP TISSUE, INCREASING. sEE ANODYNETHERAPY.COM.[/quote]
That is crazy that you mention the invisible wave length stuff! I was just used as the guinea pig for one of the new chiros at the SMART clinic (Sports Medicine and Rehab Training, I think, not sure) as he was trying to sell the doctor on this new technology. He had some guy from Ontario fly in and apply that laser to my elbows, and then my back and neck area. It was only one time and I had had my cortisone shots recently, so he made it quick, but dude I would def continue getting that therapy if they purchase it.
Okay, DMSO. On it. And I think you are right on the money about the barbell stuff. I am in it for the long haul, so man, that is great advice. Thanks, bro.
[quote]STFD23 wrote:
At 35 I had a lot of the same anterior elbow pain. On this site, I read something from Charles Poliquin stating that this pain could be cause by muscle imbalances. He suggested doing direct forearm work (which I had not been doing at the time.) I started doing direct forearm work at least once a week, and this completely took care of the problem. Hope this helps.[/quote]
Thanks, dude. Another person telling me I need to strengthen my forearms…I think I should get on that, huh? On it!