I just got over a large bout of tendonitis near my elbows. A sharp pain shot through my arms when lifting something as simple as a pot of water off the stove.
8 weeks of no weights along with icing EOD cured up the issue completley.
I had tennis elbow or whatever you want to call it. I tried to eliminate all of the exercises that caused pain. The pain persisted for months and something as simple as pouring a glass of milk from a 1/2 gallon container was painful.
What finally fixed it was wearing a adjustable nylon band about 3 inches wide around the top part of my forearm. I wore it 24/7 and took it off only when showering. Someone above mentioned that clenching your fist tightly would cause pain and this is what I experienced. Using the band to constrain the forearm movement and kept it from bulging out and I didn’t have the pain.
I continued to do very light curls and forearm work using cables, versus a barbell. This allowed me to work my good arm with heavier weights and adjust the weight for my bad arm and eliminate the pain.
After 6-8 weeks, the problem went away and has not returned.
[quote]sir_tris wrote:
I had tennis elbow or whatever you want to call it. I tried to eliminate all of the exercises that caused pain. The pain persisted for months and something as simple as pouring a glass of milk from a 1/2 gallon container was painful.
What finally fixed it was wearing a adjustable nylon band about 3 inches wide around the top part of my forearm. I wore it 24/7 and took it off only when showering. Someone above mentioned that clenching your fist tightly would cause pain and this is what I experienced. Using the band to constrain the forearm movement and kept it from bulging out and I didn’t have the pain.
I continued to do very light curls and forearm work using cables, versus a barbell. This allowed me to work my good arm with heavier weights and adjust the weight for my bad arm and eliminate the pain.
After 6-8 weeks, the problem went away and has not returned.
[/quote]
I find a supporter very helpful while working out, but I don’t wear it beyond that. I was beginning to think that I had tendinosis (I didn’t notice a lot of swelling, and no discoloration), which takes up to nine months to heal. Today, though, my forearm feels a lot better, so I’m hoping it’s tendinitis. My regimen:
- Ice packs and friction massage 3 times a day: morning, post-workout, evening
- Supporter while working out. I feel like an old sissy-man, but it feels better, and hey, I am an old sissy-man.
- Modification of painful exercises (in my case, anything with a pronate or neutral grip and use of forearm) to a non-painful version (e.g. chins vs. pulls, supinated grip bent-over row vs. pronated grip, etc.). I don’t want to do nothing, and this has kept me feeling productive.
- Today I also did very light curls (2-4 kg) in a variety of grips with 20-30 reps for about 4 sets. I think that helped a lot. I’ve read it’s good to use the tendon, as long as there is no pain, and that’s been my (limited) experience.
Be very careful…I had a similar isuse with my left forearm and because of too much ego 7 years later it still gives me trouble. Better use the elbow brace with band and take it easy.
Whatever arm size you have will come back…but it sucks to live with chronic pain.
At first, I only wore the band on my forearm during exercise. But I was constantly irritating it outside the gym with even small movements, such as pouring milk.
The wrap made that pain free and as such, over time the overuse injury subsided.
I too believe that doing some movement with the injured area, as long as there is no pain involved and the weight is light, the improved blood flow will help recovery.
[quote]sir_tris wrote:
At first, I only wore the band on my forearm during exercise. But I was constantly irritating it outside the gym with even small movements, such as pouring milk.
The wrap made that pain free and as such, over time the overuse injury subsided.
I too believe that doing some movement with the injured area, as long as there is no pain involved and the weight is light, the improved blood flow will help recovery.[/quote]
I think I’ve been pretty lucky so far, in that I haven’t experienced truly debilitating pain. What pain I have had hasn’t really impacted my daily life, so I’m hoping that also means a speedy recovery.
What I have learned in the past month or so, though, is that I need to pace myself more. I’ve started to alternate exercises more, and actually do fewer. That in turn has seemed to lead to more progress in the last couple of weeks than in the past 2-3 months.
I remember Dave Tate in the strength forum a couple weeks ago mentioning that it took torn pecs to make him better at benching. I think that’s similar to what I’m seeing (minus all the massive weights and incredible physique).
I had something similar. I did the No-Curl workout which let me think I was doing something for my arms biceps while avoiding curling. I also used a cat’s paw, which stretches your fingers some. Took about three months but it went away.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Mousse wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
dirtbag wrote:
WTF!!! dammit …fuck I am falling apart. Shit …ok been taken advil and working out. Is it ok to put load on it or am I maken it worst? Should I get wrist straps or something. Use a machine for curls and use and open palm. Damn it I don’t want to quit working out cause some tendon issue.
No offence, but taking 'killers to mask the pain and then working out that area, is just about the stooopidest thing you can do.
The pain is there for a reason. Ignore it at your peril.
You’re not falling apart, you just have an overuse injury. Rest the area. In fact, why not do what I did when I had rotator cuff tendonitis; train exclusively lower body for about 6 weeks.
Bushy
No offense Bushy but anti-inflamatory’s are a far cry from pain killers. I believe anti-inflamatory’s should be used in this condition even if he does stop the curls to help the healing process. I certainly would agree that taking vicodin or the like and hitting the iron would be foolish to say the least, but I didn’t reach that conclusion from the OP’s posts.
Just to clarify, I do not think you should keep doing BB curls. Take the advice and find an alternative way to work your biceps or stop working them altogether. You may actually come back stronger by incorporating some exercises that you had not previously been performing - so, there is a bright side.
Peace,
Mousse
No offence taken, Mousse.
However if advil is not a painkiller, why is it marketed as “The every pain relever”?
Bushy[/quote]
Ya know my friend, the more I think about it the more I realize you had a better interpretation of the OP’s intentions. Unfortunately, sometimes I subconsciously draw on my own personal reasons for doing something, in this case using NSAIDs, and take a wrong turn.
Obviously, if there is inflammation and you utilize NSAIDs to reduce inflammation - you will reduce a portion of the associated pain. There are times when I need NSAIDs to reduce inflammation but rarely, except in the case of some severe DOMS, do I associate the use of NSAIDs with an actual relief of pain.
For example, in a situation where an injury occurs I find a heavy dose of NSAIDs to be crucial in recovery. That being said I do not utilize it as a pain killer as much as to help my injury recover better/sooner.
Now in this case he does mention consumption of advil in the same sentence as training, so your assumption was most likely correct (as usual). I’m glad you kinda knew where I was coming from…you could have lit me up a lot worse:P
Peace,
Mousse
[quote]Mousse wrote:
Duke wrote:
Bushy is spot on in my opinion.
Stay well clear of curls for at elast a few weeks, preferably a few months.
I found doing chins didn’t aggrivate the pain too much and it’s great for biceps so if you’re the same - stick to chins only for the biceps.
Other than that, stick to movements that pull on the arms - deads, rows, shrugs whatever, but don’t do curls - you’ll only make it worse and extend the amount of time it’ll take to rectify.
Ice - ART and rest.
I’m sure he’s right - I kept curling…took at least six months before it went away…lots of advil/IB/Naproxen, drink lots of water
*let me guess: when you finish a set and put the bar down it feels like your arms are on fire and you have to shake them?[/quote]
Wow I didn’t know this was so prevalant. I had this a looong time ago… and yes, it took forever to fuckin heal. It was some pretty intense pain, too.
I stopped curling for a long time because it was just too painful.
I’d say four to six months sounds right… sorry bro.
Well last night I tryed a vertical hold on the DB’s lightened the grip on my “pinky and ring finger”. Also rested the weight on my thumb and index finger. Got some strange looks but oh well. No pain once so ever. Did my regular weight with no issues. Also did my warmups of pull ups close grip. No pain. Also been massaging for 3 to 4 times a day. Advil I take for the anti-inflamatory. Sometimes my disk in my back bugs me when I squat heavey. So that just helps me out.
The only thing that really bugged it was unloading plates. So I just didn’t use my left small fingers.
There no other times during my workout that cause any pain. …
SO for now massage anti-inflam’s and ice is the prescription. But I think everyone is right its going to take a while to heal up.