I’ve been suffering from pain on the outside of my elbow for a few weeks now. I am making an appointment to see my doctor. I already know that the diagnosis will be tennis elbow. He will probably put me on anti-imflammatory meds and tell me to rest the elbow for 4-6 weeks. Something, of course, I don’t wnat to hear.
Other than concentrate on my lower body and cardio, is there anything I can still do for my upper body that won’t aggravate my elbow? Also, which exercises should I do for rehab so this doesn’t happen again?
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459823
In general I would recommend strengthening the forearms, stretching, and trying eccentric exercises as outlined in the link. Good luck.
Hey, there, Sarge131! Sorry to hear about the elbow. I had a bad case of “lateral epicondylitis” myself – so much so that I was reluctant to carry a liter bottle of water around the neighborhood when I was doing cardio.
The stretching and strengthening is good advice, but if you can afford it, I’d like to see you get a structural assessment from a good PT (physical therapist) or DC. In my case, my shoulders had rotated internally and I had “altered” shoulder biomechanics. I received ART (Active Release Technique) treatment for the elbow and shoulder both.
I then had rehab/strengthening/stretching exercises I had to do to maintain and improve upon the good work that was done.
It doesn’t matter who you go to – a DC, a DO, a PT – but get some professional guidance on how to correct your problems. It’s well worth the effort, I promise you.
Good luck!
Sarge,
I used to suffer from tennis elbow induced by preacher curls.
After going to the doctor for anti-inflammatory prescriptions, and eventually cortisone shots, I tried glucosamine.
It took a while to kick in, but when it did, it really helped!. I am using AST Proflex 750. It is affordable, and works great. Like I said, it took a while for the stuff to make a noticeable difference, but I am now able to do preacher curls again without pain.