TheBroBrah's New Guide On Correcting Elbow Tendinitis (Also known as tennis elbow)

[TheBroBrah]

Introduction

So as you all know, elbow tendinitis, or also referred to by many as "Tennis Elbow" is a very common problem with the average lifter. Some of you may have the opposite. AKA golfers elbow. Which causes pain on the inside of the elbow. But in most cases for lifters, or for the average person for that matter, it's "Tennis Elbow". elbow tendinitis or "Tennis Elbow", is a huge pain in the ass and often times it's a vicious cycle of frustration and pain. I'm going to be giving you, my bodybuilding friends, a little incite on what causes this nasty cycle.

What is causing this nasty cycle?

Some of you may or may not know this already. But elbow tendinitis, or "Tennis Elbow" is caused by overuse of the extensor muscles in the forearm. An example of extensor use would be pulling the throttle on your motorcycle, moving your hand up and towards you. In today's society, elbow tendinitis as well as carpal tunnel syndrome, are VERY often caused by sitting on the computer all day and typing on the keyboard/using the mouse. It's not just common in tennis players, and quite frankly it's far more common in people with office jobs.

I've dealt with tennis elbow throughout most of my lifting experience, it's a b1tch. It's super annoying as well. I've taken countless weeks off because of my elbows, it's no fun. Especially when your making great progress in the gym and then you start getting pain in your elbow joints.

Many people think you should completely rest and not do anything to fix this. Sure, this may work in some cases. But you need to localize the problem and find out what's causing it and follow the steps to fix it. Sitting around is not going to do you much good, most likely it will just return again, and again, and again. So please, follow these steps.

What are the steps i take to overcome this?

Step #1: As horrible as it sounds, your going to be required some time off in the gym. I know how bad this sucks, and how much it can mess with your mind when your a routine lifter. But i promise you won't lose the muscle you currently have as fast as you might think. I quit lifting for about a month and hardly lost any size. Just try to keep your calorie levels around maitenence. Atrophy (Muscle Shrinkage) doesn't happen as fast as people might think. It took many years/months to build that muscle naturally, it's not going anywhere fast.

Step #2: Ice Ice Ice, as many times a day as possible. 20 minutes a session. This will help the inflammation and the healing process. This is something everyone should know about already, and if you don't. Well you do now. Ibuprofen helps too.

Step #3: Stretch Stretch Stretch your extensor muscles, and Strengthen your flexor muscles. Many of you may have read my guide on correcting APT. Same concept. Stretch the the overused/tight muscles, strengthen the weak/loose muscles.

Video on how to stretch your extensor muscles:



Video on how to strengthen your flexor muscles:




Stretch 3-5 times a day with a few sets a session. Stay consistent my fellow lifters, that is what it all boils down to.

Step #4: Last but not least, and probably the most important step. MASSAGE. MASSAGE. MASSAGE. Before i step into this, please don't go find a "massage therapist" just for this. You will be wasting your time and money. There's a simple, easy, and effective way to do it at home.

But first...Let me inform you a little on something real quick that most lifters do not know. The majority of the time you think you have "elbow tendinitis" it's not actually tendinitis. Yes tendinitis could very well be the cause. But most likely it is muscle cramps in tight spots on the forearm that cause pulling on the tendons in the elbow. How do i fix this? Well I'm here to tell you.

So many of you have read my guide on correcting APT. Once again... Same concept. Except this time it's not foam rolling, i'm going to refer it as massaging or "trigger point therapy".

So there is one very KEY spot that causes some of the problems in your elbow. I'm going to refer to this as the "trigger spot".

Where is this "trigger spot"?

It's on the top of your forearm, a few inches away from your elbow. This is the KEY area, or "trigger spot" that your going to massage. You can use a your fingers or knuckles (not preferred). But the most effective massage objects are a either a tennis ball, or a golf ball.

Here's an image that will help you find this trigger spot. Of course, it's not going to be hard to find. You will feel pain, and you will know where this spot is when you massage it.



Massage Tips:

1. In one direction, massage in short strokes. Use some pretty deep pressure.
2. Make sure your pressing hard enough to where you feel a decent amount of pain. Out of 10 i would say probably around a 7.
3. Massage your "trigger point" quite often, but with very short sessions. Around 20-25 strokes is sufficient. Doing more in one session will not help you. So don't.
4. It will take quite a few sessions, but make sure that the pain level has gone down significantly, this is how you know you've made progress.


That's about it folks! Good luck on your elbow tendinitis goals of 2012 and beyond. >_>

[Curlers]

Nice post! - I think this one is going to help alot of people if they actually take on your advice.

EDIT - Long post!

the trigger points or trigger spots your referring to are the cause of a lot of problems. i had them extremely bad in my triceps which led to tendonosis (a more severe case of tendonitis). i had it in my forearms aswell but to a much lesser degree. in the exact area which you pointed out. to get rid of it i was foam rolling using a hard foam ball (about the same size as a tennis ball) as opposed to a foam roller. This allowed me to get much deeper into the tissue which is what really helped me, and in a relatively short amount of time (1-2 months). its only recently that i managed to fix the problem myself. my chiropractor/sports specialist and a physio i went to see didnt help much at all. ill go into that in a bit.

i managed to fix up my forearm in one session, believe it or not. i think its because at this point i was already foam rolling my tricep and i immediately noticed the same signs starting in my forearm. i assumed it was the same problem (the start of tendonitis, muscle adhesions) so i jumped on it right away. i spent about 20-30 minutes on it and it felt absolutely great immediately after that one session.
but the severity of my tricep was a different animal.. it took quite a few hard sessions lasting around 30minutes to fix it up. most people should be ok to massage it out themselves but my tricep was so knotted up that i had to have my mother to help out. i had her to push down on my arm as hard as possible while i rested my triceps on this foam ball. While she was pushing down on my arm i was moving my arm slowly (at a snails pace) to make sure i was covering as much of the injured area as possible. it was VERY painful to start with but it was definitely necessary to get rid of the muscle adhesions. its important to move slowly over the injury until you find a painful area, this is the trigger point and no matter how painful it is, you should stay there until the pain disappears. this is the only way to get rid of that knotted up tissue.

as i was saying earlier, the physio i seen, and my chiropractor/sports specialist didnt really help much at all as far as my tricep was concerned. the physio was hopeless and told me to massage it out myself using my other hand. he was right in the respect of self-massage but gave me zero direction/help as far as making solid progress was concerned. and my chiropractor just wasnt massaging deep enough to really get anything done. she spent spent over a year doing some friction massage (which weren't deep enough) before moving onto using this metal scalpal looking thing (not sure on the name, will post a pic in i find out) which was used for deeper tissue massage. i found that helped, but not still nowhere near as effective as having my mother to push down on my arm while i was resting on the foam ball.

i had this injury for about 2 and a half years. it would start to give me trouble after one set of shoulder pressing, by the 3rd set it was evident there was an injury there. its only recently while ive been into grip training that i joined the GripBoard, and a board member called Mighty Joe who happens to know alot about anatomy helped me out. i thought id shoot him a PM and see what he had to say since he seemed pretty knowlegable, and he recommended that i use a tennis ball or hard foam ball to massage it out a few times a day. this is what ultimately let to the start of my recovery.


Notes

- Dont roll on the joints, or too close to the joints.
- Dont Foam roll fast. this can irritate the injury.
- Foam roll slowly (at a snails pace). this will help you find the injured areas more easily.
- Sit on the painful areas (trigger points) until the pain goes away.
- Extra pressure may help - have someone to push down on your arm. - PAINFUL to start (but try to live with it) = Quicker Improvement.
- hand / arm may have tingles - im not sure if this is a good or bad thing, just letting you know. if may mean your too close to the joint or you could be on a nerve.
- bend your arm after every couple of rolls (not a must, but i like to do it to stretch the muscle out)
- Expect some soreness after rolling - (this may appear right away, an hour, few hours later)
- Soreness may last a few days but it lessens as you loosen up the tight areas.
- Lastly but most importantly, stay on top of it! - as soon as the soreness goes after a day or two, foam roll again.


Supplements

- Acenta Fish oil (Recommended by armbender - armwrestler on these boards) - or any high strength Fish Oil (1000mg) should work well.
- Animal Flex.
- Super Cissus RX by USP Labs.


Didnt mean to hijack thread, just wanted to add what i could to help. i think TheBroBrah pretty much covered everything. Anyway, i hope this helps, even if its just one person!

[DJAuto]

Good thread. I would eventually have it moved to the injury prevention section with your other guides though.

How about creating one for Golfer's Elbow, another common issue in weightlifting?

[TheBroBrah]

Nice post! - I think this one is going to help alot of people if they actually take on your advice.

EDIT - Long post!

the trigger points or trigger spots your referring to are the cause of a lot of problems. i had them extremely bad in my triceps which led to tendonosis (a more severe case of tendonitis). i had it in my forearms aswell but to a much lesser degree. in the exact area which you pointed out. to get rid of it i was foam rolling using a hard foam ball (about the same size as a tennis ball) as opposed to a foam roller. This allowed me to get much deeper into the tissue which is what really helped me, and in a relatively short amount of time (1-2 months). its only recently that i managed to fix the problem myself. my chiropractor/sports specialist and a physio i went to see didnt help much at all. ill go into that in a bit.

i managed to fix up my forearm in one session, believe it or not. i think its because at this point i was already foam rolling my tricep and i immediately noticed the same signs starting in my forearm. i assumed it was the same problem (the start of tendonitis, muscle adhesions) so i jumped on it right away. i spent about 20-30 minutes on it and it felt absolutely great immediately after that one session.
but the severity of my tricep was a different animal.. it took quite a few hard sessions lasting around 30minutes to fix it up. most people should be ok to massage it out themselves but my tricep was so knotted up that i had to have my mother to help out. i had her to push down on my arm as hard as possible while i rested my triceps on this foam ball. While she was pushing down on my arm i was moving my arm slowly (at a snails pace) to make sure i was covering as much of the injured area as possible. it was VERY painful to start with but it was definitely necessary to get rid of the muscle adhesions. its important to move slowly over the injury until you find a painful area, this is the trigger point and no matter how painful it is, you should stay there until the pain disappears. this is the only way to get rid of that knotted up tissue.

as i was saying earlier, the physio i seen, and my chiropractor/sports specialist didnt really help much at all as far as my tricep was concerned. the physio was hopeless and told me to massage it out myself using my other hand. he was right in the respect of self-massage but gave me zero direction/help as far as making solid progress was concerned. and my chiropractor just wasnt massaging deep enough to really get anything done. she spent spent over a year doing some friction massage (which weren't deep enough) before moving onto using this metal scalpal looking thing (not sure on the name, will post a pic in i find out) which was used for deeper tissue massage. i found that helped, but not still nowhere near as effective as having my mother to push down on my arm while i was resting on the foam ball.

i had this injury for about 2 and a half years. it would start to give me trouble after one set of shoulder pressing, by the 3rd set it was evident there was an injury there. its only recently while ive been into grip training that i joined the GripBoard, and a board member called Mighty Joe who happens to know alot about anatomy helped me out. i thought id shoot him a PM and see what he had to say since he seemed pretty knowlegable, and he recommended that i use a tennis ball or hard foam ball to massage it out a few times a day. this is what ultimately let to the start of my recovery.


Notes

- Dont roll on the joints, or too close to the joints.
- Dont Foam roll fast. this can irritate the injury.
- Foam roll slowly (at a snails pace). this will help you find the injured areas more easily.
- Sit on the painful areas (trigger points) until the pain goes away.
- Extra pressure may help - have someone to push down on your arm. - PAINFUL to start (but try to live with it) = Quicker Improvement.
- hand / arm may have tingles - im not sure if this is a good or bad thing, just letting you know. if may mean your too close to the joint or you could be on a nerve.
- bend your arm after every couple of rolls (not a must, but i like to do it to stretch the muscle out)
- Expect some soreness after rolling - (this may appear right away, an hour, few hours later)
- Soreness may last a few days but it lessens as you loosen up the tight areas.
- Lastly but most importantly, stay on top of it! - as soon as the soreness goes after a day or two, foam roll again.


Supplements

- Acenta Fish oil (Recommended by armbender - armwrestler on these boards) - or any high strength Fish Oil (1000mg) should work well.
- Animal Flex.
- Super Cissus RX by USP Labs.


Didnt mean to hijack thread, just wanted to add what i could to help. i think TheBroBrah pretty much covered everything. Anyway, i hope this helps, even if its just one person!

Great post sir. Sounds like you definitely know what your talking about. Hijacking the thread? Nah your just making it a better more informational thread, thanks m8!

Good thread. I would eventually have it moved to the injury prevention section with your other guides though.

How about creating one for Golfer's Elbow, another common issue in weightlifting?

Yeah, just posted it here so it will get some recognition for a while.

Don't know too much about golfers elbow but it's probably the same concept just the opposite.

[Curlers]

Great post sir. Sounds like you definitely know what your talking about. Hijacking the thread? Nah your just making it a better more informational thread, thanks m8!

No problem at all! glad to help. im assuming you've experienced this problem aswell? absolute nightmare aint it.. if we can share the our experience then more power to those who actually use the information! i know it will save them a lot of $hit in the long run. GREAT informative post by the way! Repped.

Don't know too much about golfers elbow but it's probably the same concept just the opposite.

i dont know much about this either so i cant chime in. i would have to agree with what your saying 'same concept just the opposite'. i think it all boils down to overusing a particular muscle which results in muscle adhesions aka 'trigger points/spots'.

[TheBroBrah]

No problem at all! glad to help. im assuming you've experienced this problem aswell? absolute nightmare aint it.. if we can share the our experience then more power to those who actually use the information! i know it will save them a lot of $hit in the long run. GREAT informative post by the way! Repped.



i dont know much about this either so i cant chime in. i would have to agree with what your saying 'same concept just the opposite'. i think it all boils down to overusing a particular muscle which results in muscle adhesions aka 'trigger points/spots'.

Yeah it's a terrible problem to experience no doubt. Once you know basic anatomy this stuff ain't too hard to figure out.

[TheBroBrah]

bump

[Takezaki]

Have you actually cured yourself of this?

I've been having trouble with my right elbow for more than two years. I'm thinking overuse injury from too much video games/computer/ busboying and rock climbing.

There's no real ''pain'' as I would call it. It just feels annoying and stingy... It's a very weird sensation. I never feel any pain exercising or lifting stuff or whatever, there's never a sharp pain, just a dull ache, that I feel the most in the morning. I think actually doing pushups and pullups alleviates the pain, when I stop exercising I feel the dull ache coming back.

My elbow also makes weird cracking noises when I twist my arm like you would opening a door handle.

Got it checked by two physio and they all said it was a start of tennis elbow but both of them couldn't really locate the injury or whatever.

I tried icing, tried exercices, I feel like I'll never recover from this shiet. It's depressing as fuark.

I'll try your method and hope this helps a bit.

Also about the exercise for strenghtening, it's funny cuz my physio made me do the opposite, wrist curls but with palms down...What's up with that?

[SparkyAus]

i pleasure myself a lot and have muscular forearms, i knew all that work would come in handy.

[morningstaru]

Supplements

- Acenta Fish oil (Recommended by armbender - armwrestler on these boards) - or any high strength Fish Oil (1000mg) should work well.
- Animal Flex.
- Super Cissus RX by USP Labs.

Can you stack these? I currently take animal flex and omega...would stacking supper cissus be overkill?

[TheBroBrah]

Have you actually cured yourself of this?

I've been having trouble with my right elbow for more than two years. I'm thinking overuse injury from too much video games/computer/ busboying and rock climbing.

There's no real ''pain'' as I would call it. It just feels annoying and stingy... It's a very weird sensation. I never feel any pain exercising or lifting stuff or whatever, there's never a sharp pain, just a dull ache, that I feel the most in the morning. I think actually doing pushups and pullups alleviates the pain, when I stop exercising I feel the dull ache coming back.

My elbow also makes weird cracking noises when I twist my arm like you would opening a door handle.

Got it checked by two physio and they all said it was a start of tennis elbow but both of them couldn't really locate the injury or whatever.

I tried icing, tried exercices, I feel like I'll never recover from this shiet. It's depressing as fuark.

I'll try your method and hope this helps a bit.

Also about the exercise for strenghtening, it's funny cuz my physio made me do the opposite, wrist curls but with palms down...What's up with that?

Yes, the reason i post guides is to show my experiences and research. I had this nagging problem for a long time until i took action to fix it. You've definitely gotta case for tennis elbow. If you do train through it make sure to not do any direct tricep work as this will make it much worse.

lol if your physio made you do the opposite he probably shouldn't be a physio.

i pleasure myself a lot and have muscular forearms, i knew all that work would come in handy.

yeah, i used to work them all of the time, but then i thought i would overtrain. Funny that once i stopped my elbow tendonitis became worse.

Can you stack these? I currently take animal flex and omega...would stacking supper cissus be overkill?

Yeah you can, don't know how much extra benefit there will be though if any at all.

[teamALPHA]

Hey BroBrah,

This may seem overly critical, but please refer to tennis elbow as lateral epicondylitis and golfers elbow as medial epicondylitis. Elbow tendinitis is even less specific than tennis elbow, and well there is no such thing as a elbow in anatomy; it only increases ambiguity.

Introduction

So as you all know, elbow tendinitis, or also referred to by many as "Tennis Elbow" is a very common problem with the average lifter. Some of you may have the opposite. AKA golfers elbow. Which causes pain on the inside of the elbow. But in most cases for lifters, or for the average person for that matter, it's "Tennis Elbow". elbow tendinitis or "Tennis Elbow", is a huge pain in the ass and often times it's a vicious cycle of frustration and pain. I'm going to be giving you, my bodybuilding friends, a little incite on what causes this nasty cycle.



What are the steps i take to overcome this?

Step #1: As horrible as it sounds, your going to be required some time off in the gym. I know how bad this sucks, and how much it can mess with your mind when your a routine lifter. But i promise you won't lose the muscle you currently have as fast as you might think. I quit lifting for about a month and hardly lost any size. Just try to keep your calorie levels around maitenence. Atrophy (Muscle Shrinkage) doesn't happen as fast as people might think. It took many years/months to build that muscle naturally, it's not going anywhere fast.

Step #2: Ice Ice Ice, as many times a day as possible. 20 minutes a session. This will help the inflammation and the healing process. This is something everyone should know about already, and if you don't. Well you do now. Ibuprofen helps too.

Step #3: Stretch Stretch Stretch your extensor muscles, and Strengthen your flexor muscles. Many of you may have read my guide on correcting APT. Same concept. Stretch the the overused/tight muscles, strengthen the weak/loose muscles.


Step #4: Last but not least, and probably the most important step. MASSAGE. MASSAGE. MASSAGE. Before i step into this, please don't go find a "massage therapist" just for this. You will be wasting your time and money. There's a simple, easy, and effective way to do it at home.

Where is this "trigger spot"?

It's on the top of your forearm, a few inches away from your elbow. This is the KEY area, or "trigger spot" that your going to massage. You can use a your fingers or knuckles (not preferred). But the most effective massage objects are a either a tennis ball, or a golf ball.

Here's an image that will help you find this trigger spot. Of course, it's not going to be hard to find. You will feel pain, and you will know where this spot is when you massage it.


Massage Tips:

1. In one direction, massage in short strokes. Use some pretty deep pressure.
2. Make sure your pressing hard enough to where you feel a decent amount of pain. Out of 10 i would say probably around a 7.
3. Massage your "trigger point" quite often, but with very short sessions. Around 20-25 strokes is sufficient. Doing more in one session will not help you. So don't.
4. It will take quite a few sessions, but make sure that the pain level has gone down significantly, this is how you know you've made progress.


That's about it folks! Good luck on your elbow tendinitis goals of 2012 and beyond. >_>

Overall this is a pretty solid post [Repped.]. I have some suggestions to speed up the healing process and refine your outline:

• Stretching- Start with the the elbow bent and supported. Progress to arm at shoulder height fully extended.
  
  
• Strengthening- Strengthen the wrist extensors! Their (muscle and tendon) weakness is the reason you have the injury in the first place. If you have the opportunity to use an open had to do this exercise please do it [It will lessen the strain on the extensors (make a fist and check for yourself).] . Start with light eccentric training. Progress to concentric + eccentric. than progress to twisting like motions (concentric/ eccentric with supination/ pronation). Start this once there is no longer pain from stretching with the arm extended forward at shoulder height.
  
  
• Icing- Ice after stretching and exercise; these activities will lead to an inflammatory response that you want to prevent.
  
  
• Fictioning- When doing self "massage", frictioning, you should try using a ice cup instead of a golf ball or tennis ball. Cryo-frictioning will save a lot of time fighting the battle against inflammation.
  
  
• Progressions- Only make progressions when pain is not present at the previous stage.

teamALPHA

[Curlers]

Can you stack these? I currently take animal flex and omega...would stacking supper cissus be overkill?

i asked this question not too long ago in the supplement section and the answer was yes. personally, i wouldnt recommend it. you can actually overdose on vitamins/supplements. i dont know how many you'd have to take before it becomes risky, but theres about 8 or 9 pills in the animal flex pack, along with the x4 super cissus caps, plus whatever else you take.. it may be ok, but im not going to recommend it.

you should be fine with either the animal flex or super cissus, and stack that with fish oil. take the fish oil in higher dosages, or even look into the stronger stuff 'acenta fish oil'

[Goatny]

I took the bro of least resistance.

Squeeze the **** out of the bar and work through it.

[DJAuto]

I took the bro of least resistance.

Squeeze the **** out of the bar and work through it.

And it worked?

[Goatny]

And it worked?

It worked great. I found that squeezing as hard as I could resulted in next to no pain during the lift but significantly more after I let go. It went away after a week or so.


Oh and I read that here so
I joke.

[DJAuto]

It worked great. I found that squeezing as hard as I could resulted in next to no pain during the lift but significantly more after I let go. It went away after a week or so.


Oh and I read that here so
I joke.

What?

There's two pools of thought -- one which states to continue lifting with lightweight resistance, and the other which states to rest until healed. Most take the second and often see no progress for months.

[Goatny]

What?

There's two pools of thought -- one which states to continue lifting with lightweight resistance, and the other which states to rest until healed. Most take the second and often see no progress for months.

haha oh I was only joking about the fact that I read that here, not about it actually working for me.

[mreoww]

hey, thanks for a super informative post and thread. i believe i have tennis elbow. takezaki's condition sounds very similar to mine. there is no severe pain (yet), just a strange stinging feeling sometimes, and tenderness with some pain if i start pressing near the lateral epicondyle. i tried firmly pressing the trigger point that was mentioned, and that definitely produced some pain and discomfort. what i am wondering is how long i should wait, if at all, before beginning to stretch, strengthen, and massage the extensor muscles.

[Moottori]

How many sets I should do and how often? going to use 1 or 2kg weight

[chazzy1864]

For my tendinitis (in both elbows), I identify what irritates it and cut it out or reduce that particular movement and using cissus (I jsut stick with the nasty tasting powder as it is a much better value).

Cissus works wonders for tendinitis, I haven't found any thing else that comes near it.

[SquatTilYouDrop]

bump

I'm deeply convinced your 21 years of anatomical knowledge towers above all else in the medical field.

[Moottori]

How many sets I should do and how often? going to use 1 or 2kg weight

And how long I should expect it to really work?
Yet no difference