Snap/Pop On Outer Elbow

[blckshirt98]

My left elbow has been sore/aching for over a year, specifically two spots: what seemed to be a tendon/ligament that runs along the outer elbowbone, and, in the "valley" area on the outer arm between the elbow and triceps. The 2 days ago I was doing some close-grip bench presses and there was a sudden "pop" from that elbow with a very definite sound and sudden loss of strength/stability (where the left side of the bar jerked down). After re-racking and waiting a few minutes I could barely lift that arm in a "skullcrusher" type of motion at any angle without pain. Yesterday it was pretty painful to either bend or straighten out the arm, and now today it seems okay to bend, but there's still something there when trying to straighten out the arm or any kind of "pushing" motion, especially at the "skullcrusher" stress angle. There isn't any bruising, but some slight swelling.

1) I've had something like this happen during college while doing skullcrushers where my left elbow did a quick double "pop-pop" and it flared up. No bruising then either, but I had to rest it for a couple of weeks before I could get back to the gym.

2) Anyone know what that popping noise could be? I'm thinking I could just rest it again for a couple of weeks, but if something snapped there might be some long term stability issues.

[JRT6]

The popping are the ligaments rubbing on something, either each other or bone spurs. You need to get an x-ray to see if there is any arthritis in your elbow. Seriously, if you have arthitis you need to know because elbow replacements suck. Stop doing skull crushers and anything else that allows your elbows to extend away from the body.

[euphoria1]

Soft tissue work on the forearm, bicep. Wrist and forearm stretches really emphasising the forearm. The muscles tensing up or being too unflexable are causing it to pull it out of place which causes popping sounds on things like dips and benchpresses etc. It could also be an imbalance on the bicep side too so it would be benifical to build up the heads on the bicep evenly and brachialis hammer curl styles..

[johnkernstein]

i have almost the same exact problem.but i can't find anything as effective as scull crushers, any sugestions

[oziem]

with all do respect to the lady the hammer curls will probably eaxcerbate the displacement of the proximal radial head in the olecranon fossa. Why look to muscles when the joint is popping???
Sprains are tears in cartilage. They do not heal as readily as muscle strains due to avascularity.
Have someone extend the radius back into joints and forget skull crushers.
Bring the bar behind your head not to your forehead.
dr. oziem