Anyone suffered from tennis elbow?

brit66

My right elbow has been hurting for well over a year - and getting worse - I got it confirmed from the doc the other day that it is tennis elbow (was worried it might be arthritis).

Anyone had it and found a good cure?

ratsbeyfus

Are you leaning too heavily on the bars? This can happen for a variety of reasons (e.g. your seat is nose down.)

brit66

I don't think it's bike-related because I don't spend hours in the saddle like some on here. I think my setup is okay too.

However, I do spend a lot of time training in the gym - mainly weights and erging (rowing machine), plus other activities like archery.

I'm going to try anti-inflammatories but I know there's no guarantee these work.

mike23864

I developed tennis elbow after upgrading my squash racket. Unfortunately the handle was too narrow and the racket too light. I had steroid injections in mine three times (your GP should be able to do this, its a 5 minute job) with varying degrees of success. An operation to release the tendon cured it permanently.

brit66

Did you go private for the op or did the NHS feel sorry enough for you to do it?

I really hope I don't need to go down that route.

tiny_pens

Yeah had tennis elbow. It will normally heal naturally with rest. The problem is that when it heals it often heals tighter than before so is more prone to getting injured.

My doctor showed me some stretches to do whilst the tendon was healing (you can probably find them on the internet - theyre basically wrist stretches).

In my case it took probably about 6 months to be fully healed (pain went after a couple of weeks but I got a few reoccurances) and now I can play raquet sports again without needing to wear a sports support.

Hope this helps. If in doubt see a doctor or physio. They should be able to advise you.

jamesy0rk

That's nasty! I had it in both my arms a few years back, one of which ended up with surgery. Some tips:

1) See a good physio to learn how to stretch it, and help get the inflamation down
2) Anti-inflammatory tablets (diclofenac side effects feel wose than the tennis elbow)
3) A good elbow support http://www.return2fitness.co.uk/
4) Learn to grip things with your palms rather than your fingers. Takes some thought and practice to unlearn what you are used to, but this significantly reduces the stress on the tendons in your forearm. This was probably the biggest single factor in my rehab, and in stopping it reoccuring.

Not sure if you're roadie or MTB, but MTB will be pretty harsh on your tendons every time you pull up on the bars. Even now I have to do a good tendon stretch before, during, and after.

Good luck

dennisn

jamesy0rk wrote:

That's nasty! I had it in both my arms a few years back, one of which ended up with surgery. Some tips:

1) See a good physio to learn how to stretch it, and help get the inflamation down
2) Anti-inflammatory tablets (diclofenac side effects feel wose than the tennis elbow)
3) A good elbow support http://www.return2fitness.co.uk/
4) Learn to grip things with your palms rather than your fingers. Takes some thought and practice to unlearn what you are used to, but this significantly reduces the stress on the tendons in your forearm. This was probably the biggest single factor in my rehab, and in stopping it reoccuring.

Not sure if you're roadie or MTB, but MTB will be pretty harsh on your tendons every time you pull up on the bars. Even now I have to do a good tendon stretch before, during, and after.

Good luck

+1.... What he said. I've had it 2 times in my left arm. Didn't hurt constantly, but every now and again just pushing a door open would give me a jolt (for lack of a better word). Never did associate it with any particular activity and have known more than a few people who have suffered with it who weren't athletic at all.

"jamesy0rk" How do you stretch that tendon?

mitchell_inman

I also got it playing squash. Got to the stage I couldn't grip things.

Rest, ibuprofen and physio cured it for me, but took 6 months or so. Not had any recurrence and still do some of the stretches.

Velonutter

I had it in both arms and it was crippling, Doc told me the only sure fire way to fix was to apply Ibuprofen cream for a full month 4 times a day, it worked and have never been troubled since with it.

Pokerface

I thought I had tennis elbow once, but the doctor just told me I was a w@nker. 8)

brit66

Thanks for all the responses - very useful.

I didn't know that gripping things with your fingers instead of your palms might be a cause or exacerbate it.

I do archery and recently I've been using a longbow with a 100lb draw weight. The effort of pulling it back with three fingers is enough and the shock that goes through my arms is huge. I suspect this is the most likely cause.

I'll start with ibuprofen and buying some sort of elbow support from the website link provided.

richk

I've also got it in the left arm about 6 months ago.

Doc said to take ibuprofen/cream & it 'should' clear up itself. Boss is an ex-physio & showed me some stretches. All helps but hasn't gone completely.

Doc hadnt heard of it being common in cyclists so didn't think that's the cause :?

beverick

No but I've got cricket balls.....

jamesy0rk

For the benefit of "dennisn" and anyone else who wants to know how to stretch a tendon, this is what I was taught:

Method 1:
- Hold your arm out straight and taught in front, with palm down and hand out flat
- With your other hand gently easy down the outstretched hand at the wrist (keeping the arm locked) until you feel the tendons going taught and hold it for a bit. Like any stretch do it gradually and listen to the feedback of your body (god I'm sounding like a physio).

Method 2:
- Hold arm down and taught toward the floor, and move it backwards
- At the same time rotate it inwards
This gives a much gentler stretch than the above and is quite good during rehab as you can do it discreetly at work

Hope that makes sense? Kind of hard to describe in words.

dennisn

jamesy0rk wrote:

For the benefit of "dennisn" and anyone else who wants to know how to stretch a tendon, this is what I was taught:

Method 1:
- Hold your arm out straight and taught in front, with palm down and hand out flat
- With your other hand gently easy down the outstretched hand at the wrist (keeping the arm locked) until you feel the tendons going taught and hold it for a bit. Like any stretch do it gradually and listen to the feedback of your body (god I'm sounding like a physio).

Method 2:
- Hold arm down and taught toward the floor, and move it backwards
- At the same time rotate it inwards
This gives a much gentler stretch than the above and is quite good during rehab as you can do it discreetly at work

Hope that makes sense? Kind of hard to describe in words.

interesting - thanks - hope I never need it but as I get older everything seems to want to bite me, so to speak.

gjcknocker

I've had surgery in the left arm and now have it in the right arm. Discovered that if you massage the sore spot for five minutes, it's painful but believe me ,it works. In my case the gels did not have any effect.

mike ives

Currently suffering from it in the right arm. It was really painful originally but is now starting to ease a little after 3-4 months. I've been taking anti-inflammatroy tablets and used a neoprene elbow support. I think the support has given the most relief.

Accidently caught it on a door at work the other day and nearly went through the roof with the sudden excruciating pain.

My tennis elbow was brought on by weeding in the garden when the ground was dry.

Hope yours eases soon.

Chiggy

http://www.ehow.com/how_7344187_treat-p ... elbow.html

Chiggy

http://www.ehow.com/how_7344187_treat-p ... elbow.html

menostig

Yes. Got a trials bike, played on it for 6 weeks, learning the basics like track stand and endo into backhop. Those repeated endos are perfect for breeding 'trials elbow' as i think of it - being highly repetitive front-brake squeeze, unweight rear wheel, pull up front wheel sequences! Got to now get better. So frustrating when I was just making progress and stabilising out the back hops.