Elbows cracking like rice krispies!

cormie

For years now my elbows have always been cracking. I've mentioned it to the doctor, physio etc and am told it's nothing to worry about but it's gotten a good bit worse lately. It really only happens if I'm in the same position for a long time, so when I'm sleeping, sitting doing something with little arm movement etc but I'd have to wake up a few times a night (albeit only for a second or two) to stretch the arms out as I feel I need to crack them. Some cracks are also very loud.

About a year ago now I was driving with the window down and the cold air coming in made my elbows a little sore.

Also what I believe is most probably unrelated, in the last few weeks my left arm has some muscle pain on the triceps I think, that say if I'm in the drivers seat of the car and put my left arm to the back seats, without turning my body, it hurts, then if I pick something up from the back seat, even a small bag it hurts quite a lot. Say for example going into an AIB branch, with the doors you have to close behind you, even pushing it closed with the palm of my left hand will make it pain.

This has been the case with my left arm for maybe 2 months now and about a month ago, my right arm developed the same thing after waking up one morning

I go to physio every couple of weeks for general tension release as I've had back and neck troubles and the physio certainly helps loosen it up but it gets bad again soon after as I play basketball and a job that involves a lot of heavy lifting, neither of which I can or want to give up. Funnily enough, it doesn't hurt at all playing basketball, unless I throw the ball a certain way, get involved in a tangle with a player, or defend a ball where I don't catch it properly and it kind of stretches the arm a little. Also when working, it doesn't pain and all to lift something, say the way you'd carry a cabinet between two people, or to carry boxes close to my body, or a few black sacks but as soon as I try extend my arm up with any kind of weight like the black sacks, it gets painful and I can't.

I'm also thinking maybe the fact I'd be lifting a lot of heavy things with my hands stretched, that this mightn't be good for the elbows if it's stretching the ligaments etc.

Has anyone else experienced this and any suggestions on ways to improve the cracking or pain?

Any feedback appreciated

Hanley

...I have a theory (what's new).

The majority of your work is done gripping and carrying stuff right?

If anyone came on here and suggested working their biceps and not their triceps, or their chest and not their back, or their quads and not their hammies, there'd be out cry and warnings of elbow/shoulder/knee pain. BUT when someone talks about training grip strength, which is effectively what you're doing, no one ever mentions the importance of opening your hand against resistance to maintain balance.

Anecdotally, this seems to cure a lot of elbow pain. And intuitively it makes a lot of sense.

So the solution... http://ironmind-store.com/Expand-Your-Hand-Bands153-10-Bands/productinfo/1376/

I think I'm gonna go order myself a pair now too!

Hanley

...FFS that advice is after costing me €100 on Ironmind, and I'm not done yet :mad:

Doug Cartel

Hanley wrote: »

...FFS that advice is after costing me €100 on Ironmind, and I'm not done yet :mad:

http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/pb/Office-Depot-Rubber-Bands-Size-88-12-x-180-mm/pr=Q27&id=980524/ £3.79 ex VAT

Also you could try using a bucket full of dried peas.

Hanley

Doug Cartel wrote: »

http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/pb/Office-Depot-Rubber-Bands-Size-88-12-x-180-mm/pr=Q27&id=980524/ £3.79 ex VAT

Also you could try using a bucket full of dried peas.

The Ironmind ones are actually super cheap - $12 for 2x pairs of 5 bands with varying resistance.

..it's the other sh*t I'm buying that's killing me. UGH!!

The dried peas/bucket of sand one is another good tip.

Doug, I'd imagine with Judo this is a common thing too? Would what I've said tally with your exp on fixing it or anything else you guys go?

Doug Cartel

The dried peas/bucket of sand one is another good tip.

Doug, I'd imagine with Judo this is a common thing too? Would what I've said tally with your exp on fixing it or anything else you guys go?

Are you asking if the bucket of peas is common, or the pain in the elbow?

I don't think using peas is that common to be honest. It's one of those things that people keep saying is good, but I don't know if anyone who says that is actually speaking from experience.

Most of the problems people get from gripping are sore knuckles, and the main way of dealing with this is a combination of tape and just being smarter about how you take grips. I don't think I've ever heard of someone getting a sore elbow from gripping, but I have gotten elbow injuries that made gripping difficult. I can only wildly speculate about the link between the two.

Doug Cartel

BTW Cormie, when you told your doctor/physio about the elbow clicking did you tell them it was causing pain? Clicking without pain is not considered to be a problem, but as far as I know clicking with pain is treated differently.

Hanley

Doug Cartel wrote: »

Are you asking if the bucket of peas is common, or the pain in the elbow?

I don't think using peas is that common to be honest. It's one of those things that people keep saying is good, but I don't know if anyone who says that is actually speaking from experience.

Most of the problems people get from gripping are sore knuckles, and the main way of dealing with this is a combination of tape and just being smarter about how you take grips. I don't think I've ever heard of someone getting a sore elbow from gripping, but I have gotten elbow injuries that made gripping difficult. I can only wildly speculate about the link between the two.

Pain in the elbow and common solutions in Judo!!!

...the more diverse my experiences become, the more I realise there's a lot of wisdom to be gained from people that deal with these things on a practical level day to day.

Doug Cartel

Hanley wrote: »

Pain in the elbow and common solutions in Judo!!!

To be honest, in my experience it doesn't go much further than ice and ibuprofen.

Brian?

Doug Cartel wrote: »

To be honest, in my experience it doesn't go much further than ice and ibuprofen.

Hanley is probably on to something in fairness. Although I'm not sure cracking elbows is actually a problem.

I recently spent almost 3 months rehabbing my elbow, twasn't pleasant at all.

One of the exercises I did involved doing a finger spread in one of these buckos:

http://www.physiosupplies.com/fitness/Hand-Therapy-Web-Trainer.html

Not that different to the bands Hanley posted.

cormie

Thanks a lot for all the replies! I'm not sure if I did mention that there was slight pain in the elbows but to be honest, I only feel pain if they need to be popped, it's more a discomfort than pain though and the time I had the windows open driving the van and felt it was more discomfort too, maybe because I had my arms in the same position for hours driving.

I'll order some of them bands anyway, unless that pinky thing above would be much better?

cormie

Arghh, just went to order them bands and the shipping is working out more expensive than the bands themselves, hate when that happens!

The Guvnor

Crepitus - noisy knees but same for elbows.

If pain then not so good if no pain then not so bad.

Good advice above especially the extensor bands.

I found my elbows cracked more if I was doing more heavy benching for example.

Basically when I took two years off the gym (almost!) no cracking at all.

I used to get it in the morning when holding my massive bowl of cereal in my hand - like lockjaw (kind of) then straighten and pop but mine sounded like all the rice krispies going off at once!

Now the elbows don't click as much but then my benching is lighter now atm.

cormie

Oh yeah, just to clear any confusion, the sound is more like a fun snap going off, rather than a bowl of rice krispies constantly making noise :P Them bands seem to have some great feedback, wouldn't have thought something so simple would do the job. I'll try keep them by my side when I'm at the computer, driving, playing poker etc Just have to find them a bit cheaper before I order!