Getting over injury...

Show1989

Hi folks,

I'm a keen gym goer and have been for the last couple of years. 26 yo guy who is generally fit. Naturally, an ectomorph and it takes me a while to pile on the muscle. My gym schedule is generally 3 upper body days and 2 lower body.

Unfortunately about 5 months ago, I injured my elbow and forearm and have been cursed with tendonitis since, which has developed into tendonisis (chronic tendonitis). Basically a really sore elbow and forearm which was aggravated by even holding a pen.

I've tried everything-- took weeks (and weeks!) off upperbody weights, ice, rest, anti inflammatory gel, Glucosamine & Chondroitin Complex, straps, phsyio etc

I *hope* i'm at the tail-end of it now as i've been doing a rehab exercise regime for past few months but just wanted to see if any other folks had gone through the same issues as me with injury and how they avoided it happening again.

Cheers!

Hanley

Did you do any finger extension work at any point?

...weird Q I know.

Most of what we do in the gym involves gripping stuff (deadlifts, pulldowns, curls etc etc) so those muscles (the flexion ones) get really strong.

But the poor old extension based muscles never get any loving.

As a result you end up with an imbalance, and out of the imbalance comes injury.

Things like reverse curls, reverse preacher DB curls, or jaming your hand into a bucket of rice with your fingers together and trying to open them out once in could be worth adding into your program in future.

rustynutz

I had similar problem to yourself, gym goer, got a severe dose of tendonitis, (MRI showed a tear in the tendon) I spent about 12 months doing physio which gave some relief but the only thing that finally cleared it up after 18 months was a cortisone (steroid) injection straight into the tendon, the relief was unbelievable, pain was gone inside a week, and thankfully nearly 5 years later it hasn't bothered me since. Very important to get someone skilled to inject it though as I had a previous dose years previous that the cortisone didn't help

Show1989

rustynutz wrote: »

I had similar problem to yourself, gym goer, got a severe dose of tendonitis, (MRI showed a tear in the tendon) I spent about 12 months doing physio which gave some relief but the only thing that finally cleared it up after 18 months was a cortisone (steroid) injection straight into the tendon, the relief was unbelievable, pain was gone inside a week, and thankfully nearly 5 years later it hasn't bothered me since. Very important to get someone skilled to inject it though as I had a previous dose years previous that the cortisone didn't help

Ah ok. Good to know man. I'm with a good physio now so will see how it goes over next few weeks. Can i ask where you got it done and did you return to training straight away?

rustynutz

I was with the Sports Clinic in Castlebar, the physio shares his practice with a very good surgeon who administered the shot. I tried rest and found it didn't make much difference, as you know there is very little upper body excersises that can be done ( without causing massive imbalance) that don't effect tennis elbow.


I asked the surgeon could I start training straight away after the shot and he oked it, I was training again inside a week. I have since then seen the value is stretching and have found I don't pick up as many niggly injuries as I did when I neglected mobility and stretching, something to consider also.

Show1989

rustynutz wrote: »

I was with the Sports Clinic in Castlebar, the physio shares his practice with a very good surgeon who administered the shot. I tried rest and found it didn't make much difference, as you know there is very little upper body excersises that can be done ( without causing massive imbalance) that don't effect tennis elbow.


I asked the surgeon could I start training straight away after the shot and he oked it, I was training again inside a week. I have since then seen the value is stretching and have found I don't pick up as many niggly injuries as I did when I neglected mobility and stretching, something to consider also.

Ok thanks man. Really helpful. I'm back training upperbody but only on 7-10KG, thanks to my physio. Gonna do stretches and a proper warm up set(s) from now on.