31.05.08
The Cure for Golfers Elbow (Medial Epicondylitis)
Oops, I missed my regular Friday Fun post, sorry. In my defence I was busy with work and down the gym for the 2nd time this week. Yep, my Golfers Elbow is holding up nicely in the face of many exercises! So I thought a round up of my treatment for Golfers Elbow was in order, including the exercises I’ve been doing etc. Sorry this is a monster post, but it’s the culmination of 6 months of my life.
A quick recap first: I have been suffering with Golfers Elbow (or Medial Epicondylitis if you prefer) ever since I banged my elbow at my brothers stag do back in September 2007. It got progressively worse over the latter quarter of 2007, culminating in me stopping attendance at my local Crossfit Gym at the end of Jan 2008. The reason was that I wanted to concentrate solely the cure for Golfers Elbow and getting better as fast as possible, as it was just getting worse. Now 4 months on, I’m well enough to go back, woot!
So, how did I do it?
The first point to note is that I tried many different Golfers Elbow treatments (pretty much all of them in fact), so I can’t say if any one was the definitive “cure” or not. All I can do is take you through the list and explain the effects, the following is in roughly chronological order.
1) Complete Rest
The first thing I did was totally stop doing anything that hurt. None of this “work through it” lark which I had been doing for 3 months. To my annoyance, that meant no more Crossfit. I did try for a bit, but soon got bored with just doing sit ups, box jumps and squats (I couldn’t even do weighted squats, just holding the bar on my shoulders hurt!).
2) Physiotherapy – Ultrasound
In the end I’ve been to 3 different physios and had 3 different sets of treatment. The first made the interesting comment that most cases of Golfers Elbow she saw, didn’t actually occur in golfers! (She also noted the same thing about Tennis Elbow.) The first trick up her sleave was an ultrasound machine, designed to promote healing somehow. I think the thing could have been turned off for all I know, didn’t really notice much apart from possibly my elbow getting hot, but that could have been from the constant manipulation of the ultrasound probe on my elbow. I had 5 x 10 min treatments of this over 5 weeks.
3) Physiotherapy – Interferon
I’m not sure this is the scientific name for it, it’s what the physio called it. This one requires pads stuck to your arm and the frequency sweep artificially activates your muscles, this one you definitely notice! Lot’s of tingling and making my whole arm twitch and move, it was quite uncomfortable at points. Very odd and very strange, there was definite movement of the elbow components, once can only hope that was a good thing. I had 5 x 10 min treatments of this over 5 weeks, at the same sessions as the Ultrasound.
4) Physiotherapy – 10 min Massage
At the same time as the Ultrasound and Interferon treatment, I had a short 10 minute elbow and arm massage. Now like the next man, I normally like getting a massage, not this one! I was poked and prodded and many many painful ways. It certainly hurt and manipulated things. 5 x 10 mins over 5 weeks again.
The argument for all these physio treatments, was to get blood into the epicondyle tendons. Apparently the blood supply to tendons is generally poor and so helping to get new blood in, aids the healing process… To be honest, that sounds like bolox to me, I’m not convinced that blood effectively sits stagnating in any blood vessel, and requires manipulation to replace it, would love for someone to tell me otherwise?
5) First Stretching Exercise
Here was the first exercise I tried, designed to stretch the epicondyle tendons: place your hands flat on a table, twisted 180 degrees to the outside so that your fingers are pointing at your body. (So twist your right hand clockwise, and your left hand anti-clockwise.) Make sure your whole hand is flat on the table, from fingers to the heel of your palm. Now by leaning back away from the table, you will feel your whole forearm muscles and tendons stretch. Stretch them as much as you can comfortably do and hold for 30 seconds. I did this 5 times a day for several months (both arms for consistency and a control test).
EDIT: Several people have got confused over this description, so here’s a picture:
6) CT Cream off the internet
Around this time I was casting about the net looking for alleged Golfers Elbow cures, and stumbled on something called CT Cream, which is a herbal cream full of the right vitamins etc that promote healing. I found lots of nice testimonials from people who claimed it had cured them. At about £15 I figured it was worth a shot and bought some off eBay. I dutifully applied this stuff twice a day for about 6 weeks… and noticed nothing. There was not miraculous cure, nor even much improvement over the time period.
It occurred to me afterwards (duh!) that there is of course no regulation to buying “medicine” off eBay, and it could have been repackaged Nivea skin cream for all I knew. Either way, I don’t recommend it and I’ve subsequently spoken to other epicondylitis suffers who tried it, with similar non-existent results.
7) Band-It forearm Band
This was recommended to me by several people on a Crossfit forum in the States, it looks like this:
and the cheapest place I found it in the UK was Sweat Band Tennis for £20 including p&p. At first I wore it during the day all day, and didn’t notice a huge amount of difference. Getting the tension right is tricky: just tight enough so that it doesn’t fall off, but not so tight that it pinches. The issue of course is that the cross section of your forearm changes, depending on what you’re doing with it.
I wore it list this for several weeks, then back on the forum, the guy who’d recommended it said it only started to make a difference for him when he started wearing it 24/7. So I started wearing it at night too. That took a LOT of getting used to, but I did wear it day and night for about 2 months in total. One of the physios I saw pointed out that wrapping something around an appendage and going to sleep was not a good idea! To be fair, I nearly lost a finger like that one Christmas, but that’s another story!
How the BandIt band is meant to work is still out for debate, I’ve heard 2 explanations: A) It relives the pressure on your tendons, allowing it to heal. B) It constantly stretches your tendons (seeming the polar opposite to (A)) which means that normal use is easier. All I can say is, it was around the time that I started wearing it day and night, that I first started to notice an improvement in my elbow. Not much, but some. Each week didn’t seem to hurt quite as much as the last.
It was late March I think and I had started to turn the corner.
8 ) Acupuncture
Around the same time, my first physio recommended that I try acupuncture. Clearly things were not improving very fast and acupuncture does seem to work for many people. I’ve always shied away from it in the past, chi and energy lines and stuff, just doesn’t fit too well with my western scientific mind. However I was prepared to give anything a try (see CT Cream above for example) so had 2 acupuncture sessions in the end.
If you read my posts at the time, you’ll know that acupuncture hurts! Well it did for me. Maybe it was because it was in the arm, wrist and elbow and I had to look at it, I don’t know. I do know that I soon learnt that when the (now 2nd) physio said “Does it hurt?” I had better reply “Yes, that’s a sharp pain.” or she’d come and grind those needles in further until she was sure they did! When the 2nd session left me with debilitating pain for the rest of the day, I called it quits on the acupuncture front, and was glad of it. My verdict: Acupuncture is an exercise in pain only and a waste of time for treating golfers elbow.
9) Physiotherapy – Remedial Massage
Now on to my 3rd physio, I started going for weekly remedial massage. These were 30 min sessions of massage (3x what I was doing with the first physio) and didn’t hurt quite as much. Whereas the first physio enjoyed really shoving her fingers into areas of pain, this remedial massage was of a slightly more therapeutic nature. Did they help? I have no idea, but I did enjoy them. Certainly the most enjoyable of all the physios I visited. I went 4 times over a 3 week period and (in combination with the exercises below) each week felt better than that last.
10) Golfers Elbow Exercises
Along with keeping up with the stretching, the 3rd physio gave me a list of exercises to do twice a day. The regime was this:
- Heat the elbow with a wheat bag for 10 minutes
- With an empty dumbbell bar (weights 1.5kg) do 10 palm up wrist curls, with back of forearm resting on your leg and hand jutting out past your knee.
- Reverse the hand so palm is down, and do 10 reverse wrist curls i.e. back of hand is raised, again forearm rests on leg.
- Keep the arm resting on your lef, grasp the dumbbell bar at one end, and tilt the bar back and forth from the horizontal on the left, through 180 degrees, to the horizontal on the right, and return. Do that 10 times.
- Setting the dumbbell bar aside, form a circle with the tips of your fingers (make your hand like a claw) and wrap an elastic band around the outside of your finger tips. Now try to stretch the elastic band by spreading your fingers out wide, maintaining the circular shape. Do this 10 times.
- End by cooling the elbow with an ice cube.
These exercises were tough to start with, but I soon moved up from 2 rounds of 10 of each exercise, to 3 rounds of 10, then 3 rounds of 15, all twice a day still. I also did all this with my good left arm too, partly as a control test and partly so that I was exercising my body evenly. I actually soon ditched the final icing of the elbow, which was far too uncomfortable, with a 2nd heating with the wheat bag.
These exercises were done twice a day all through April and May. I also added another once I had worked up to 3 x 15 of each:
- Tie some string round the middle of the dumbbell bar and wind up about a meter of it, like a yo-yo. At the other end, tie a weight. I used a 1.25 kg weight and that was more than enough!
- Grab the dumbbell bar at each end with both hands, and just by moving your wrists, unwind the weight (you may need to stand for this) until all the string is paid out and the weight is at the bottom.
- Now keep winding with your wrists in the same direction so that the string winds on the other way and the weight rises up from the floor to your hands. This is surprisingly hard!
- Finally reverse the process completely.
- Do this for every round of the above set of exercises, so 3x in total, twice a day.
11) The Zone Diet
Throughout all this I’ve been on the Zone Diet, which if you believe the hype is a naturally anti-inflamatory diet. I can’t tell you that it made a difference but I can provide 1 bit of evidence: at Easter, I basically threw the diet out of the window for 2 weeks (hey, it was Easter!) due mostly to the consumption of large quantities of chocolate. And yes, it DID make a difference, I definitely noticed that my elbow felt worse during those 2 weeks, until I went back on the diet. Coincidence? Maybe, but I’m a Zone Diet convert, so I’m not so sure.
12) Fish Oil Supplements
I also take a high dose of fish oil regularly. That’s 2.5g of high grade, super refined, EPA/DHA per day. Note not 2.5g of gross Fish Oil, but 2.5g of the good stuff in it, the EPA and DHA. For most high street off the shelf fish oil, that would be about 10 capsules a day, because it’s such poor quality. In fact, I can’t find anywhere in England that sells stuff I’m happy to take, so I import mine from America. And the funny thing is, it’s actually cheaper that off the shelf stuff here!
Anyway I can’t say that it made a difference or not. I did try upping the dose to 5g per day for 2 weeks but didn’t notice any change. I include it here for the sake of completeness. I personally believe that fish oil is an important part of our diet, fundamental to our evolution into homo sapians and vital to long term health, but that’s the subject of another post some time.
Finally Getting Better
Throughout April and May, I was definitely getting better. Each week I noticed my elbow hurting less and less just in normal use, and when doing the movements that would always bring me pain (making a fist was a good typical one) it took more effort to induce pain in the elbow than before. But what was the Cure for Golfers Elbow?
If you speak to people who’ve had medial epicondylitis, or read up about it on the web, you’ll find 2 interesting facts:
- Everyone eventually gets better, whether that be 6 months or 18 months later.
- There is no consensus on a golfers elbow cure.
So here’s my take on it: If you have golfers elbow, providing you don’t continue to aggravate it, you will get better… eventually. There are several things you can do to help the healing process. It’s likely, that when you do decided you’re fixed and the treatment has worked, whatever you were doing last, will be what you reckon cured you. For me, I saw no benefit to the main stream physio, CT Cream or acupuncture. But I did see improvements begin around the time I was wearing the BandIt band 24 hours a day, and saw weekly gains whilst getting remedial massage and doing twice daily sets of exercises at home.
One potentially interesting point, is that I’ve got better pretty quickly. Most people say 6 – 18 months, and I’ve heard as much as 24 months to heal. Whilst it’s been 8 for me, I only started doing anything about it in Jan, so only 5 months since the start of treatment really. In the scheme of things that’s a fast cure for Golfers Eblow.
Where am I now?
Now at the end of May, 8 months after I initially hurt my elbow and 5 months since ceasing all elbow related exercise, I feel able to go back down the gym and restart Crossfit again. I’ve possible left it later than the earliest possible moment I could go back, but then I’m not yet 100% better either. I’d say currently I am 95% cured. I say this because I still feel slight twinges occasionally.
For example 5 x 30Kg Shoulder Presses on Tuesday I could definitely feel in my elbow and so didn’t go heavier. But I can row and knock out pull ups, wall balls, kettle bell swings, dumbbell push presses, all without any pain, albeit currently with much lower weights than I have been used to. That’s ok though, I’ve been patient enough for the last 4 months and will continue to be. I’ll take it easy and build back up slowly. I expect to be 100% back to normal and going for new Personal Bests in about 2-3 months time. Hopefully just in time for the Crossfit Certification at Manchester in September.
I also hope to improve my Clean & Jerk and Snatch enough to compete in the Northern Masters Olympic Weightlifting competition in Feb 2008 and fingers crossed, qualify for the British Masters a few months later. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. To be honest, I’m just glad to be back down the gym. 
Darrell said,
June 6, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Can you explain again how to do the stretch exercise you mentioned? It doesn’t seem possible to do as you instruct: “place your hands flat on a table, twisted 180 degrees to the outside so that your fingers are pointing at your body. (So twist your right hand clockwise, and your left hand anti-clockwise.)
Colin McNulty said,
June 15, 2008 at 9:24 am
Sure Darrell. Start with one hand, let’s say your right:
- Stand in front of a table.
- Place your right hand flat on the table.
- Twist clockwise, keeping fingers and palm on the table.
- Keep rotating until your fingers are pointing at your legs.
- At this point your arm will be straight and you will be standing up, leaning over the table.
Hurting said,
August 1, 2008 at 3:45 am
Just wondering how your elbow is now two months after you wrote this. I have golfers elbow too. Been resting completely for 2 months and I feel I have a lot longer to wait before I can lift again.
Good New and Bad News said,
August 3, 2008 at 5:57 am
[...] bona fide Personal Best down the gym on Saturday. Not just a 2008 PB as I rebuild backup to my pre golfers elbow issues, but for the first time this year a lift that beats my previous best in 2007 too. I was doing Push [...]
jose said,
August 14, 2008 at 10:18 am
Great reading Colin,thx.You just saved me from wasting money on a quick cure out the internet. I feel pain for 1 month.I think i know exacly when and how i damaged this tendon.By the way,i am a professional massage therapist since 1996, and the 6 people a day for a one hour treatment 6 days a week for sure is not helping.But anyway you just won your self 1 or 2 massage treatment whenever you visit Estoril Portugal.It makes much sense to me all you said back there.I have a rather broad and deep experience in bodywork… just to tell you that you might like to start to look at exercise in terms of quality as opposed to quantity…. thanks so much Colin José 00351 964725666
Colin McNulty said,
August 14, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Glad I could help Jose. Hmm a free massage or 2 is attractive, but as I’ve never been to Portugal, I think you’re time is safe.
Crossfit is a great Quality over Quantity regime, you should try it. Just to be clear, it wasn’t exercise that gave me golfers elbow.
joe said,
August 21, 2008 at 3:30 pm
my arm has been messed up for a loooong time now. oi recently started physical therapy and have been going 3 times a week for the last 3 weeks but my arm actually feels worse than it did. im starting to think it will never heal or will require surgery. has anyone else experienced more pain before getting better??
Richard said,
August 23, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Colin– I am suffering from same ailment. Thanks for your prescribed routine. Question: what fitness program did you follow during these four months to avoid complete loss of upper body or other conditioning? RW
Colin McNulty said,
August 24, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Joe, it was months before I started to notice improvement, and it got worse before it got better.
Richard, I ran a few times a week. When I went back to Crossfit however, I soon discovered that running is no substitute for exercise! Lol
jeremy resnick said,
August 31, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I’ve had medial epicondylitis for 2 weeks after trying out a new forhand grip in tennis after going to watch the Championships at Wimbeldon in July. Started copying the pro’s and hitting really hard full swing shots and now am paying the price! The tennis serve at full extension with wrist and 2-3rd digit flexion really aggravates.
Your advice is most welcome, but it doesn’t mention corticosteroid injection which has a high success rate at least in the short term. This I learned from true tennis elbow which I had last year. I hope I have stopped my tennis early enough to prevent a stubborn injury.
Getting an injury can be a message to try another sport temporarily.
I wish you all success in the weightlifting.
Jeremy
Colin McNulty said,
September 5, 2008 at 7:38 am
Hi Jeremy, thanks for the comment.
Ironic that you get Golfer’s Elbow playing tennis, lol !
If you only suffered it for 2 weeks, you were lucky and definitely caught it in time. I didn’t mention corticosteroid injections for 2 reasons:
1) I didn’t try them so didn’t have an opinion.
2) As you point out, they are short term pain relief only.
As I understand it, corticosteroid injections artificially suppress the body’s inflammatory response (Dr Sears of the Zone Diet has some comments on this subject) which alleviates the pain, but doesn’t treat the underlying cause of the problem. Whilst such injections may be required for an injured professional athlete trying to get through the next Wimbeldon round say, I took the view that I didn’t want to mask the symptoms and press on regardless, in case it made matters worse.
For the same reason, I didn’t take aspirin.
steve said,
September 22, 2008 at 7:16 pm
hi, i have had ge now for about 5 months – very annoying since i am a tennis player. I think original cause was old weight lifting injury aggravated. Anyway i tried everything you did (and more) – with no results. About 6 weeks ago I had MRI taken which showed 2 tears (one high grade). Not good. At that point stopped everything and had to move – lift heavy boxes etc.. but tried to be careful. Anyway after moving a friend told me of a chiropractor using a class 4 laser (K laser) and said she had great results with a neck injury. Amazingly my elbow is feeling really good after 3 treatments (actually felt much better after 1st treatment). I will get another MRI at end of month and see if any improvement but i know it will be much better.
Colin McNulty said,
September 22, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Wow, laser surgery for golfers elbow is certainly at the more radical end of of the spectrum, but I fully understand where you’re coming from. I got to the point where I was prepared to try anything, hence the accupuncture. I’m glad for you that you’re on the road to recovery.
Rob said,
October 22, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I also recently realized I had Medial Epicondylitis. I think it was from upping my weight lifting regime very quickly. I thought it would be good to put everything I had into it and thought I was getting stronger but apparently I screwed myself over : / Just sucks that I also have runner’s knee which I have to wait a month and a half for the VA to give me PT sessions(active duty injury). No medical insurance is a bitch. I feel like a vegetable.
Thanks for your advice though, I’m gonna pick up some 10lbers and try the exercises!
Wessley said,
November 6, 2008 at 12:13 am
Hi to everyone… just one question, when you wore the bandit, did you take it of for the exercises? does anyone know? I’ve had this condition for over a year and I really donn’t know what to do anymore. Greetings
Colin McNulty said,
November 6, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hi Wessley, No it didn’t wear the BandIt arm band during exercise, simply because by the time I got round to trying the BandIt, I had already decided to stop all normal exercise. If you’ve had golfer’s elbow for over a year, I’d suggest you try 3 months off too.
Or if you mean during the remedial exercises above, no I didn’t wear it then.
Wessley said,
November 12, 2008 at 4:16 am
Hi Colin, thanks for your reply. I’m trying what I read here in your post, because of the great results it has given you but, have a few questions:1.how long after you started using the elbow strap did you started remedial exercises? 2.for how long did you wear it? (I’ve heard 21 days is tops) & 3. how tight did it have to be?(did your forearm turn purple?) he.
before hand, I thank you, and I wish the best to everyone here. peace.
Colin McNulty said,
November 12, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hi Wessley, It’s taken over a year to get back to virtually 100% (I still occasionally feel it when lifting very heavy weights, but it doesn’t limit me anymore) so I wouldn’t call that “great results”. Everyone gets better it seems, it’s just a matter of time.
1) I don’t remember to be honest, I don’t think it was that relevant, possibly a month.
I took it off during exercise as I was uncomfortable with how tight I needed it to be to keep it in place.
2) About 2 months in total.
3) Tight enough to hold it in place throughout the day and night. My forearm didn’t turn purple.
brian said,
December 3, 2008 at 2:35 am
Colin-
did you have pain that travelled into wrist, forearm and hand as well or was it always just in elbow? I’ve had mine for 2 months and no improvement
Colin McNulty said,
December 3, 2008 at 6:16 am
Hi Brian, no it was just near the elbow. The symptoms you describing could be symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or some other “squeezed nerve” type ailment. I suggest you go see your Doctor or phsyio.
Anita said,
January 23, 2009 at 1:39 am
Hi Colin,
Thanks for sharing….I had a question. Did you ever do deep friction massage on the tendon area (at the elbow)? Did this help? I’m about 2 months in and have started doing exercises with the 1 lb weights.
Anita
Colin McNulty said,
January 24, 2009 at 8:57 am
> Did you ever do deep friction massage on the tendon area (at the elbow)?
Hi Anita, the honest answer is, I’m not sure. Certainly the massages I had were rough at times, but what constitutes a “deep friction” massage?
Steve Kole said,
February 3, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Colin,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve been struggling with medial epicondylitis (“ME”) since October 2006. Not sure what caused it. Can’t do much with my left arm. Curls are the worst. Not being able to work out is depressing. X-ray and MRI negative. (In the past I’ve also had false negative MRI results for back, shoulder and hip, all subsequently repaired with surgery. I’ve found MRIs to be useless.) For the ME I’ve tried two cortisone injections and Voltaren Gel (Novartis). These only worsened my condition. I’ve also tried a wrist splint with seemingly no effect. I am doing wrist curl exercises. I also did them as part of my workout before I was injured. I’m going to try a forearm strap because it seemed to work for you. I’m trying to avoid surgery, but becoming desperate. I’ll let you know if the strap works for me.
Colin McNulty said,
February 3, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Sounds like you’re having a terrible time of it Steve, sorry to hear that. AS I understand it, Corisone injections only mask the symptoms anyway, they are not a treatment towards a cure. Hope you get some results soon.
joe said,
February 26, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Oh man…I’ve been suffering from golfer’s elbow for 6 months and counting. I’m a pro fighter so I have no choice but to use my arm almost every day. I am icing my elbow 3-4times a day along with stretching and massage therapy for it. I hurt it doing a crossfit pull up workout..I’m hoping it will get better even though I still train with this terrible pain
Colin McNulty said,
February 27, 2009 at 6:42 am
I hope it gets better for you Joe, I understand how you feel. I continued for months with it getting worse, before deciding to take drastic action and stop all elbow related exercise.
Even now, some nine months since I was well enough to go back, I still occasionally get small bouts of it again. Just this week on Wednesday for example, my elbow was hurting for no apparent reason which didn’t help the clean & jerks I was doing at all. But next day, it was fine again.
joe said,
February 27, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Thanks Colin, and thanks for posting your rehab it is a big help for a lot of people who are suffering from this
Darron said,
February 28, 2009 at 11:48 am
Interesting blog. I am on my second round of Golfers Elbow, the first time lasted 6 months and this time I am up to 4 months and it is driving me crazy. I have tried everything in this Blog. Has anyone had any success with Cortizone shots??
Colin McNulty said,
February 28, 2009 at 6:26 pm
My understanding is that Cortizone shots provide short term relief of symptoms and are not a treatment for the root cause of the pain.
jeff said,
March 9, 2009 at 2:01 am
Okay for the past month I have been soaking my arm in a warm tub of epsom salt 2-3 times a day for 10-15 min intervals. After I soak my arm, I perform strength work and stretching specifically for my injured tendon. Then I either ice it for 10 min or heat again. This has had a dramatic effect on my golfer’s elbow. I have almost no pain in my elbow, and I have regained much of my strength back in my arm. Before starting this treatment, I had pain and weakness everyday for about 6 months. I’m thinking my arm should be at full strength in another few months of this rehab. I only wish I would of started this rehab 5 months ago. Hope this helps out
tasos said,
March 13, 2009 at 3:17 pm
hi guys,
I suffer ME from Oct 2008, one day I realized that I had an elbow pain for some days at the Barbell Bench Press and the Biceps Curls. Especially at the Chin-Ups I could perform not even one due to pain. My doctor suggested me rest. At first I avoided only the excersises that caused me pain, later I quit gym. No improvement. Tried some pills (biofenac and some else, I don’t remember)-no effect. He suggested me cortisone-injection and that in 3-4 days I would be perfect, and if no, I should have one more in a month. I told him I don’t want just to ease my pain, but total cure. he told me it was about a total cure. I did it, I was better not in 4 but in 10 days, and after 2 months i started gym again. at the time i started, i had no pain, but my left elbow wasn’t exactly like the right (the healthy one). i decided to be very careful and I was. After 2 weeks, I performed Biceps Curls. Nothing happened, but next day I realized pain in my left elbow again. I quit gym again, but the pain is worse than 3 months ago, and not improving. I started laser, I have already 2 meetings, but no improvement (and it’s too expensive). He told me i need at least 6-7 treatments (and that cortisone is only a contemporary relief for athletes who must recover quickly). also, that it happened that to me because i did minor distentions: flexibility first, then strength-which i think is true. We’ll see…
PS. I love gym so much too
Steve said,
March 16, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Tasos,
Here is a link to an article about ME. I have had ME in my left elbow since Oct 2006 and I am now thinking about surgery. I will report my decison and results.
Steve
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1231997-overview
Tasos said,
March 20, 2009 at 7:33 pm
on Monday 16/3/09 i had the 4th meeting, and since now nothing changed. today the doc stack on my arm a kinesio tax tape but i refused to have more laser (it costs me 40e/20′). if nothing happens with it, i’ll go to a chiropractic in a near village. the flexibility-stretching exercises seem to me childish.
MJ said,
March 24, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I’ve been ’suffering’ from M.E. for about 2 months, now. ‘Don’t do that’ , pain meds and Motrin have NOT been helping.
I’ve been working at the exercise you suggest here….and wonder at what level of pain I should stop.
I was originally told to wear a brace which, as you say, is difficult to gauge the tension. But like you said, loose enough it doesn’t pinch – tight enough it doesn’t fall off.
After the first week, I began to experience numbness in my pinky and ring finger. Dr assumes I’m wearing brace too tight and orders me off the brace.
The tingling not only persists but gains a 110v quality to it.
I’m not asking for medical advice- but you’ve dealt with golfer’s elbow for a long time. Is this anything you’ve experienced?
Colin McNulty said,
March 24, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Jeff: One of the issues with golfers elbow is that it’s a tendon problem and tendons have poor blood circulation. Alternating heat and cold as you were doing is a good way of forcing new blood into the tendon (so I’m led to believe) which can speed up healing. I’m glad it’s working for you.
Taso: It’s sad for you, but interesting generally, that the laser treatment hasn’t worked well for you. What exactly are they lasering? (If “to laser” is indeed a verb?!?) Sorry, I can’t really comment on the ME bit.
MJ: I’m no Doctor, but I’d ask for a second opinion. A tingling finger has many causes, but I believe that Medial Epicondylitis is not one of them! The most obvious first guess is that it’s possibly a trapped nerve.
jeff said,
March 26, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Colin yes your right thats what I had heard about poor circulation into the tendon, but hot and cold does seem to be working for me.
MJ, it sounds like you have some kind of nerve impingement from prolonged inflammation of your tendon. I had the same problem. What you need to do is nerve excercises that release the pressure on the nerve. You have to do these exercises everyday and in a few weeks it should subside.
There is a site called injury rehab advice, they have all the excercises on there
Tasos said,
April 7, 2009 at 8:54 pm
i ve heard for the low blood pressure at that point too. only cold hasn’t helped me, i dont know if hot+cold will. laser is an apparatus like a laptop with various heads that sends signals till 1cm under the skin, and helps blood pressure and awakes the body to recover itself. totally painless-totally unhelpful
2 weeks ago i went to the chiropractic, he pushed my arm in a way, a crack was heard and he told me that the two major bones in my arm was not fitted but then ithey did. but the pain is still hear. these days i ll try physiotherapy.
Eli Dale said,
May 10, 2009 at 7:44 pm
1 PROLOTHERAPY treatment
will take care of your golfer’s / tennis elbow problems
and will not weaken tendons unlike cortisone.
You want a permanent fix to elbow issues ?
PROLO is the way to go. strengthen / fatten up those tendons.
Cat said,
May 25, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Hi there – thanks Colin for this detailed info. I am 4 months into the total rest + physical therapy (ultrasound, electrostim, massage) as well as stretching and strengthening exercises. Although the pain is much improved the slightest bit of work irritates it greatly. I’m giving the acupuncture a go – for every Colin there’s someone else who says it was the only thing that helped them so, nothing to lose. Wish me luck.
Anyway, wanted to mention something about injections. First, I have heard from some people that it can in fact speed the healing – I got a whole scientific/chemical explanation why – but anyway, there is some thinking that it doesn’t just mask the pain. BUT I have also been told by more than one physio that injecting the medial epicondyle is much more risky than the lateral (tennis elbow) because it’s so close to the ulnar nerve. If they hit the ulnar nerve it may burst, which sounds painful. Something to keep in mind.
One other thing I haven’t seen mentioned here: my physio said that grip strength is very important for prevention. The injury is often caused by gripping tightly while engaging the forearms (as when swinging a golf club or, in my case, pulling on an oar) so a stronger grip means less pressure on the tendon when doing this. So while I wait for the magic cure I am squeezing a little grip strengthener several times a day.
Good luck everyone!
Colin McNulty said,
May 25, 2009 at 7:50 pm
>pulling on an oar
Thanks for the comment Cat. I see you actually have “rowers elbow”!
The thing to find solace in, is that every story of golfers elbow, ends in a happy ending. Everyone gets better eventually, it’s just a matter of time. Good luck for a speedy recovery.
don hollinger said,
June 21, 2009 at 11:38 pm
My comment on Eli Dale post regarding “Prolotherapy”.
Please expound on your post. Have you tried Prolotherapy? Do you know of others who did?
Thanks,
Don
Gary Ward said,
July 14, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I have suffered with the medial epicondylitis problem for years. One thing that has helped during arm exercises is to do them hammer style with my palms facing each other. For instance, if I do bicep curls with my palms facing up, my elbow will give me problems. But, if my palms face each other it seems to take the strain off my elbow and I have minimul problems.
A little side note on the accupuncture: I have been told that when you start feeling pain, that is when it has started working.
Thanks folks for all the information.
Alex said,
August 6, 2009 at 12:46 am
Even though this injury sucks It was great to see so many people who have experienced what i am experiencing and to know that there could possibly be light at the end of the tunnel.
I have golfers elbow in both my arms, ( right way worse than left, i’m right handed)
I have had 3 cortisone shots in my right one. and it is still no better ( only temporary relief like you mentioned)
I’ve done physical therapy and ive tried acupuncture. which i thought was helping but then one day the lil chinese guy tugged on my arm real hard and i feel like my right elbow is back to square one.
Every time I feel like im getting better i feel like somehow it comes back.
What i really want to know is when can i continue or start to do exercises to strengthen it. if im in pain now do i wait till the pain subsides or can i do strengthening exercises now and ice and heat .
I don’t know if im re injuring it or its just not going away. I used to be a 5 day a week weightlifter who hasn’t lifted weights since december and im starting to feel depressed. its very frustrating and i feel like it will never go away. I have heard about this prolotherapy and am also considering trying that.
Pretty much what im asking is what should i do at this point to start my healing process. Like i mentioned i was doing better and then this guy (accupunture) tugged on my arm (two weeks ago) and still it hurts. what things should i avoid and how can i heal this problem and get back to being in the gym again. can i do this exercises now even though its bad or do i wait
Any advice would be great.
Colin McNulty said,
August 6, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Sorry to hear your story Alex. It’s hard for me to advise you, but I know where you’re coming from. I tried to just scale back my exercise for months, but it got worse and worse. Eventually I gave up all arm exercise for something like 3 months and only went back when it started to get better.
All in it was still 12 months, and even now, another 12 months later, I still occasionally get some discomfort, but only when I do repeated and heavy exercise that stresses my elbow in a particular way. My personal feeling is, take the hit, stop the exercise and it will get better faster. If you continue to exercise whilst it’s not obviously on the mend, you only prolong the problem.
Joanne Young said,
August 27, 2009 at 1:06 am
I have had golfers elbow since Dec. 2008. I go to the gym regularly and now only work out my legs and abs. I went to the doctor and they gave me a cream with capsicum in it. I’ve iced it forever. I am an artist that paints and sometimes I feel it if I paint too hard. I mainly feel it when I vacuum, clean the counters or do a spin class at the gym. I am now doing acupuncture, ultrasound and interferon and doing exercises the chiropractor told me to do. I’ve worn a band but not the one you have. I will get the one you recommend for 24 hours. Thank you. This is the first good information I have received. I will give it a go.
Nancy said,
September 1, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Thanks for sharing all your stories – I thought I was at my wits end with this pain that I have been having for the past 3-months as well. Can someone explain what is Prolotherapy? And, Colin, do you know of a website that shows pics of the excercise you discribed? I too have seen chiropractors, PTs, Masseuses, had 2-cortisone shots, ice, heat, 600mg Ibuprofen daily, and AM just plan tired of it – so it sure makes me feel assured realizing that this is “normal” and WILL get better – I was shocked to read how long it may take though when both my PT and Sports Med Dr. say 6-weeks…I think I’ll look into that band – what the heck.
Colin McNulty said,
September 1, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Good luck Joanne.
Hi Nancy. Sorry I don’t have a website with the exercises, they were given to me by my last physio.
Michael Klein said,
September 7, 2009 at 3:13 am
I’ve had ME for two months. As a bodybuilder it pains me to train around it but that is what I’m doing on doctor’s orders. He said as long as I don’t work that tendon it’s okay to workout.
Gary – you are correct. I cannot do palm up dumbbell curls yet, but hammer curls I can do at full strength.
ME effects a major major tendon. It’s easy enough to know when you can train around it. For instance, it does not effect me in anything other than Biceps and Back exercises. Many of those bring in that major tendon. While pushing exercises really don’t use that tendon. I took off completely the first two weeks of the injury. Now I’m just going to keep training carefully.
They do not do cortisone injects for ME. It’s a high risk for tendon rupture. If you are having a cortisone for this I would get a serious second opinion.
Best to all.
MAK
Jill Dains said,
September 14, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Hi, I have had golfer’s elbow for 4-5 months now and no change! A trainer told me to try Boswellia…ever hear of it? A Chinese herb that I am going to try. Can you tell me where you purchased your high-grade fish oil?
My job entails my using a computer for hours at a time. Clciking the mouse even hurts my elbow. I have been teaching my left hand to do the mousing with some success. Did yours hurt doing that?
Also, I am having no luck trying to grasp your exercise. I know this has been asked and answered, but my fingers don’t ever point to my legs as I twist my right arm clockwise. They just point outwards (away from my body). Am I doing this wrong? I should be twisting my arm as well, correct? Or just my hand?? Sorry, I must seem stupid, but I can’t quite grasp it…any pictures?? Thanks for ALL your help/suggestions. Glad I found your post!
Jill,
Warsaw, Indiana
USA
Colin McNulty said,
September 14, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Hi Jill,
I didn’t get pain whilst using a mouse, but using your other hand is a great skill to learn. It takes a while but allows you to completely rest your hurt arm.
Re the stretching exercise, obviously I’d suggest you seek professional advice if you’re at all unsure what you’re doing. Try this, start with your hand pointing straight down, fingers together, and twist so your knuckles are facing you. Slowly put your hand down, finger tips touching first and pushing your palm away from you. Take care not to over do it!
Tony said,
October 17, 2009 at 6:41 am
Colin,
I damn near thought I was reading a post from myself when I googled “medial epicondylitis” and came upon your blog. Mine started after I torqued my elbow wrecking a scooter on a vacation in Bermuda a couple of years back, eventually subsided, then came back with a vengeance when I began Crossfit. My wife says, “just take some time off from Crossfit”. Sure, easy for her to say. My coach is training me to compete on our affiliate team, and possibly to go to a regional qualifier to try and qualify for the 2010 games as an individual. So, while I should be taking it easy, I only find myself going harder. I am definitely going to try and be more diligent, per your own experience and advice, with stretching and strengthening exercises. And thanks, I’ll bypass the crazy creams.
I have found that the number one Crossfit exercise that aggravates the area for me is kipping pull-ups with a traditional overhand grip. I have found that switching to an underhand grip alleviates a lot of the pressure. But when you are doing “Angie”, or another WOD with 100 pull-ups, it really doesn’t matter what the hell kind of grip you use, your just happy if the skin hasn’t ripped from your palms.
And finally, I have to agree with you on the Paleo diet, as well as the fish oils. I realize that your healthcare system “across the pond” is different than here in the States, but a couple of months back, my physician wrote me a prescription for Lovaza. It is marketed by Glaxo Smith Kline here in the US, and is nothing more than a highly purified 1 gm fish oil caplet. If you have the availability of this product, and your prescriptions are not cost-prohibitive, I highly recommend getting your fish oil this way. To get the same quantity and quality of fish oil from a decent supplement manufacturer, it would cost me about $100 (US), but instead I pay less than $20.
Colin McNulty said,
October 19, 2009 at 8:29 am
Hi Tony. Fish oil on prescription?!? How did you pull that off? I’m not aware that such a thing is even possible in the UK, nor what complaints I’d have to go to the Doctors with in order to get such a prescription. Good luck on the Crossfit qualifiers, I hope your elbow sorts itself out soon.
Cat said,
October 29, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Wow this thread just goes on and on! I thought I’d give an update – I’m the one with ‘rower’s elbow’ who was about to try acupuncture back in May. In addition to the needles, the acupuncturist recommended a Chinese herbal supplement called ‘bone and sinew formula’ which she said ’stimulates the body’s ability to repair tissue’. I did 2 months of weekly acupuncture and this supplement, while continuing the stretching strengthening exercise but otherwise resting completely. Then spent a month on a work trip total rest, no needles, and very sporadic stretching/strengthening. At the beginning of August I got in a boat and started rowing again. Took some care with it, taped it with kinesio tape, iced it after every practice, and by September it was like new. Someone asked me about it today and I realized I hadn’t thought about it or had any pain in it for weeks – with regular, intense rowing.
My gut feeling is that that herbal remedy did speed up the healing, though I guess it could have just been a matter of needing that much more time to heal. But maybe worth looking into when the 6 weeks is stretching into months. I have to support Colin’s repeated advice though: in the end it comes down to resting it as long as it takes, and when you try coming back to activies that stress it, take it S-L-O-W and back off immediately if it worsens.
Colin McNulty said,
October 29, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Hi Cat. It does rather doesn’t it, I appear to have hit a nerve with this post, pun *intended* haha! …. sorry, I’ll get my coat.
Thanks for coming back and posting an update. It’s great to hear that you are over it and back to normal, that’s really pleasing. Whilst it’s very tempting to (to me anyway) to think that it would be a good idea to try one remedy at a time, I feel it’s probably the right thing to do to try as many as possible in the hope that some, or just one remedy, speeds up the process. Time and rest is the big healer I think though.
Still, it’s good for people to hear that everyone gets better eventually. Hope is a surprisingly important aspect to many walks of life. Thanks.
Yash said,
November 4, 2009 at 1:24 am
Awesome thread!!!!! I had ME in both elbows somewhere around Aug 2008. I tried physio therapy, icing, NSAIDs and at last cortisone shots in May 2009. My right elbow seems to be working fine now but i just noticed a pain again in my left elbow. I got an X-Ray done and the doc told me that apart from Golfers Elbow I might also have Bursitis. I have to get MRI done now and after that this doc will suggest something. He did give me some signals that cortisone shots might be the best treatment. Looking at the thread I still cant figure out the perfect treatment for this condition or may be different things worked for different people.
Please keep us updated if you have revived from the pain.
Patti said,
November 5, 2009 at 4:02 am
Wow, I wasn’t expecting this thread to go on quite so long. I have had Golfer’s Elbow since August 2008. I started with PT, since I was already in there for my Tennis Elbow in the same arm. I ended up getting the TE injected, and continued with therapy on the GE. As it continued to worsen, I endee up having a Nerve COnduction Test since I was losing the feeling in my ring and pinky fingers. All signs kept ponting to GE. Finally I gave in and had it injected. That shot lasted 3 weeks, not what I was looking for! After trying therapy one more time, I ended up having surgery in April 2009. Anyone who ends up going that route just know it is a VERY long and slow recovery. It’s now been 7 months, and although I’, not totally pain free yet, I can do my job without pain. Anyone who has questions about the surgery let me know. My tendon was torn, and EXTREMELY painful. I am trying a few more things just to get it the rest of the way healed!
Yash said,
November 6, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Update – My MRI was ok and the doctor finally concluded that I have GE only. He suggested cortisone shot but I was reluctant as I already had one 4 months ago and its just a temporary solution. I told him that I am gonna try RICE for 2-3 weeks. He gave me Voltaren Gel to apply on the elbow three times a day. I also asked him about surgery but after listening to him I felt that I’ll keep surgery as a last option. My pain is between Mild and Moderate. I am still looking for other options like Chiropractic or ARTS. Did anyone get any relief through Chiro or ARTS?
@Patti- Can you tell me how much did the surgery cost you?
Patti said,
November 7, 2009 at 3:45 am
Yash thankfully with insurance I paid under $500, this was without all of the physical therapy. Use it as a last resort for sure! I don’t regret doing it though! Good Luck!
Ronnie said,
November 8, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Hey Colin, great post. I’m a professional guitarist. In relatively good shape (due mostly to genetics, I’m afraid, not exercise) A few years ago I bought a new and expensive guitar that I did not realize took a little more effort to play. I fingerpick with my right hand, and I was having to ’squeeze’ ? extra hard for the sound to come out. When you get a new instrument, you tend to practice more than you used to. presto: golfers elbow! I own some clubs but they are covered in dust. A couple of years ago I had a case of tennis elbow in my left arm (my fretting hand) I eventually went to my doctor, I think the third time, and she gave me a cortisone shot in my elbow. The shot was painful, and after my doctor got up she said it would be fine in the morning. I apologised, she was right. I was. She gave me a bunch of stretching exercises that helped somewhat, but I have actually found your palm on the table stretch seems to be the best thing I’ve tried. I’ve started working out. Feels good. I believe the secret is preventive maintenance. Stay strong. Thanks for the post.
Mick Byrne said,
November 9, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Hey Colin,
Not been down to Crossfit Manchester this month, I seem to have picked up tennis elbow. I think its because I have been trying to learn kipping everyday for about 2 months!
Just had 3 weeks rest and not really helping, think I may try a Band-It, do you think its worth a go?
Well annoyed I picked this injury up, just felt like I was getting somewhere with my olly lifts. Oh well I guess its time to learn double unders and build a plyo box.
Cheers,
Mick
Yash said,
November 9, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Update- I am using Band-IT since my last injury and definitely its the best band out of 2-3 different kinds I have tried. It takes pressure off your stretched/inflammated tendon while you are doing your daily activities.
Colin McNulty said,
November 9, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Hi Mick. Sorry to hear that. The key to remaining injury free I think is to not over do it, i.e. not focusing on a single exercise too much. 3 weeks in though… I’m sorry to say it was a year for me to get back to 99%.
Mick Byrne said,
November 10, 2009 at 8:52 am
I agree: “routine is the enemy”, just wish I had paid more attention instead of getting obsessed with learning something.
Yes I am being slightly optimistic but I think thats the best way. I think it takes so long to heal because its so difficult to rest it. Gripping anything aggravates it.
I have ordered a Band-It so will see how it goes.
Cheers,
Mick
Jeffrey said,
November 11, 2009 at 10:31 pm
This is is some extremely helpful information. Since summer I noticed some very light tenderness in my left elbow (I am right handed) when I pressed it into an arm rest on a chair for example otherwise there was no pain. I bike a lot, about 6 hours a week from March to October, and think the road buzz from the street may have contributed to the slight discomfort.
I also do kettlebells but never noticed much pain from that. In late October I started doing pullups in between my kettlebell clean and press ladders with a 20kg kettlebell. I’m not great at pullups and am sure that overdoing it on pullups lead to some shooting pain in my forearm in the same workout a few minutes later while doing clean and presses. I’m 40 and pretty active and know that as soon as I feel pain the best thing to do is to stop so I quit doing the pullups and clean and presses and am just doing getups instead. Swings do not bother me at all, snatches will and I am not going to do them either.
I have some Ironmind Grippers but those are a definite no-no. For now, I am trying to work around it. It really is not painful any more but I know that unless I take it easy I could get that forearm pain again.
For rehab I’ve been trying rubber bands at my fingertips to work the extensors, stretching, and the light weight wrist extensions in pronated and supinated position.
Steve G said,
December 10, 2009 at 1:10 pm
G’day Colin and fellow sufferers.
Now, I consider myself fairly intelligent, but for the life of me I cannot figure out or make sense of your rotate-your-palm-on-the-table-stretch-excercise.
Can you pleeaase have one more go at an explanation, maybe making reference to horizontal and vertical planes, an in relation to the front or side of the body?
I too am now relegated to leg, core and cardio excercises, having ME due to heavier back excercise without first having further strengthened my forearms.
Another train of thought by my physio is that an old shoulder injury leaving it forever weaker has brought other muscles into play during certain excercise that wouldn’t have normally been called on if the shoulder was at full strength. Along with some of the excercises listed in this thread, she has suggested rotating my forearm arm laterally in the horizontal plane away from my body, keeping my elbow firmly tucked in to my side, against a rubber chord held with my other hand to improve shoulder strength.
It’s a work in progress, I’ll see how it goes…
The Chinese Bone & Sinew Formula sounds interesting, in that comments found speak of it’s ability to counteract blood stasis which seems to be a common consensus of opinion regarding tendon damage and medial/lateral epicondylitis. Might see if I can find some of that here in Oz.
GuiltyCol said,
December 10, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Hi Steve, I’ve uploaded a picture and edited point (5) of my original post above.
Adam said,
December 21, 2009 at 12:59 am
Prolo was the only thing that made any difference for me. I’ve tried everything!
I had golfer’s elbow in both elbows for 7 years. Tried everything and kept giving up. After 3 rounds of injections I had about 95% relief.
To date, I’d say I’m 99% pain free. I feel a twinge every now and then and do some extra stretching and give myself a massage when it comes on. I now lift heavy weights at the gym again and am pain free.
I still:
- massage my elbows before and after exercise
- stretch for forearms every day
- take fish oil (6 to 9 a day)
- take 10-15 grams of MSM every day.
Good luck. Prolo is the answer you seek.
Yash said,
December 31, 2009 at 1:26 am
Update – I had no option but to take 3rd shot of cortisone. The doctor has asked me to give my elbow a complete rest for 2 weeks. I dont know what else to do. Shall I go for physical therapy, prolo or chiro?
Nick said,
January 4, 2010 at 4:39 am
I have what might be a comparatively ‘mild’ case of golfer’s elbow since no damage is visible on an X-Ray. However, once this has gone away, I’m sure I’ll be rather gun-shy in terms of using the weight machines (i.e. not free weights) at the gym although I’d like to get back into that. Is there some kind of accepted formula in terms of how much not to press in comparison to the weight one was doing before this happened? Put the pin up two or three blocks? I have no idea.
Mick said,
January 14, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Anyone tried this?:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Orthopedics/Orthopedics/15048
Sounds interesting.
Yash said,
February 5, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Update – I tried 8 session with ART chiropractor with no success. ART is Active Release Technique.
@Mick – I might receive a green Theraband Flexbar today. This is my last hope before I go for surgery. I will update Flexbar results soon.
Probably in sometime I would as well start a consultancy on Golfer’s Elbow about ‘What not to try’ … lol
Mick Byrne said,
February 17, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Yash:
Flexbar is definately working for me. I have done 3×15 with the red one three times a day for maybe 6 weeks and pain has significantly reduced. I have just bought the blue bar and am starting with that.
Yash said,
February 18, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I tried 8 sessions of ART (Active Release Technique) and it didnt work for me. It did work for the chiropractor’s pocket
.
@ Mick – Thanks for sharing. I just do it 1X15 one time a day with green bar and surprisingly it has shown some positive affects.
I will definitely start doing 3X15 just like you. Immediately after Flexbar I cover my elbow with an ice pack, probably that helps.
Mick Byrne said,
February 19, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Yash,
I just checked the study and it says do 3×15 once a day.
I am going to stick with 3×15 for 3 times per day because I am getting such good results. I am using the blue bar now.
I am still wearing my Band-It most of the time.
Mick
Kathryn said,
February 25, 2010 at 4:31 am
Hi Mick,
Great website. Just some info for your readers. I used to wear the BandIt brace for my left elbow but found it uncomfortable. My hand therapist at the Curtis National Hand Center here in Baltimore switched me over to one made by Bioskin. Talk about incredibly comfortable. I don’t even know it is on. So if folks can’t tolerate or don’t like the hard plastic pad on the BandIt they should check out Bioskin.
Kat
Yash said,
March 2, 2010 at 10:26 pm
@Mick
.
You know what, since the day I read your comment about Flexbar 3×15 3 times a day I started the same routine and it has given me amazing results (I said amazing cuz I have tried almost everything with 0 results).
Yeah I am also wearing BandIT most of the time. it has now become a part of my body
Thanks a lot.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Are you doing any kind of strengthening exercises or is it too early to start?
Donna said,
March 4, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I have a case of golfer’s elbow in my right arm that I’ve had now since the middle of January. I was doing pull ups one day and injured my arm and that’s when I realized finally that I had tennis elbow. That was back in late September/early October. I thought that I could just ignore the injury and keep working out. Of course, that didn’t work. I had a cortisone shot in November. I even had physical therapy for it. Everything had been fine until I went dancing (yeah, dancing of all things) in January and I was shagging and doing the jitter bug…having an awesome time really. The next day is when I realized I had re-injured the same arm, but this time is was medial intead of lateral. So…now I’ve had my second cortisone shot. I’m afraid to work out and use this arm now because it seems as though once it’s been injured, it is easy to re-injure. Any thoughts?
Colin McNulty said,
March 4, 2010 at 7:36 pm
> I’m afraid to work out and use this arm now because it seems as though once it’s been injured, it is easy to re-injure.
That is definitely true. Fortunately there are lots of solutions on this thread for you to try whilst it gets better. Good luck.
loretta hoolmaa said,
March 6, 2010 at 12:27 am
I have suffered for years with golfers elbow. I also tried every remedy under the sun but to no avail. In the end i had surgery which i have to say has worked very well.
I now have no pain but will need physio which is a small price to pay.
AB said,
March 6, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Do you guys using the Flexbar have golfers elbow or tennis elbow?
The webiste doesn’t really indicate golfers elbow, and I am wondering how it would work on medial epicondylitis.
I have had mine since July ‘09 and looking at PRP treatment or ASTYM. Had a cortisone shot in October and then reinjured playing basketball.
MRI just shows swelling, no tears. The thing just feels bruised all the time and no power in curling anymore.
Dale said,
March 9, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Whew! That was a long thread.
I’ve had GE in both elbows at least twice. I think I’m on my third time with my left elbow right now. I’m not sure if that makes me an expert or a fool. For me, the cause of the injury was heavy pulling exercises, such as lat pulldowns and barbell curls. Unfortunately, there is no easy cure. Each time it took me months to heal and would not do so until I stopped re-aggravating it with exercise. Once it has healed to a certain point, though, I did try to train around it, being sure to wear a neoprene sleeve for extra protection. I found that hammer curls aggravated it less tban regular curls, and dumbell rows less than lat machine pulldowns. The pullover machine was also a good alternative for lat work, as the upper arm pads bear the weight, not the hands, forearms, or biceps. The real key is prevention: warming up thoroughly, increasing weight gradually, and not going super-heavy or doing any jerking movements. A steady diet of wrist curls helps, too. Unfortunately, I always get greedy and try to do too much.
Very informative post. Thanks to all.
Yash said,
March 9, 2010 at 9:37 pm
@Donna – I have had 3 cortisone shots and I would suggest you not to get anymore cuz its a temporary fix and going forward it will make the tendons weaker. All you need to do is pamper it like a baby, give rest and try Flexbar (that has helped me the most – read my posts). You may want to ice it 3 times daily and if possible take NSAIDs under a doctor’s administration. If its new then physical therapy might help but otherwise I have all my doubts.
Wear a BandIT band if possible.
@AB – Yes I have golfer’s elbow (now I have started feeling tennis elbow too
..). Again, I would not suggest any further cortisone shots. Its kinda hit or miss … for me it was a “miss” three times… you can search the flexbar exercises on youtube as well. You must stop any kind of weight training. I didn’t and that is why I am suffering since 1 and a half year.
BTW, although I am slowly improving GE I have somehow started feeling TE now
, its quiet frustrating.