tendonitis?

[kda082]

I've always been a split guy but started doing 3x per week, full body this April. I stay in the 4-6 set range per body part but usually the upper range when my partner shows. It was a real departure from my splits with training each part 1x per week and have made good gains, but I'm developing elbow, wrist, hand pain. I'm guessing it's lifting and doing heavier weight than my old frame can handle, but I also do lawns as a side gig to my 9-5 office job to help offset hunting/lease costs. With a wet spring and summer there has been no let up this year and this also seems to aggravate it. I know ice, but can I drop triceps and biceps for a bit and get improvement? It's not severe but I don't want it to get to severe. Lawns will die soon. I've been lifting since teens and never stopped, so don't really want to take time off now. I'm not going to a dr as they will just saw "you need to stop". Any suggestions? Maybe just drop the weight a bit?

 

[ZT3006]

My dad has bad tendonitis in his wrists and a fingers. I do not have it so I’ll be speaking from his experiences. Dropping your workouts would help your pain for everyday things but once you start working out again it may flare back up. He cannot lift as much weight anymore but it keeps the pain down. Have you thought of possibly getting a cortizone shot?

 

[Jskaanland]

If you can, go see an Occupational Therapist, preferably someone who deals with sports injuries. I was dealing with some knee issues and between the soft tissue work and specific workouts, my pain has gone down quite a bit.

 

[THBZN]

I've always been a split guy but started doing 3x per week, full body this April. I stay in the 4-6 set range per body part but usually the upper range when my partner shows. It was a real departure from my splits with training each part 1x per week and have made good gains, but I'm developing elbow, wrist, hand pain. I'm guessing it's lifting and doing heavier weight than my old frame can handle, but I also do 7-9 lawns as a side gig to my 9-5 office job to help offset hunting/lease costs. With a wet spring and summer there has been no let up this year and this also seems to aggravate it. I know ice, but can I drop triceps and biceps for a bit and get improvement? It's not severe but I don't want it to get to severe. Lawns will die soon. I've been lifting since teens and never stopped, so don't really want to take time off now. I'm not going to a dr as they will just saw "you need to stop". Any suggestions? Maybe just drop the weight a bit?

Ouch. I literally feel your pain. I injured myself working out (an increasing pull ups with weight program for climbing strength) and also going on a climbing trip too soon afterwards; the combo made for a bad mix, and injury.

One thing to be aware of is knowing WHAT you have, from a diagnosis standpoint. Here is something to consider, as per Mayo clinic site:
"The main difference between tendinosis and tendinitis is time. Tendinosis is a chronic (persistent or recurring) condition caused by repetitive trauma or an injury that hasn't healed. By contrast, tendinitis is an acute (sudden, short-term) condition in which inflammation is caused by a direct injury to a tendon."

I had/have tendinitis, as it was a single event that triggered it; the only "cure" was time off from those kinds of workouts, no climbing, etc. and it really sidelined me -- pulling my bow was out of the question, as right at full draw, that sharp bend in the elbow put strain on my shoulder/forearm, and hurt like hell. I just started shooting my bow in earnest last week because of it, which happened back in May/June.

Definitely get a professional opinion, and follow the rehab to a T -- not good news, but don't push it and end up out of the game or needing surgery.

 

[kda082]

Good advice and thanks everyone. I figure I can still do presses and squats if I have take some upper body time off. I'd love to know if the culprit is lawns or lifting, but at this point it's irrelevant. It's not severe so guessing tendonitis. Funny it doesn't really hurt while lifting.

Thought about the shot. My lifting partner is a surgery RN and gets shots from his doc all the time.

 

[Poser]

I deal with some elbow and wrist issues and lift heavy as well, but most of my problems are from mountain biking where the wrists take a beating and, from my experience m, elbow problems often originate at the wrists.

If you’re doing primary lifts (squat, bench, press, deadlift) then there really shouldn’t be any issue so long as you are using correct form.

-Make sure your your wrists are straight and not canted for bench pressing and OH Press. Do not, repeat, do not use the “suicide” grip aka “thumbless grip” aka “bro grip” for any movement with the exception of low bar squat

-make sure you aren’t getting elbow flair on those same movements. Particularly bench press and oh press. (If you’re doing dumbbell presses, you are almost certainly getting elbow flair).

-wear heavy duty wrist wraps for good measure. Elbow sleeves aren’t a bad idea

Besides that, accessory lifts and isolation movements are what will generally cause the most problems in the gym because they stress smaller muscle groups without the support of the entire body. Unless you’re lifting for aesthetics, you would likely be best served to ditch those movements entirely, including dummbells, kettlebells, machines, etc.

 

[kda082]

A lot of dumbbell work for chest, and I do go a little too heavy on preacher bicep and tricep, which I figure is one of the issues. Good with the wrists but do "bro grip" a lot. Never thought about that.

 

[Coach Chris]

Train the antagonistic motor patterns

Hand X Band - Grip Strength Tool

Hand X Band™ was specifically designed to exercise & strengthen your expanding muscles, balancing all of that over-gripping. See more at Rogue Fitness.

www.roguefitness.com

 

[hayesplow]

been reading about this and it makes my skin crawl. hope you feel better soon.

 

[Corywilson13]

Thanks for the info everyone - recently lifted my fully loaded pack with just one arm at the end of a long scouting day and have been experiencing similar pains in my left forearm/wrist since. Made a physio appointment, but the appointment is a few weeks out. Leaving for a sheep hunt in 2.5 weeks, really concerned that this will be slowing me down. Currently have pain turning a door knob or holding a knife during dinner for more than a minute. I have stopped all weight training and have switched to solely trail running and hiking to attempt to give my arm time to heal. It croaks and groans when I rotate it.

 

[njdoxie]

What is a “bro grip”? Never heard of it.


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[Poser]

What is a “bro grip”? Never heard of it.


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Thumb behind the Barbell/dumbbell instead of wrapped around. The problem with that grip is that it places the center of gravity higher in the hand and further stresses the wrists and then The elbows as a result of the wrists being canted. If you wrap your thumb around the bar, you’ll have the naturally weight centered over the bone. This is sometimes called the “suicide” grip because if you’re using this grip to bench press and your wrists fail due to the physics of improperly/inefficiently loading weight, then the bar could end up dropping on your neck (and this has happened to a few unfortunate souls).

You’ll see this grip regularly in the gym. Ask anyone that uses why they are using it and they likely can’t give you a logical answer. It’s sometimes called the “bro grip” because there is a intuitive but stupid idea out there in the world that by putting more stress on the joints, you apply more stress to the muscle groups, this growing bigger muscles. I call this idea “stupid” because you could simply place the weight over the bone, using physics to your advantage, remove stress from the joints and load more weight on the bar to stimulate muscle growth, but, alas, that’s too much logic for Bros.

 

[KY Ryan]

A wrist wrap was helpful for me when I had tendinitis in my wrist. After a month of being stubborn and trying to push through the pain, I realized I would never get better. So I simply started avoiding the exercises that caused pain. Curls and triceps extensions aren't getting you in better shape for the mountains anyways. My wife is a PT so she gave me a few stretches to do.

 

[Cockeye]

Last year I thought I had tendinitis with much pain. Went to general doctor week before elk season and had doctor shoot me up with Cortizone so I could pull my bow back. Had a great hunt and by November I couldn’t grip 12oz can. Went back to general doctor and he sent to specialist which he took ct scan and ultrasound of my elbow come to find out I had 1 major tear above my elbow and 2 minor tears below elbow. So off to see surgeon he told us surgery would have down time of 9 to 12 months. So I’m working with guy that had a tear in acl and he told me about stem cell treatment so I look in to it and it was only 3 to 4 months down time. So $7000 later they drill into my pelvis 8X and pull bone marrow out separate the stem cells and the prp’s and injected the stem cells into my tears and we decide since we had the prp’s left over so they shot those into my knees. That was February 2019 by May I had 75% muscle growth back. I’ve been back to work since May and packing up the next couple weeks to head to the mountains for elk, deer and bear and feel great. So short story if u have that elbow that never heals u might want to get second doctor “specialist” to take look before you mess it up worst.

 

[kda082]

Wow, way more severe than my issue. I've stopped "bro" gripping my pull movements, have lowered my sets on arms, and even dropped them from this weeks mid week workout. Things are improving. My issue is pretty minor compared to what some of you have dealt with. I appreciate all the advice. I didn't realize I was such a chronic "bro" gripper until this thread.

 

[Trey Arentz]

I would start by dropping all tricep workouts that call for putting weight over your head and behind your neck. I’ve had tendinitis periodically over 8 years from heavy weightlifting. Any workout that has weight that’s really unsupported by your whole arm/ back and chest. Also, l glutamine works great to keep joints tough. There another supplement I took and it actually made it go away, once I figure it out I will re-comment. I also just had to slow down on the heavy weights for a bit. Hope this helps! MSM also works.

 

[GeauxBackcountry]

You could also add daily fish oil and turmeric extract as a supplement to your daily regimen. I have abused my body pretty well in training the last 10 years and, at 40yo now, Im definitely feeling the effects. I have changed my training some but also realize that some pain is inevitable with age if I want to live an active lifestyle. You could definitely do some changes to your training and form and problems could clear up. Alot of guys dont spend adequate time working on mobility (should be a daily practice). And then the two supplements I mentioned. Alot of positive research on both of them and there impact on inflammation.


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[RTBUCKSHOT]

Most elbow tendinitis is grip related. You did the right thing by dropping the upper body stuff between now and your hunt, it will not hold you back. A BIG motor, strong back and legs of steel is what your gonna need.

If yours is tennis elbow (on the top side) when you get home from your hunt Google “Arm Aid”.
It’s a device developed for rock climbers and it will knock it out if you will follow their instructions and take your time. If your tendinitis is really bad, you cannot be aggressive with it to start with.

The wrist stuff your gonna have to not lift so heavy and maybe buy some support straps. The Rogue ones help me a lot. Nobody cares about a heavy bench press anyway.

The tendinitis is grip related, bet on it.
And any kind of pauses in a lift under tension are doubly hard on it.

Good luck on your hunt.


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[Skerhunter]

I dealt with the same issues for years. Always got worse in the summer when the outdoor work load increased (building fence/throwing hay/shooting the bow everyday). Quit doing bicep/tricep specific lifts two years ago and haven’t had any issues since. Hope you can have the same luck and be pain free!

 

[skywalkr]

Overcoming Tendonitis - Steven Low

Tendonitis is one of the most pesky injuries that can plague an athletes career, which can derail both practice and performance. This article seeks to explore the mechanisms of tendonitis and how to successfully implement a rehabilitation plan to overcome tendonitis backed by current scientific...

stevenlow.org

This is the best resource I have found on tendonitis and highly recommend giving it a read. Resting does not heal tendon issues, in fact, you want to train them (especially the eccentric) without pain. I have had many bouts myself, one time I had golfers elbow, tennis elbow, and tricep tendonitis in both my arms and I healed it all with eccentric exercises.

If you have golfers/tennis elbow I highly recommend getting a Flexbar and doing the eccentric exercises with it (YouTube should make it easy).