Avoiding Tendonitis of the Elbow

[Jerry Bargo]

I know nothing about training but want to become knowledgeable about how to take better care of my tendons and joints. Anyone know of some good references? Anyone here qualified to give sound advice?

[haas]

Petzl just put out a book about how to avoid injury, as well as how to recover from one. I haven't read it personally, but it has been getting good reviews. It's called One Move Too Many by Hockholzer & Schoeffl. You can find it here http://www.mgear.com/pages/product/prod ... tem/772087

[marathonmedic]

Check these out.

http://www.redriverclimbing.com/viewtop ... tendonitis

http://www.redriverclimbing.com/viewtop ... elbow+pain

[Saxman]

The "Training for Climbing" by Horst is great for training and injury prevention. Tons of good info.

[captain static]

To avoid elbow tendonitis from climbing you need to do pronator exercises. Give me a ring and I'll tell you all about it.

Static

[Lateralus]

yoga has really helped my elbow and shoulder tendonitis. Most of it comes down to working opposite movements compared to climbing as mentioned. Back bends are one of the best. Unfortunately, one other thing that really helps tendonitis is..












no climbing

[Wes]

Alieve and pushups/dips/wrist curls are all you need to know to prevent or heal elbow tendonitis.

When those don't work, it is time to quit climbing for awhile and just drink.

Wes

[Alan Evil]

Is tendonitis different from hyperextension? I've hyperextended my elbow twice (once with judo the other playing frisbee... how embarrassing) and it sucks. It takes forever for it to heal. I've had to sleep with a pillow on my right so that when I roll over that way my arm stays bent or it wakes me up.

[marathonmedic]

Yep. Very different.

[Texas Pete]

I would have to say that all or at least most of my tendon injuries have occurred because I was not paying attention to the warning signs. These days I always do a self-assessment before going out to climb or train. One of the easiest things to do is to take a finger and gently probe on or rub the suspected areas searching for sore spots and tight tendons/muscles. In my experience the two usually seem to occur together to some degree. If you have rested overnight and find bowstring tight muscles and tendons the next day, suspect that you’ve got trouble. Its better to rest another day or more until the tenderness and tight muscle symptoms have healed. Ice and anti-inflammatories such as the ever-popular ibuprofen can help speed the process, but you have to give them time to work. Give yourself at least 12 hours after a 400mg dose of ibuprofen and ice treatment and then reassess the area. 24 hours if the dose is 800mg. If you’re still tight and sore another dose of ibuprofen and or ice along with another rest day seems to help me. I just repeat this until the symptoms go away. In recent years this has worked to greatly reduce my downtime. This practice has for me prevented moderate strains from becoming full-blown injuries requiring more drastic measures. For a while I substituted Celebrex for the ibuprofen but with the recent bad press I’ve quite using it for the time being. You are your best judge. You know what you have put your body through. You know if you have worked yourself very hard for your present condition. Practice some discretion and you can avoid big problems.

Do some type of easy to moderate warm up relative to the main event. That will go a long ways to preventing serious problems or exposing problems not already apparent. Don’t pull hard on stuff your not well conditioned to pull on. If you grab the micro crimper and start to feel muscular, joint, or tendon pain, let go of it before pulling to hard. Recognize that stuff like that can hurt you. Instead of committing all your weight to it all at once gradually load holds that require 150% to hold onto. If it feels to tweaky let go and go do something else. Be kind to your body and it will be your friend.