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Christy, look at what whadam-something-or-another wrote about that... it does definitely work.... i was having a lot of problems with it until i incorporated the wrist curls and reverses into my lifting schedule....

I have been plauged with elbow tendonitis for many years. For me it is brought on by too many pull ups and push ups. I have tried the wrist curls, they work as long as I slack off the ofending activity. I even tried the elbow straps. The straps do something, but, I am not sure it is a good thing.

Experience with other soft tissue injuries has taught me that if I cam get blood to the problem tendons without damaging the tendons that nothing but good will come of it.

I have always thought that assisted pull up machines were for whimps who could not do real pull ups.

Two years ago I humbled myself and used one of those machines. I had just overdid it with the pull ups and was suffering with entense elbow dendonitis. The gym I had just joined had an assisted pull up machine. A light came on in my little brain. To make a long story short here is what I did. I lowered the resistance until I could do 4 sets of 20 reps each without any pain. I did this about 4 times per week for about a month. I slowly increased the resistance but kept the reps high. If there was ever any paing I backed off. This all took place during a winter. During the last month I increased the resistance and reduced the reps until I was donig 4 sets of 10 reps each (my normal load). I could have and can do more, but, when I do I am asking for trouble. That was the end of my nagging elbow tendonitis that has been with me for years.

The reduced resistance and increased reps heated up the joint in such a way that did not hurt anything. My elbows and shoulders felt really good and strong through the whole thing.

I just started doing bench presses, shoulder presses, and dips again. Combined with some rest and VERY light climbing, my tendonitis went away in no time.


MJ

I had it in my right shoulder.
Doc said to lay off all the hard work, ie working out, building, and climbing.
Gave me those silly rubber bands for stretching exercises which I did as often as I could.
It went away and I feel much better, but I don't know if I will ever get my motivation to work out as intensly again. Which sucks. Maybe I am just lazy.

Changing jobs has done wonders for all my aches and pains. Not gone but not constant anymore.

I found that extra doses of glucosamine in your daily diet works wonders!! I use the e-mergency vitamin drink mix with added glucosamine about 3-4 times a week. Daily pills can be found as well. On occasion taping above and below the elbow (putting just enough pressure on the tendons) helps to prevent some of the strain. The pain and inflammation has decreased substantially since last summer.

Basically, you do reverse wrist curls, with a fairly heavy weight, and instead of curling the weight back up, pick it up with the opposite hand, so as not to engage the muscle so much.


I'm not sure I've got a clear picture of what you mean. Do you mean instead of curling the weight back down, pick it up with the opposite hand? Or are you doing a full wrist curl then doing one with the other hand and alternating? Are you doing the wrist curls with a full range of motion from wrist hanging down to wrist pointing up, or from wrist straight to wrist pointing up?

Forearm on knee... palm up. Start with the weight at the top of the motion (forearm flexed), and let it down slowly, your fingers uncurling as it lowers. Then pick it up with the other hand, so as to not engage the muscle. Repeat.

Thanks. I'll try that.

I used to have horrible elbow tendonitis. I'll have to try these reverse wrist curls..

But for me the key was to do very extensive warmups everytime I climbed. And to stop climbing hard whenever I had a flareup, followed by ICE.

I used to use a lot of anti-inflammatories, and they help a lot, but warming up and icing afterwards did more than anything else. I also did a lot of pushups. All of the overuse type injuries I've ever had went away by working opposing muscles.