Tendonitis in the elbow?

[Waternut]

I'm sure plenty of people have or have dealt with this issue. Over the last couple years, I felt a little bit of pain that I could cure fairly quickly with some flexbar usage. This last summer, the flexbar didn't really seem to help very much and it progressively got worse. Granted I didn't use it with any kind of strict regime but I never have in the past either when it helped.

 

What worries me more than the pain from skiing is that it's just as painful now if not more so and it's almost February and I stopped water skiing about 3 months ago with the 4th month being very light and infrequent skiing. I have been doing some snow skiing, mountain biking, and a few trips to the rock climbing gym. So I haven't completely quit using my elbow but again....nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Any ideas? Do I need to get serious about the flexbar or should I go see a doctor about this? If this keeps up, I won't be doing much skiing when spring hits.

[jjackkrash]

I battle tendonitis all the time. My understanding is that it is related to inflammation. Any steps you can take to reduce overall or local inflammation may help. ART therapy might help; a cortisone shot might help; ibuprofen might help; limiting specific movements might help; supplementing with fish oil or curcumin might help; icing and heating might help; etc. Just make sure you don't let it get out of hand, because tendinitis can be a bear if it really takes hold.

[DmaxJC_ski]

I ran through almost a 2 year battle in both wrists (flexer tendon) it was brutal, it was a direct effect of my job. I taped, wore boxing wraps to work, cortisone, relaxed, you name it, I was submersing my hands in hot water ( as hot as I could handle without burning myself ) for 3 min, then switching to ice water for 1 min, hurt like you wouldn't believe but got the blood flowing, do it as many times as you want a day. I felt like it made a big difference. I'm not sure what really ultimately fixed it but I'm thankful it's gone. I was in so much pain it would wake me from a dead sleep. Good luck!

[cragginshred]

I made this vid a while ago to share with guitar player and rock climber buddies. This is what we would would do in the PT clinic for this stuff. Shared here before, hopefully helpful

[MarkM]

3 years ago I had tendinitis in my right elbow so bad that I couldn't wash my face without agonizing pain. I put up with this pain for several months. My doctor prescribed some prednisone and the pain went away within four days and has not returned since.

[ozski]

I'm suffering through this now. Down to 1 or two sets a week, I don't think resting it made any difference at all, mine is the Golfers elbow variety. Drugs seem to help but not cure the problem.

[SQuartly]

I feel your pain…. Ive had the same issue for years. The ironic part is that I get it in my left elbow from Slalom in the season and my right playing squash in the winter. Have you tried changing handles? I moved on to a handle with a much larger diameter (largest I could find) and it really helped. I also heard of people with the same issue moving to smaller handles with the same result. Im not saying it will cure it %100 but I'd say for the sake of borrowing someones handle for a couple of sets could be worth a try?

[skiep]

I had the same thing last year (very bad pain) Golfers elbow. Tried larger diameter handles, Bent handles etc; What I found out was when sking I was bending my arms ,didn't think I was but was pulling in just enough to cause the problem. Try making sure you're arms are stright and see what happens. Film your ski sets!

[ozski]

I agree but coming off the ball its hard to avoid taking the load with slightly bent arms. Its exactly that hit that creates the issue for me. If I stay around -28 / -32 I can live with it, going shorter than that I'm taking a few harder hits and it lets you know... Testing Arnica gel for the next week or so... http://www.arnicare.com/arnicare-gel/ Would be interested to know if anyone else has tried this.

[Waternut]

Yeah it's definitely the bent elbow that caused the problem in the first place for me.

 

I've used arnica gel in the past for swelling but honestly didn't really notice a difference.

[The_MS]

Off season pull ups and chin ups will prevent.

[MarkM]

Get the prednisone!

No, drugs are not always the answer.

But it works.

 

[DmaxJC_ski]

Anything you can do to reduce swelling of the tendon and increase the blood flow will speed up the healing process.

 

When I was down at @Swini ski school Whitney just got a deal with a product called muscle care, it's an all natural roll on type absorbine, it is absolutely unreal, I couldn't lift my arms in the mornings, roll it on first thing and had enough relief to ski by 9 am.

[mylemsky]

@DmaxJC_ski thank you for sharing. After a google search looks like this stuff is made for horses. Same thing?

[DmaxJC_ski]

@mylemsky I'm not too

Sure, I know I brought a whack of it back to canada with me! And it seems to me you can only find it at Walgreens. I see it's on amazon too

[ski4xtc]

A few years ago I had a severe case of "tennis elbow". It was so bad that someone once grabbed me by the elbow and I passed out. The first and most important thing is to get the inflammation down. I was able to do it with taking IBU for several weeks solid. I also started taking glucosamine. I believe it was a combination of these two things and switching to a slightly bent handle which got rid of the problem. Feel fortunate it has never came back.

[hogexpress]

Seems like I bought some a couple years back at Tractor Supply.

[PatM]

I have been fighting this same problem since September. Please keep the suggestions coming. Currently using the Flexbar (green) and it seems to only aggravate it. Also seeing a muscle/reflex specialist thingy person. So far no real permanent relief. It just keeps coming back. Thinking of seeing the real doctor to get a shot for it.

[DmaxJC_ski]

It might seem like a strange suggestion but YouTube it, there is tons of therapy/exercise stuff on there for these specific things. That's where I found the extreme hot / extreme cold thing for my wrists which did seem to help.

[Luzz]

I personally suffer from the golf kind, but I have noticed that minimal change in handle diameter and using compression sleeves after practice monitors the pain, to where I can ski the next day. That being said, I have never had it to the point of not being able to ski...

[MarkM]

Take the Prednisone already

[PatM]

I think for me the Prednisone is coming in March. Definitely before ski season. That being said like @Luzz the pain has not and I hope will not stop me from skiing when the time comes.