Tendonitis help

[jjirons69]

Aww, this blows. From what I've researched and everyone who's had it or has tells me, I have tennis elbow. And no, I don't play tennis, but basketball weekly and golf when it's not cold. It hurts on the other edge of my right forearm about an inch or so from my elbow. A grip and lift is painful. A handshake is painful. A clinched fist is moderately painful. I hurt it some time around Thanksgiving, I believe busting and stacking firewood. It's hurt every since, but has gotten worse the past couple of weeks. The nagging pain has started waking me up during the night. I bought a compression wrap today and started icing it tonight. Foolishly I had been using a heating pad over the past couple of weeks. I did read up on it, but was wondering if any of you folks can share any healing experiences. I'm tired of it. I've got a lot of yardwork and sports ahead of me.

[BC-Axeman]

I had elbow tendinitis from weight training many years ago and it never fully recovered. I think at that point it is tendinosis. Damage done.
I have a nice brace to put on when it starts to bother me again. I am curious what other people have experienced, too.

[ucubed]

I had tendonitis back in high school on my ankle due to an injury. It wasn't too severe however treatment from the athletic trainers was ultrasound, pretty much what they use to see babies, on the area for 10-15 minutes everyday. Ultrasound is used to break down scar tissue around the tendon. Ultrasound uses sound waves that vibrate at a very high level to increase circulation and soften the affected area. You only feel a bit warm around the area during, but that's all. I don't know what treatment is from doctors but it took me a couple months to recover about 75%-80% and a couple more to fully recover.

[chachee52]

I think at that point it is tendinosis. Damage done.

I am a Physical Therapist, this is what I treat all the time. The above statement is not true. The longer you wait to treat it though, the longer it takes to fix!!!! I had a case once of Tennis Elbow for 2 years, I treated for about 2 months and took another 3 months of the patient's treating at home for it to completely go away. This was the worst case scenerio!!!
Couple questions for you:
1) you mention that the pain is about 1 inch from the elbow... is that below or above. If it's above than you are probably right, if its below than DON'T WEAR THE COMPRESSION!!!!!
2) When holding the palm up (facing you) is the pain next to your body or away from your body? If its next to your body than its "golfer's" elbow, if it's away than its "tennis" elbow (honestly in my experience, more golfers get tennins elbow and more tennis players get golfer's elbow?)
3) any tingling into the hand/fingers or down the forearm at all?

IF it is true Tennis or golfer's elbow I highly recomend getting a BandIt.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=bandit+tennis+elbow&tag=yahhyd-20&index=aps&hvadid=28643011511&ref=pd_sl_5mwfes5e38_b
You want to put enough pressure with it so that it compresses the muscles, but you should still be able to put a fingure or two inbetween.
I also recomend an ice massage: take a Dixie cup fill it with water and freeze. Take the ice out and peel back the top of the Dixie cup and rub it on the sore spot until you can't feel your fingure push down on the area (typically 3-5 min)
If you are still getting pain after another week or the pain hasn't gone down at all than I'd seek out a local PT. We have lots of modalities that can be used to help. Sometimes it's as easy as a couple visits depending on the severity of it.
Hope this helps. Please PM me if there are any other questions!!
Good luck
Todd

[G G]

I had tendonitus is my wrist back in hight school. I didn't really do anything for treatment, but after a few years it seemed to go away.

[RGD.]

I have no help - but I can sympathize! Back in the late 80's I was replacing the mortar cap on a chimney - and on one of the hits of the hammer - this freaking pain shot through my arm and elbow. Hurt like a mother trucker. I was at the doc's office a few days later - tendinitis. Took every bit of 9 to 10 months to get better.

So yep - I feel for ya.


Ron

[Bruins Fan]

Here you go,plus a lot of advil.
http://www.hughston.com/hha/a.seven.htm

[BC-Axeman]

I was 90% pain free after about six weeks of PT. It would only hurt if I pressed on it. That was about 18 years ago. Any sort of repetitive motion will start the inflammation again. Dominant arm, medial, just above the epicondyle. The brace brings instant relief keeps it from getting worse. This is nothing to stop me from doing anything. Now the repetitive dislocating shoulder that I'm getting operated on next week stops me from doing a lot of things. Injuries start to add up as you get older.

[BigFrank]

Advil, Ice, personally I would avoid using "bandITs" or forearm bands. Long story short they are crap. Get an elbow sleeve, neoprene would be ideal. Don't wear it too tight.
Bruins Fan posted a good link for exercises. I would avoid doing them until you are healed up. No point in making an injury worse.
Also, I would be so quick to diagnose yourself with an injury. I "thought" I had tendinitis years ago turned out to be a small tear in the lateral head of my tricep. Not trying to sound like a big "Dik" there but you get the point.
As said before try and stay off of it, keep it iced take some NSAIDS and rest. It ultimately is your decision on what to do. But I would honestly seek medical advice before anything. You may have something serious, or you may not.

[chachee52]

personally I would avoid using "bandITs" or forearm bands. Long story short they are crap. Get an elbow sleeve, neoprene would be ideal. Don't wear it too tight.
.
Don't know how much experience you have with them, I use the Band-it with almost all my patients with a true tennis or golfer's elbow and most of them have the sleeve before that doesn't work. I personally have a lot quicker results with the Band-it and I have bought a lot of the other devices out there and had variable results with them. The biggest problem with the sleeves is that it has to fit perectly to work correctly and that happens so rarely that I don't bother with them.
Agreed with all the other points though, the more you use the elbow and cause it to be sore, the more damage you are doing.
Also agree with Big Frank that it should be diagnosed. I give advise without seeing it. A good Physical Therapy clinic should do a free injury assesment, I know ours does. No disrespect to PCPs but if you have pain anywhere near your elbow most will dx as tennis elbow. I've seen a lot of radial tunnel syndromes diagnosed as tennis elbow and the sleeves and braces cause more damage if worn with that dx!!!

[shilala]

Jamie, I had a bad right elbow from playing ball.
I loosely wrapped it with ice bags and ace bandages for hours every day and ate lots of Motrin to keep the swelling out. Took a couple months, but it fixed up nicely.
Stay completely away from anything with Aspartame in it, too. It activates proteins in the synovial fluid that eat your joint lining when they aren't supposed to. :tu

[BigFrank]

Agree to disagree then =D.
Most of the reason I find with ill fitting sleeves is that people opt ( can't blame them ) for cheap ones, which 9/10 times usually fit poorly.
But as said before, I would drop the coin on your co-payment and get it checked out. If you can afford to, I would go to a high end possibly sports specific Therapy clinic. Money well spent to be honest.

[jjirons69]

1) you mention that the pain is about 1 inch from the elbow... is that below or above.
Lay my arm across my lap, palm down, on the outer side of my forearm, rub my elbow joint on the same side and go towards my hand about an inch.

2) When holding the palm up (facing you) is the pain next to your body or away from your body? If its next to your body than its "golfer's" elbow, if it's away than its "tennis" elbow (honestly in my experience, more golfers get tennins elbow and more tennis players get golfer's elbow?)
Away

3) any tingling into the hand/fingers or down the forearm at all?
No tingling as of yet

IF it is true Tennis or golfer's elbow I highly recomend getting a BandIt.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=bandit+tennis+elbow&tag=yahhyd-20&index=aps&hvadid=28643011511&ref=pd_sl_5mwfes5e38_b
You want to put enough pressure with it so that it compresses the muscles, but you should still be able to put a fingure or two inbetween.
I also recomend an ice massage: take a Dixie cup fill it with water and freeze. Take the ice out and peel back the top of the Dixie cup and rub it on the sore spot until you can't feel your fingure push down on the area (typically 3-5 min)
If you are still getting pain after another week or the pain hasn't gone down at all than I'd seek out a local PT. We have lots of modalities that can be used to help. Sometimes it's as easy as a couple visits depending on the severity of it.
Hope this helps. Please PM me if there are any other questions!!
Good luck
Todd

Thanks, Todd. I have a place locally at MUSC that I went a couple years back for a shoulder problem and also took some PT there. My wife's been hounding me to go see them. I'm just an optimist and want to see it heal on it's own. Some call me a fool. I'll go if it continues for another week.

Here you go,plus a lot of advil.
http://www.hughston.com/hha/a.seven.htm

Oh yeah! Thanks!

Advil, Ice, personally I would avoid using "bandITs" or forearm bands. Long story short they are crap. Get an elbow sleeve, neoprene would be ideal. Don't wear it too tight.
Bruins Fan posted a good link for exercises. I would avoid doing them until you are healed up. No point in making an injury worse.
Also, I would be so quick to diagnose yourself with an injury. I "thought" I had tendinitis years ago turned out to be a small tear in the lateral head of my tricep. Not trying to sound like a big "Dik" there but you get the point.
As said before try and stay off of it, keep it iced take some NSAIDS and rest. It ultimately is your decision on what to do. But I would honestly seek medical advice before anything. You may have something serious, or you may not.

As gradual as it has come on, I seriously don't think it's too serious. It's more of a PIA than anything. If I doesn't soon come back around, I'll go.

[jjirons69]

Jamie, I had a bad right elbow from playing ball.
I loosely wrapped it with ice bags and ace bandages for hours every day and ate lots of Motrin to keep the swelling out. Took a couple months, but it fixed up nicely.
Stay completely away from anything with Aspartame in it, too. It activates proteins in the synovial fluid that eat your joint lining when they aren't supposed to. :tu

Getting old is hell, ain't it, Scott?!

Don't do any Aspatame. I'm straight leaded on all my drinks.

[shvictor]

I have it in my elbow and I wear my brace that goes on my forearm. Works like a charm

[14holestogie]

I have it in my elbow and I wear my brace that goes on my forearm. Works like a charm

Yep, same thing here last year, usually rearing it's head bowling. Wore the brace all of last year and am pain free this year.

[shilala]

Getting old is hell, ain't it, Scott?!

Don't do any Aspatame. I'm straight leaded on all my drinks.
It sucks getting rusty. :D
That was like five years ago when I could still do stuff. :)
Coached two ball teams up until the last two seasons. My elbow was on fire forever. Then the knees went, then the shoulders.
The ice and motrin fixed the elbow, the "stop drinking diet pop" fixed the rest.

[chachee52]

Lay my arm across my lap, palm down, on the outer side of my forearm, rub my elbow joint on the same side and go towards my hand about an inch.

Again without seeing it, its hard to dx, but typically a true tennis elbow is just above the joint, if it's mostly below that's more in the muscle and I'd be worried about the start of Radial Tunnel Syndrom. IF you look at the anatomy the tendon for the wrist extendors (the muscles that you are talking about) are litteraly only about 1/4 inch at the most!!!! When someone comes in with the tennis/golfer's dx I can usually push on a spot the size of a jelly bean and the person lights up!! and that spot is just above the joint.
Go get it looked at.

[Coach Deg]

I had elbow tendinitis from weight training many years ago and it never fully recovered. I think at that point it is tendinosis. Damage done.
I have a nice brace to put on when it starts to bother me again. I am curious what other people have experienced, too.

Same! Only time away from heavy training has helped mine. But whenever I get that urge to lift heavy after about 3 good heavy tri workouts its back again. Ice, advil, and a brace give minor relief. Even cortisone shot was very temporary.

[kaisersozei]

Who's the "old one," now? :hf

On a more serious note, sorry for your pains, brother--I know how frustrating those kinds of injuries can be.





Not because I've ever had them, though. Who's the "old one," now?! :r

[BORIStheBLADE]

acupuncture help me. Give it a try..

[jjirons69]

Who's the "old one," now? :hf

On a more serious note, sorry for your pains, brother--I know how frustrating those kinds of injuries can be.

:r

Well, my legs are good, but you can never be too prepared, so I added this to my shopping list.

You'll always be older, Gerard. But, I'll be faster!

http://images.allegrocentral.com/06/E2/ff8081811b33861c011b477ebb052f62-PRODUCT-BIG_IMAGE.jpg

[jjirons69]

Here I go again. Got an injection in Feb. It worked, but hurt like hell for several days. Damn thing flared back up several weeks ago though. I've been nursing it as best I could, taking plenty of Alleve and Motrin, plus daily ice packs. Nothing seemed to be helping it get better. Got another injection after lunch today. My gawd, did that SOB hurt! The caine sister wore off about 5 p.m. and it's in full-blown agony now. Sleeping tonight should be a joy. I've taken 25 mg of Lortab since 5 p.m. and it's only skimmed the surface. You better believe I'm taking it easy for the next couple of weeks. This thing has to heal up this time.

[jjirons69]

Update on this aggravating thing - I finally had to give in and have surgery on Wednesday. The doc said the tendon was strained/torn. He had to drill small holes in the bone to get blood flow to the area and he cleaned up the mess with the tendons and hopefully now everything should grown back together the correct way. Here it is Friday and this thing is hurting like hell. Arm is swollen and it aches no matter how you lay it. Eating pain meds every 4 hours, doubling and tripling up, and it only helps for a couple of hours. What a freaking mess!

Nothing like opiates - makes my nose itch and puts the brakes on my bowels. Lovely side-effects!

[chippewastud79]

Best of luck with the surgery. I hope it brings relief to the pain.

[kaisersozei]

Ah man, Jamie, that blows. ;s

Hopefully this will all resolve your problems and you'll be back to swinging those clubs in no time!

[icehog3]

Hope it brings back your quality of life, Jamie. :tu

[chachee52]

Yup, every patient that I've seen after this surgery says the same thing. Any time they drill into bone, especially there where it's right next to the nerve, it increases pain significantly. Just keep icing and get to PT sooner than later and it should calm down.

[yourchoice]

Jamie, I feel for you, man. Hopefully the surgery did the trick.