Not sure if this is in the right place but I’m just wondering on what people think about riding with the injury?

Basically I climb and last week managed to tweak the outside of my left elbow, didn’t think too much of it but never the less took 5 days off thinking that I would be healed. Roll on to Sunday and after a mere 40 mins (of which a good 30 were warm up / easy problems) a loud click and excruciating pain I’m on the matt nursing a very sore left elbow.

Fast forward to today and I’ve been to see the doc who reckons I had tennis elbow (outer) but where I compensated for the pain I’ve now given myself golfers elbow (inner) so have both. He’s prescribed some NSAID and I’ve bought a tubular grip to support my elbow (which is helping a little especially while driving)

I asked about riding and he seemed to think it would be ok (albeit a little unsure) but I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this injury and carried on riding?

To cap it off I’m was meant to be off to the peaks this weekend for climbing and riding with no wife or family so I’m pretty gutted really 🙁

Cheers

golfers elbow/tennis elbow/**** elbow

HTH 🙂

Join the w*****s elbow club. I have had it for a month now but have continued to ride without any pain.

Pouring a cup of tea though is a different story……. 😥

Join the w*****s elbow club. I have had it for a month now but have continued to ride without any pain.

Pouring a cup of tea though is a different story…….

Left arm init’ and I’m a righty 😉

Are you doing any stretches / rehab work etc to try and recover and were you prescribed any anti inflammatory drugs?

Gutted though as I haven’t been climbing for very long and was progressing really well oh well looks like I’ll be buying a new bike then as I’ll need more travel and full suspension in order to alleviate the pain 😛

Well basic rule is if it really hurts you should stop for a bit.

Not sure about the diagnosis, tennis/golf elbow is normally caused by over gripping. Anyway in my tennis days we were told to thicken the grip to avoid over tightening your grip on the racket. You might like to try thicker grips on the bike plus try and get a bit more relaxed with your hands.

Well basic rule is if it really hurts you should stop for a bit.

Agreed, thing is I rode on saturday did a small local loop and felt fine, its as a result of climbing and campusing the holds on a route.

Maybe if a lay off for a week I’ll be fine come friday.

I’ve had golfers elbow on and off for a couple of years. Every time I thought I’d seen the back of it, it would come back even after resting it. Biking didn’t seem to bother it much except on any hike-a-bike sections. It might be different with yours, with you having tennis elbow as well.
I don’t think you’ll be climbing for a bit…it was always carrying things whilst gripping them that aggravated mine. Go and see a decent physio if you’re wanting to get back to it as soon as possible.

I’ve had it in the past – found that a tennis-elbow specific support with a gel pad that puts pressure on the offending area worked a treat. Got mine from a tennis shop unsurprisingly…
Carried on riding and carpenting with nary a second thought.

a loud click sounds a bit dodgy !!!

tennis elbow is rotation of the forearm, golfers elbow is more like a shock injury I thought. I used to give myself golfers elbow with my crappy tennis serve where my arm was too straight at impact.

Anyway – I had sore points in my elbow recently – both inside and outside.

In the end I had 3 sport massage sessions where the guy hammered my forearm, which he reckoned was really tight/hard.

Once the bruising went down I use a strong York grip exerciser to keep my forearm muscle in decent shape – if I don’t use it for a while I can feel it degrading:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/York-Fitness-60029-Strong-Handgrips/dp/B000N3T1AO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1346685243&sr=8-5

other people that have talked about this on this forum swear by the powerballs, which I have also used:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Powerball-250-Hz-Pro-Amber/dp/B000GQP0QC/ref=sr_1_3?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1346685312&sr=1-3

use it at a slower rate for remedial action. As a climber you probably already have one.

I would still suspect that click though…

i got a case of the old tennis elbow, docs sent me to physio who recommended not riding. The physio gave me specific exercises and 2 months of acupuncture treatment (all free on the NHS) which worked a treat. The physio did say that it can last up to 2 years so i’d get it looked at and rest

As a climber who needed nearly a year off with a tennis elbow problem, it’s worth taking it seriously at this point.

I’d recommend getting it checked over by a sports physio with some experience in climbing injuries.

This is a good resource, although I think some of the weighted exercises are a little too much to be starting off with, at least they were for me. The stretches are ace, though.

http://www.athlon.com.au/articles/r&i_dodgyelbow.pdf

If it’s not hurting while riding or immediately afterwards, I don’t see why this would be a problem.

tennis elbow and subsequent golfers elbow due to compensation sounds like a bit of a shonky diagnosis to me.
Golfers/tennis elbow are both used as umbrella terms describing the area of symptoms rather than a specific diagnosis of the injured tissues or the underlying dysfunction. If i were you id get it assessed properly and then you can make an informed decision on what activity you can do.
As a general rule of thumb: if it doesnt hurt your ok to do it

What you need is an ephichondial clasp! [almost certainly spelt wrong}
This is a hard plastic piece attached by a velcro strap to your elbow.
Wear it for a few weeks and it sorts out tennis elbow like magic.
I had one years ago and kept it in case the pain returned but it never did. Cheap non drugs effective.

Hey guys cheers for the responses

It seems like a commonish issue and although I’m desperate to go riding I also want to get back to climbing as soon as so I’m reluctant to do anything that will exasperate the situation. Annoying thing is I’ve got a powerball but the mrs moans its too noisy so I stopped using it.

Martin thats a great article seems very much common sense and Ive seen some of those exercises suggested before.

I’ve booked a physio appointment for Wednesday morning so will see what they say at £40 notes for a half hour session and it being self funded, I’m hoping they will diagnose and provide some stretches / exercises.

Hopefully it’ll get sorted but looks like I’m not going to be climbing for weeks just hope I can go riding 🙁

I think the key thing is whether this is just an acute injury which will sort out with rest/icing etc or a chronic injury underlying it which needs exercise as well once it has settled down.

I didn’t mention icing earlier BTW. Twice a day with a bag of frozen peas for five minutes or so may well help it settle.

Join the w*****s elbow club. I have had it for a month now but have continued to ride without any pain.

About a month, eh? It’s now known as “Ennis Elbow” donchaknow.

I’ve had some issues with – started after a long ski tour (from gripping/pushing on poles I guess) and has never fully gone away after 5 years.

Fortunately, I don’t have any trouble at all with it on the bike (and I ride more than most!).

I had tennis elbow for best part of a year, but it was fine on the bike. Hurt like hell when trying to lay down to go to sleep and when playing badminton (I know, I know, the wife said I should stop as well). This is how I coped with it

Still use it now when playing badminton even though the TE has cleared up

First of all golfers elbow and tennis elbow are two different conditions. Secondly, they are overuse conditions and tend to come on gradually. Thirdly, you probably dont have tennis elbow. Usual PRICE treatment is probably the best thing for it at present. Fourthly – speak to Dave Macleod about your injury – he is the font of all knowledge when it comes to such things.

FWIW, slightly connected, I had horrendous issues with tennis elbow flaring up again a couple of years back, but found the cause – it was my funny angled carnegie bars. replaced with normal bars and pain gone.

Something you might want to consider if it is painful on the bike.

HTH

Tennis elbow here right arm , frozen shoulder left arm ( im left handed)after an OTB incident .
I am on anti imflammataries and find that riding makes my elbow feel great, its the grip and lift that leaves me wincing like a big girl which working in retail lifting stock all the time is not exactly ideal.
I would get on the bike and see how you feel after.
The frozen shoulder is a real PITA though just pitting a T shirt on is an effort as is washing my armpit.
A few more weeks and its off to get some physio of some sort.

First of all golfers elbow and tennis elbow are two different conditions. Secondly, they are overuse conditions and tend to come on gradually. Thirdly, you probably dont have tennis elbow.

Tennis elbow can either be an overuse injury or an acute injury. One will settle down with rest and icing in a short period, the other one won’t.

At the moment, the OP’s has got a more ‘acute’ flavour to it – ie more likely to be a tendonitis rather than a more degenerative underlying condition. So rest and icing it is, as you suggest. However, it’s perfectly possible, that being an actively training climber, there is an underlying problem which needs to be sorted, so the sports physio is, IMO at least, the right move.

Mine initially appeared to be an acute injury – went too dynamically for a small hold on an overhanging training board, felt it go, pain etc. However, after the soreness didn’t clear up with a few weeks of icing and NSAIDs, it became clear that it was something more than that.

Anything else you want to tell me about physio?

Not all pain on the outside of the elbow is tennis elbow. Not all tennis elbow like pain is caused by an issue within the structures on the outside of the elbow.

To a trained physio – Hearing pops and feeling things giving way would pretty much rule out tennis elbow as a hypothesis. It would make them look at ruling out things like muscle and ligament tears.

Why on earth would you ice an injury for a few weeks and take anitinflammatories for the same length of time? That to me shows that you dont understand what you are using ice for.

If you want to know more have a read of http://eprints.ulster.ac.uk/17913/1/ACPSM_Physio_Book.pdf

Feel for you. I have had tennis elbow for ages due to keyboard/mouse work. Numerous cortisone injections in to the elbow would help short term but soon wore off. They ended up doing a tendon release and that sorted it. All was good. Then the other arm started the same way. I went down a physio route this time and it worked a treat. Seems that tendons etc had shortened due to poor posture etc at computer. I still have some issues at the computer but it now does not interfere with bike riding nor does bike riding inflame it.

While you were busy diagnosing him on the web, and suggesting that he bother one of the UK’s leading climbers, mine was to see a physio and ice the site. I’m sure the physio will come up with a diagnosis, if indeed it’s tendonitis or tendonosis, and suggest appropriate treatment.

BTW Not wanting to tell you anything about physio, I wouldn’t self-medicate with NSAIDs for more than a few weeks, or recommend that anyone else does, except under the supervision of their GP.

Good luck to the OP!