Tennis elbow – share your experiences!

Well, having told myself to WTFU and ignore the pain I was getting when hauling on the bar ends of the singlespeed, I had no choice but to seek medical opinion. Tennis elbow! And it bloomin’ well hurts!

So … no singlespeeding for me and am now wearing an elbow support when riding plus treatment from a physio. Not happy 😥

What are your experiences of this? How long before the pain disappears? Anything that helped when riding? Should I just slob out on the sofa?

Thank you so much!

I had it on my right elbow for around 6 months, then it kinda crept round my shoulders and down the other side. Left elbow is quite tender at the momnet though, hasn’t stopped me riding though and didn’t really notice any increased pain when riding. I wouldn’t recommend injection to sort it out.

Years ago, had tennis elbow, pain would not away, so in end went to Docs who injected something (no idea what) into infected area, problem solved and no reoccurance since

Had it twice and its no fun.

Physio worked the first time after about 3 months – apparently considered as quite quick.
Second time went the whole hog, physio, laser and acupuncture. much better and sorted in about 6 weeks.
You have my sympathy

Oh dear! The frustrating thing is that I’m currently being treated for another problem on the same side! Can’t even hold a kettle.

So was it riding that caused the tennis elbow for you all?

lateral epicondylitis- tennis elbow, medial epicondylitis-golfers elbow. Occupational/recreational in a lot of cases. Mainly occupational-always seems to be in self employed people who can’t stop the activity cos it’s there occupation and they don’t get paid…
12-18 month course max(normally).
Stop activity causing or perform in a different way.
Try a band around forearm, just below area. buy over the counter.
Steroid injection- meant to be temporary relief, but total duration of symptoms same in treated and untreated plus can have rare but unpleasant side effects- infection/bleed,skin atrophy-tendon rupture.
Having said that some people DO have there symps ‘cured’ by injection.
Also ultrasound/topical anti-inflammatories etc may help.
Can get the tendon ‘cut’ in extreme case.
very common condition.

i would look at what you are doing and try to do in a different way.

HTH

Good luck c-g.

Stephen

Not riding related in my case – sharp impact into the joint from the stair post, both times!!!!!

Yeah i get it pretty bad. Work related. When it’s bad it’s BAD. can’t rest on the point of my elbows and even wince if I’ve got a seam in a shirt that rubs on it. FWIW I ride SS too and just put up with it. Maybe it helps(??) that I get more pain from my dodgy knee and that takes my mind off it. My GP is sh1t though so I tend to just MTFU, these days.

My Father had it. He ended up with cortisone injections, which I think is strong anti-imflammatatoires injected staight into the joint. Lasted about a year or so, he too was in considerable pain.

Hope it eases off soon c_g.

Tried lots of stuff, but eventually opted for the cortisone injection.

Bosh – fixed and never returned.

Had it a couple of times, each time lasted about 6 months, painful and frustrating, could barely lift me pint, you could try bar ends on the ss, the change in position should help, or ride gears for a while, it does eventually shuffle off.

had it three times in as many years, very nasty. Work related. Each time had a streroid injection, sorted it for six months or so, then came back again. Gave me a couple off weeks sick each time – which was good.

Docs decided I’d had enough steroids and made a custom support to wear when I was working ‘repetatively’, but I left the job so can’t say if that would have worked or not.

Been fine since, now I have arthritis instead.

Never stopped me cycling fortunately.

Oh dear oh dear. Is it OK to feel sorry for myself 🙄

I was being very careful riding the geared bike today but as soon as I pushed down on the bars, the shooting pains appeared so don’t really know whether the elbow support was doing any good.

Thanks for all your replies … might just have to put the ss up for sale or join a knitting circle!

It’s not an elbow support you need. It’s a strap which goes around the upper forearm.

My dad got it after taking a sharp hit on the elbow when we both did kendo in the 80s (I didn’t do it, honest). It was only recently he got the cortisone shot to sort it after years of pain. From what he said the injection was not remotely fun but it did fix it.

The injection is definitely NOT fun….

My wife had it about a year ago……still plays her up a bit.
Went to our GP’s physio, did no good and possibly made it worse.
Went to my Osteopath – instant diagnosis and description of the injury and cause; gave some treatment for tempory relief; described what support is best and where to get it. Brilliant person, just a shame you have top pay for them!
The supports need to push onto the muscles above and below the elbow, which they do if you buy a proper one for the job.
If you know a good Osteopath, get ye there a.s.a.p., if only for some real description of the damage and how to sort. Sadly it’s a bit of a long term game.
best of luck
Q