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I am getting a pain on my inner elbow when I do pull ups or Chin ups. It feels like it is right on the little bone that juts out ont he iner elbow when you look down at your arms with ytour palms facing the ceiling. I read somewhere that It might be a tricep tendon - any thoughts? So I guess my questions are two-fold. It doesn't hurt when i do curls, or rows just the vertical pull. I have heard this is a common problem so I would love to hear any solutions people have found.

So regardless of what caused it - do I just take a break from excercises that are stress the elbow joint, and what does that leave for upper body compaund movements? Or can I just scale back? And is there any other way to effectively work my lats minimizing the use of the elbow joint?

I have a pain in my right elbow when doing tricep extensions, i used to have it when doing push ups too but not anymore.

It feels like its going to crack and buckle under stress at a certain angle around 130o

Baccus, I has a similar issue a couple of years ago. It lasted about 6 months. I thought it was tennis elbow but it wasn't. The appliances at the drug store were no help. I just stopped doing the exercises that bothered it and it went away. Wide grip pull ups were the worst fo me. I don't have any problem now.

When you are doing your pull up, how do you have your arms? Do you use the muscles you are supposed to use when performing pull ups? Are you keeping your shoulders down and back? Chin Ups/Pull Ups do not work the elbows, so you should not be feeling any pain there unless you are doing it wrong. For wide grip pull ups, your elbows should be neutral and not farther than they are supposed to be. If you put your arms to your side in a L position, thats how far the elbows should go.

jebus - tricep extensions I was told by a trainer at my gym was a no no and is bad for the elbows. My elbows would pop when I do them (not every rep, but most reps), so I believe him. Replace with close grip presses

How can chins and pull-ups not work the elbows???

I tried an elbow-less chin, and it really didn't go anywhere.

the elbow is not a muscle. Its a joint (bone). There are muscles surrounding it called the forearms, biceps, and triceps. That is what I meant. If you feel it in the elbow itself, that means you are doing something wrong or a muscle around the elbow is not stabilized enough and needs strength work. Forearms though are just stabilizers. If you do a towel bar hang, the forearms are really worked there. If weak, you will let go right away like I do after about 10-15 seconds holding onto the towels.

Is it true that the stronger the forearms are stability wise, the less stress on the elbow? Elbow pain can come from either the forearm, bicep, tricep, or elbow itself (tendon, ligament, bone).

Well, what you said was,
When one says that an exercise "works a joint" one implies that one is working the muscles that move that joint.

There are causes of elbow pain that can occur with chins even if the chins are done correctly.

OP--does the pain only occur while you are actually doing the chin or pull-up? Or does it continue afterward? Is there any swelling? Have you tried neutral grip? Does it occur with pull-downs? Can you find a weight light enough that that doesn't bother it?

I'd suggest backing of for a week or two, then starting pull-downs with light weight, and building up to full pull-ups/chins, and gradually build volume.

hey Doc -

I have tried - overhand and underhand but not neutral. The wide grip pull up bar that slants down a bit at the ends is a bit better, but still hurts, especially near th etop of my motion when my elbow is most flexed. I did take some time off pull ups (about 2 weeks), and came back and the pain came back in a flash. Maybe i should do some assisted pull ups for a while and see if the lighter weight helps.

How do you feel about a straight arm cable pull down as an effective lat substitute?

straight arm cable pulldown is not a compound exercise, so its different than a pull up or a lat pulldown. It's an isolated (single joint) exercise that just works the lats. http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Latissi ... ldown.html

how is your forearm (grip) strength?

I googled "inner elbow pain" and found this site. http://www.triggerpointbook.com/tennisel.htm and also found a message board post from google search that talks about inner elbow pain. There are some good advice in there. http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=251205.0 You may have to change the position of how you do your exercises (using a different grip). Check out both urls.

oh okay. if I ever feel anything weird going on with my elbow, I usually massage around the area and then its fine, so I don't ever have any elbow problems. I think when something gets tight and does not get loosen, thats how pain comes. The bigger the knott, the bigger the pain. I rely on massaging trigger points to get rid of pain, aches, whatever. If it was a sprain or strain or pull, that would be different. Massaging areas has always worked for me.

Well, it may isolate the lats, but it hardly substitutes for pull-ups.

Can you find any tender spots?

You might consider seeing a flesh-and-blood doctor to see if you can get this pinned down.

Certainly wasn't looking at it as a complete substitute, but rather just a way to make sure my lats are getting some attention while I give my elbows a break.

And your right - I suspect if some rest and Ice don't sort it out a doctors visit may be called for/

caangelxox: Thanks for the links... a little disheartening but alot of good info -

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cyber ... selbow.htm This is what you might have. "Golfer's elbow".

Symptoms of golfer elbow include:
Pain on the bony bit on the inside of the elbow.
Weakness in the wrist.
Pain on the inside of the elbow when you grip something hard.
Pain when wrist flexion (bending the wrist palm downwards) is resisted.
Pain on resisted wrist pronation - rotating inwards (thumb downwards).

Yep. That's one of about 400 things he might have.

Heheh, I can see Jungledoc loves internet self-diagnosis as much as my doctor mate, or my nurse wife.