ExRx.net

Hi All,

I've been working out on and off with weights for a few years now. About 6 weeks ago, doing my normal workout with curls, I felt an odd growing pain in my right elbow. This pain only came out when I was curling or twisting my right arm. I went to the doctor after a few days of Icy-Hot treatment(which did nothing for me) and he told me it was an enflammed tendon. He gives me a shot into the elbow, 2 days later I feel much better, so I wait a week and start lifting again. All goes well for about 2 weeks, then earlier this week, it happens again. Should I start to worry? Is this something I may be doing wrong, although I've done it the same for a long time? It's definetly only happening when I curl, and I've used the same weight, and I tried using half my normal work-out weight but it still hurts. Any ideas what could be causing this? I could go back for another shot and some anti-inflammatories, but I don't want a band-aid, I need a solution to stop it from occurring again.

Thanks

Well, once you've hurt it, it's going to hurt no matter how much weight you lift with it. You need to lay off it until it heals again and when you start up again you need to take it slow so that your elbow can get stronger. Drop 10 or 20% of the weight and slowly work your way back up. You could also possibly try internal or external rotations to strengthen your elbow. But don't try to do anything with it while you're in pain. If you feel any pain while lifting stop right away. Also, Ibuproferin is an anti-inflammatory and may help.

Well after a shot into my tendon, all was well for about 2 weeks and then while curling, the pain happened again, and has been for the last few week, regardless of weight. Even an empty bar. I have been sent to see a specialist, but that won't be for another 3 weeks. Should I stop working out and hitting heavybag completely until then, or just skip the exercises that cause pain? I could stick to just spinning every morning and evening but I enjoy working out!

don't do bar curls anymore. Not everyone can do them. Do dumbbells if you can. However, don't do anything that hurts. Another possibility for this, superset lat pullovers to failure with supinated narrow grip pulldowns. Maybe try hammer curls to. The first works the biceps because the lats are fatigued. WIth the other the it kind of gets the brachioradialis and biceps together, but it might be something you can do without pain. Adding some supinated rows after your back workout can help too. If you can't do any of these without pain then just stop. If I remember right you are the one I advised a while back to ease up on the bicep work because you had excessive ammounts of curls and such. I can't remember though. I wouldn't hit the bag for a while. That could make it worse.