All the strength and flexibility exercises in the world won't help unless you let the area HEAL FIRST. I now need 2-3 months off because of this. It starts as tennis elbow and the body tries to compensate for the injury. Do yourself a favour and rest over Christmas. Your arm will thank you for it.
This elbow stuff is insidious!
I’ve been dealing with a rather vexing case of medial epicondylapathy. It presented in August with soreness right on the epicondyle itself (not on the common flexor muscle or tendon, but at the insertion point to the epicondyle). The soreness was post-activity (no pain during tennis, always after) and worst after heavy pronation (mostly serving, but forehands as well). Would also have some discomfort during some daily activity (picking up boxes, sometime shaking hands, etc). None of the more severe pain many other have reported though.
Saw my orthopedist and was diagnosed with mild medial epicondylitis and prescribed the standard forearm stretching and strengthening of the common flexor grouping. I also modified my activity by eliminating serving, but still hit otherwise. However, I’ve always suspected that there was never any “itis” involved as no one has really noticed any inflammation. NSAIDS and icing have never helped beyond dulling pain receptors.
With no improvement by November, I shut down from tennis in Dec and began working with PTs; a lot of the standard stuff I was doing, but also ART, ultrasound, transverse friction massage & kinesio taping.
Five weeks later, no improvement; but in really looking at the details I noted that there is never any pain with arm fully extended and worst at full flexion (hand at shoulder). I can make the pain at full flexion go away by moving to full extension. The PT also pointed out the physical change in the triceps brachial tendon near the elbow when going to full extension; at full extension it becomes narrower and moves away from the epicondyle. At full flexion it widens out. I then noted I could make the pain diminish at full flexion merely by pressing inward on the tricep just above the epicondyle.
I’m really beginning to wonder if the problem I’m having is not related to the tendons of the forearm flexors at the medial epicondyle but instead due to some irritation of the surface of the epicondyle by the tricep brachii or related fascia. If that is the case, much of the isolated treatment as well as rest have been largely in vain (although it might also be encouraging in that I’m not really dealing with medial epicondylosis, my primary concern).
I’m also not sure how to get the triceps brachii to revert to however they were prior to onset. Has anyone else come across this in their elbow travails?
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