Tendonitis (Tennis Elbow)

witchy_wife

Has anyone here suffered from Tendonitis (tennis elbow)? I am just wondering how long it took people to recover and what they did to ease symptoms?

My doctor has diagnosed Tendonitis in both elbows (worse in the right). She thinks this is from lifting weights. I don’t remember causing an injury but out of all the things that I do she seems to think this is the most likely cause and said that pain can start up to 3 days after whatever it was that caused the Tendonitis.

She’s told me to avoid weight lifting, take over the counter pain medication and has showed me some stretches and exercises to hopefully help. These involve twisting and turning arm while holding very lights weights. Also heat / cold packs may help.

She said that it can take up to a YEAR to get better! I was shocked….I thought a few weeks. She said if no better in 6 months I can go back and consider steroid injections.

I just wondered what are other people’s experience of this, how long until healed and what helped you?

BigGuy47

I've read that a Theraband flexbar and Tyler twist exercises are highly effective for tennis elbow. I don't know for certain. I ordered one for my wife. I guess we'll find out, the protocol is six weeks of exercises twice a day.

becky10rp

Yep - was diagnosed with Tendonitis in my left arm about 2 years ago. I was better after about 6 months. I also got this due to weight lifting. I didn't lift the entire 6 months - then started back VERY slowly, with very light weights. It takes awhile to recover - be patient - try to find other things to do in the meantime (I just focused on legs and abs for 6 months).

witchy_wife

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping that she was exaggerating with the time for recovery, wow!

I'll have a look at the flex bar and keep up my exercises.

Becky do you suffer at all with it now?

7elizamae

I got tennis elbow from using hand weights with my HIIT workouts. (I loved those workouts!) Took about three months off, then I tried going back to using weights. The elbow pain returned almost immediately. I'm currently taking a whole year off from my arm workouts. Too bad, because my arms had gotten nice and strong. But the pain was enough to make me stop.

FWIW, my pain seemed to begin when I increased my weight from 5 to 8 pounds. I won't be doing that again when I'm finally back at it. I'll be sticking with little bitty weights. The old gray mare ain't what she used to be.

CipherZero

I got through mine with a not-doctor-recommended solution - 800mg ibuprofen four times a day, chin-ups, and lying triceps extensions. Took about a week for most of the pain to resolve, and another two months to totally go away.

As for what caused it, it was a combination of three weeks of heavy snow-shoveling combined with rolling my hands under when I squatted. The combination over-stressed the elbow.

All works fine now.

TR0berts

I had it. I'm pretty sure it was due to how I was holding the bar for squats. I was using a full grip, which seemed to translate the weight down into my elbow. I gave myself a 6-week rest and went to over-grip and have been pretty much pain free for 6+ months now. Every now and then on a heavy bench day, I feel a little something, but not much.

kendahlj

My sister has it...from playing tennis. The doctor told her that the only thing she could do to make it go away was to rest it. For a long time. She doesn't want to quit playing tennis so she plays through the pain. I think it's making her a worse player.

girl_inflames

I was injured while working in a factory due to repeated stress to my wrist (too much weight being lifted repeatedly) and got tendonitis and senovitis.

This was over a year ago and I still have a lot of problems with it.

Usually it will be okay for awhile and if I'm using it too much (cooking, writing, hiking, etc.) where pressure is applied, it'll flare up again. I really don't know if it'll ever heal completely.

ninerbuff

Tendonitis comes for REPETITIVE movements. It's not just from lifting weights. Runner's get them on their knees. People who type a lot get them in their wrists.
Tendonitis NEVER goes away, it just reduces in pain. Best thing you can do to deal with is to try to avoid exercises that aggravate the tendon, do really good warms and wear a neoprene sleeve over the affected area, and don't use weights that are too heavy to handle for the exercise and increase inflammation.
Also ice and ibuprofen help.
Personally I have both golfer's and tennis elbow in both arms. But really good warm ups, sleeves and straps have helped me continue to lift with minimal pain.

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EzRemake

Get some light weights ~5 lbs, do Zottman Curls. You're going to hear a lot of weird clicking and cracking, but it shouldn't be painful. These helped me recover immensely.

Shawshankcan

This is what helps my elbows ALOT - take your thumb and dig it into the opposite bicep. Dig around until you find a really painful spot. Press on it for thirty seconds, then release. Do the same to the other bicep. Do this multiple times throughout the day, and it should help. And when I get a moment I will find a youtube clip of a stretch that can really help.

Shawshankcan

Here is the video I was talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-sCSMHjsMs

julie_broadhead

I have Dequairvain's Tenosyntevitis (tendinitis through my wrist and thumb). Going to occupational therapy has helped me. If I were you, I would push for a referral to orthopedics (they can give you the steroid shot).

Azdak

kendahlj wrote: »

My sister has it...from playing tennis. The doctor told her that the only thing she could do to make it go away was to rest it. For a long time. She doesn't want to quit playing tennis so she plays through the pain. I think it's making her a worse player.

While continuing to play is not a good idea, complete rest will likely not solve the problem either. See the comments above about the flexbar and look up "eccentric training for tennis elbow" for more info.

Azdak

BigGuy47 wrote: »

I've read that a Theraband flexbar and Tyler twist exercises are highly effective for tennis elbow. I don't know for certain. I ordered one for my wife. I guess we'll find out, the protocol is six weeks of exercises twice a day.

There is some interesting research about the effects of negative eccentric training for things like tennis elbow and Achilles tendinosis. I think the flexbar is a good idea. I had the injury on the outer (lateral) side --I think it's called golfers elbow. I did it by lifting up a 30 lb kettlebell with one arm and placing it on a shoulder-high shelf. Luckily it only affected certain exercises like lat pull downs and upright rows, but it took months to heal--almost a year--and I can still feel it if I do heavy pull downs three years later. I didn't have a flexbar, but you can do some eccentric negatives with Dumbbells and that was helpful.

witchy_wife

Loads of info here for me to start looking through. Thanks for the help everyone!

Expatmommy79

I have had it for about 6 months. I'm taking an anti inflammatory for 2 weeks and then dr will decide for steroid injection or not.

I still play golf and lift heavy. It hurts more at rest than when I am playing or lifting. I also use a band thingy to tie around the forearm which has been helpful during sport.

I quit tennis because that was very painful.