Any Elbow-friendly Exercises?

GeekDadCS

Hello everyone. I was wondering if anyone knows of any good exercises for the arms that are Elbow-friendly? I've had something going on with my right elbow (I think it's tendonitis) for some time. I've been resting it literally for months with only a little improvement, and the first if by the dogs on the leash and I to back to square one. I'm getting kind of antsy because I'm losing some definition and I worked hard to get it. Any suggestions besides "wait it out" (and if I have to, so be it, but I'd rather not)?

ninerbuff

Have you had it checked? It may not just be tendonitis. You may have a tear and it's ready to rupture. Been through this with a couple of clients in biceptal tears near the shoulder or elbow.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

sijomial

"Something going on" is far too vague.
Get a proper diagnosis and then you will know if rest is the right option - it might not be.
Personally I would consult a sports physio rather than a general practitioner.

My last elbow tendon issue I was given the option of rest which would probably help it get better over a period of months but I'd lose strength and muscle and the pain might recur anyway when I resumed training or continue to train and it might get better over the same timescale, it would hurt a bit while training but crucially wasn't going to cause any lasting damage by training through soreness with the addition of an elbow strap sited specifically for my injury. Your problem might be completely different hence the need to know what "something" is.

sgt1372

Your elbow complaint is vague but if you feel pain w/movement and cannot lift weight w/o pain after icing and rest, then you should definitely have it checked out by an orthopedic surgeon and ask for an MRI of it.

If it's something serious, like a tear, the MRI should reveal it. Nothing else will.

Take it from someone who has had MRIs on both shoulders (torn rotators, both fixed surgically), a knee (3 way tear, no surgery), wrist (carrpal tunnel, no surgery) and rt elbow (twice, outpx surgical procedure attempted/failed).

If it's not that serious (no obvious tear), a cortisone shot should relieve the pain so that you can engage in normal activity w/o pain but the shot can mask pain that can lead to greater problems if you continue to abuse the joint w/o resting it and allowing it to heal.

FWIW, I developed a chronic condition in my rt elbow (treated w/shots from time to time over many yrs) that now prevents me from doing pushups, pullups and any lifting that involves my rt elbow w/o inducing severe pain which is pretty much eliminates EVERY upper body exercise that requires lifting my body wt or heavy wts w/my elbows.

I can still lift bags and light wts w/my rt elbow but nothing heavy whatsoever.

All I mainly do now are lower body lifts like SQTs & DLs and exercises like hanging or seated leg raises and plyo box jumps.

I can also still do farmers walks and sled push/pulls, use vattle ropes and do sledge hammer strikes on a tire because those movements do not involve my elbow in a significant way.

For general body conditioning, I row 5-10km a day which involves my entire body, legs, butt, arms, shoulders and back and only mimimally involves the elbows.

So, these are some of the things you can do w/o severely stressing your elbows.