Lifting after injury-- advice needed!

Ramberta

So after tweaking the hell out of my elbow and wrist while rollerblading (nothing broken or sprained, just very painful for a while), I took a full two weeks off weight-lifting to recover. This is the third week after the injury and my arm still will have a twang a couple times a day, but is mostly fine.

Unfortunately, I worry that I am at risk for bursitis-- my elbows have been sore after work before (my job is stocking freight). Never to the point of actual pain, really, but definite soreness that would last for a day or two then go away.

My questions are these:

If you've been injured, what do you do differently in your weight routine once you get back into it?
I was doing a lot of tricep working because I wanted to develop those muscles, but is that going to aggravate a possible elbow condition?
How else can I work my triceps without straining the rest of my arm?
How slowly should I work back into my normal routine (which was every other day), or should I just trust my body and work as hard as I can so long as there's no pain?

Any advice is much appreciated!

thejubster1

<bump>. to see what responses come in.. Dislocated my shoulder 5 days ago, keen to see how others managed their way through injury. And just when I had worked up to real person's push ups....

JennieDNP

This is very general advice, as I can't really see how bad or not your injury is. Here are a couple of things to try...
After a sprain or dislocation, all of those ligaments are stretched out and not as strong as they once were. (Strain refers to a muscle, but is very similar concept.) Your joint is not as strong as it was 3 weeks ago (or 5 days ago for your shoulder). You're going to have to crazy decrease your weight and start rebuilding through range of motion exercises.

As you work on rehabbing your joints, focus on other aspects of your work out. You can focus on legs and abs. Building muscle, no matter what part of your body, increases your metabolism because muscle requires more energy than fat. Also, bump up your cardio or try different cardio exercises. An overall decrease in body fat will make muscles more defined.

Another little tidbit: agonist/antagonist. Be sure you are working muscle groups that work against each other and not just one. For example, you say you were doing a lot of tricep exercises. When ever you work the triceps, you want to work the biceps. Whenever you work the quads, you want to balance out and work the hamstrings.

Of course my favorite for any joint rehab is to take the strain off the joint and head to the water. This is especially good for lower body joints, but can be helpful with upper body joints as well. The water allows for very low to no impact on the joints and allows for greater range of motion. Using a float belt, like an Aqua Jogger, you can be suspended in the water so that you are doing exercises under water from the neck down with no stress on the joints.

Assuming you have no medical restriction, anti inflammatory medication (ibuprofen, naprosen) can help with muscle pain and soreness as it helps to reduce the swelling (inflammation) at the level of the muscle fiber. 600-800mg every 8 hours (or three times a day) is usually what is prescribed for this intention. Fyi, Tylenol (acetaminophen) is not an anti inflammatory. Also, after a work out, ice on the area is a good idea too. 20-30 minutes at a time.

As always, getting a hands on check by your primary care provider/physical therapist/ etc etc etc is always a good idea. They can give much more specific advice as they can see the injury. Also, they can provide joint/injury specific exercises when they see the type and degree of the injury.

Ramberta

This is very general advice, as I can't really see how bad or not your injury is. Here are a couple of things to try...
After a sprain or dislocation, all of those ligaments are stretched out and not as strong as they once were. (Strain refers to a muscle, but is very similar concept.) Your joint is not as strong as it was 3 weeks ago (or 5 days ago for your shoulder). You're going to have to crazy decrease your weight and start rebuilding through range of motion exercises.

As you work on rehabbing your joints, focus on other aspects of your work out. You can focus on legs and abs. Building muscle, no matter what part of your body, increases your metabolism because muscle requires more energy than fat. Also, bump up your cardio or try different cardio exercises. An overall decrease in body fat will make muscles more defined.

Another little tidbit: agonist/antagonist. Be sure you are working muscle groups that work against each other and not just one. For example, you say you were doing a lot of tricep exercises. When ever you work the triceps, you want to work the biceps. Whenever you work the quads, you want to balance out and work the hamstrings.

Of course my favorite for any joint rehab is to take the strain off the joint and head to the water. This is especially good for lower body joints, but can be helpful with upper body joints as well. The water allows for very low to no impact on the joints and allows for greater range of motion. Using a float belt, like an Aqua Jogger, you can be suspended in the water so that you are doing exercises under water from the neck down with no stress on the joints.

Assuming you have no medical restriction, anti inflammatory medication (ibuprofen, naprosen) can help with muscle pain and soreness as it helps to reduce the swelling (inflammation) at the level of the muscle fiber. 600-800mg every 8 hours (or three times a day) is usually what is prescribed for this intention. Fyi, Tylenol (acetaminophen) is not an anti inflammatory. Also, after a work out, ice on the area is a good idea too. 20-30 minutes at a time.

As always, getting a hands on check by your primary care provider/physical therapist/ etc etc etc is always a good idea. They can give much more specific advice as they can see the injury. Also, they can provide joint/injury specific exercises when they see the type and degree of the injury.

Thank you for the thorough response, a lot of good advice in here. I do vary up my workouts already, and the pool is opening this weekend so I will look into purchasing a weight belt!

tomg33

Will tricep exercises aggravate your elbow? Perhaps. I have never injured my elbows and they get aggravated by certain exercises, or simply too much direct tricep work. However my elbows feel right as rain when pressing so close-grip bench press is a staple.

I have seen many "bros" develop elbow issues from endless arm work when a lot of the growth should be coming from the haevy benching, overhead pressing, rows and pull-ups that they're not doing.