Tennis Elbow

[Al]

Has anybody else ever deveolped \"tennis elbow\" or lateral epicondylitis as the doctor's call it from practicing Krav Maga? I've been sidelined from practicing for the past two months from this injury. I've seen my doctor, and two sports medicine specialists. I've had two cortisone shots into the elbow and have been on several anti-inflamitories; currently taking 200mg. of Celebrex a day, and I'm not making any progress. I'm doing the standard RICE treatment, along with wearing a tennis elbow strap. I'm doing very light stretching and strength training exercises as directed by the doctor, however, everytime I throw a few punches with my right arm, the pain comes back full blown. ANY SUGGESTIONS that will get me back on the mat will be greatly appreciated. Not training is driving me crazy! The one sports medicine doctor told me I was too old (I'm 44) to be doing this, and I should just accept the fact I'm getting old. I just can't do that, so I'm open to everybody's input. THANKS!

[rosie]

I've had this same problem. I took about a month off from all training with arms (Krav training, heavy bag work, and lifting weights), to allow the inflammation to go down. After all the pain was gone, I started training again, but I didn't (and I still haven't) gone back to the level of training I was doing that caused the elbow problem. I had been doing heavy bag work several times a week, now I do it maybe once a week to lessen the impact on my arms. I am lifting weights more, to strengthen my tendons and therefore increase the amount of impact my tendons can take without complaining.

This strategy has worked well for me, but everyone's different -- if I were in your position I would look for another doctor, one who takes a more sympathetic view towards your training. And in the meantime, if you still have pain, you haven't taken a long enough break from punching, holding mitts, lifting heavy weights, etc. The more you inflame your tendons by not stopping the activity that aggravates them, the longer your recovery will take.

I hope your doctor has told you to do wrist curls and reverse wrist curls - but don't do them with heavy weights until you are 100% pain-free.

[Ted]

Try Acupuncture it doe's work. I've had a problem with my neck and shoulder for about 7 or 8 years i went to therypy that did'nt do any thing but make me feel worse. I went to the Cyropracter not much there. so i went to the accupuncture docter and i'm finaly getting some relief. in time i hope to have all the range of motion back in my neck. It sucks trying to look over your shoulder and not be able to turn your head. The thing with Accupuncture is it's good for pain. it helps relieve the pain then your body can heel itself. Try it you got nothing to lose but some of your hard earned money. Go to the book store and do some reading. Also my sisterinlaw said she knows someone that had tenniselbow and was treated by accupuncture and it worked for him. Good luck Becarefull with those anti inflametory pills they will rot your stomach


Ted

[bolshoi]

Rest is absolutely the best medicine. Unfortunately it's difficult to be sidelined for 4-6 months. BUT you don't have to stop training completely. Isn't KM supposed to be an effective fighting system for the aged and disabled?

I would suggest immobilizing your right arm and keep on with training. Look at it as an opportunity to develop your left hand and knees/kicks. This worked for Bill Wallace when he had a knee injury. So well. that he earned the nickname \"Superfoot\".

Keep up with the therapy. Moderate the drugs because they can give you a false sense of security and they can be hard on the body. Finally realize that a 44 yr old body takes a little longer to heal than it used to when it was 24.

[Klem]

Family/general practice physicians are great at keeping you from being sick. The trouble is, that their defenition of good health is normal blood pressure, low cholesterol, and being able to walk to the mailbox and back without getting out of breath.

Seek a Dr. with a sports medicine background. Most of them are actually primary care physicians and they will be much more willing to work with you at getting back to your sport/actvity.

One key for the over 40 set, is that you need more recovery time. So even as you get back into training, you might need loger periods of time between workouts. If you the self control, you can also limit yourself to going completely all out, balls to the wall, every other class instead of every class. Much easier said than done.

[GuyK]

Drink two teaspoons of Apple Cider vinegar in water three times a day.
Google \"Apple Cider vinegar\" to see it's health benefits for SOME people.
It can be very good for Arthritis type symptoms, you might be surprised at how fast your back in action.

[Susannah]

I've had a bit of this problem also. I have noticed that using the mouse and typing adds to the problem. So avoid those, and especially change the mouse to the left hand.

AFAIK, tennis elbow tends to take from 6 months to 2 years to heal, so that's good to know.

For me - using that elbow wrap thingy and not clinching w/the heavy bag has helped quite okay. But it's not all gone, and 6 months is nearing.

So... hope you can get it better. And changing doctors is sound advice, if the current one isn't helping.

[Geode]

Al,

I too have the dreaded tennis elbow and am taking it easy on the arm which has the condition. I am doing this by changing my stance to the opposite arm forward, and taking it real easy on punching anything. My sports doc says that healing is rather sudden with this injury and that one day it feels pretty good - and to take it easy even then. Connective tissue injuries plain take time to heal.

[Susannah]

Yes, I have also worked out more on my weak side to give the right elbow a bit of a rest. Altho hooking w/it is always a bit suspect... and I just tend to forget, it just comes staright from the spine...