Elbow Pain

[WatsupHannity]

My right elbow hurts like hell every workout. The pain appears inside the joint, then sometimes on the outside of the elbow; the pain then goes into the bicep and often the bottom of the tricep. Between workouts the area feels more or less fine. The pain originates during almost any exercise: bench press, deads, press... squats is okay as long as I keep my arms from applying pressure to the bar.

Should I take a lay-off from applying force with my arm for a week, and stay with squats and back extensions or such in the meantime? Active rehabilitation? Doctor's office?

[BruteForce]

Have your doctor check for possible tendinitis. You might need a cortisone shot.

[coreJack]

Try stretching the forearm. Deep stretching. One way to do this is get on all fours, rotate one hand so that the fingers are pointing to your knee. Lean your body back, or push that arm further away from you - you'll feel a stretch all the way from your wrist to your elbow. You could also do this against a wall, but it's easier to get a feel for the stretch the way I described it. Flip your hand so the back of your hand is on the ground, and stretch the other side of your forearm.

Work the extensor muscles by putting some rubberbands around your fingers and opening your hand repeatedly.

This combo usually does it for me when my elbow is flaring up.

[Nauticus]

The first thing I would try is a wider squat grip.

[Dastardly]

The first thing I would try is a wider squat grip.

Before I read SS I thought a secure low bar squat grip was merely a narrow grip. This put immense pressure on elbows, making them very sore yet the grip was always poor.

The big thing I was missing was "elbows up" this is the element which actually creates the deltoid shelf thing. So you can indeed use a wider more relaxed grip yet have the bar more secure than a super tight & narrow grip. Plus no real weight is going through you wrists, so elbows are stress free.

[Nauticus]

Before I read SS I thought a secure low bar squat grip was merely a narrow grip. This put immense pressure on elbows, making them very sore yet the grip was always poor.

The big thing I was missing was "elbows up" this is the element which actually creates the deltoid shelf thing. So you can indeed use a wider more relaxed grip yet have the bar more secure than a super tight & narrow grip. Plus no real weight is going through you wrists, so elbows are stress free.

This is true. A closer grip is not a bad thing. But for the sake of having pain-free elbows for the rest of the workout, widening my grip helped while whatever the heck was injured in my arm recovered. It's not as stable, but it holds the bar well enough to be worth compromising for.

[Sami]

For me (you may remember my battered elbows thread) the fix was to not try to pull the bar down through the sticking point of the squat. But I was getting the pain directly from the squat, and I knew this. The OP is saying that squats are fine so I don't think this is the problem. If squats are hurting your elbows, you'll know about it.

[allyn703]

For me (you may remember my battered elbows thread) the fix was to not try to pull the bar down through the sticking point of the squat. But I was getting the pain directly from the squat, and I knew this. The OP is saying that squats are fine so I don't think this is the problem. If squats are hurting your elbows, you'll know about it.

This was my problem also. It took me a while to figure it out though. Also make sure your bench/press form is good. Tight upper back and vertical forarms.

Elbow sleeves seem to help a little also.

[Sami]

Yeah, I've got the sleeves.

As far as bench goes, I can't really unrack my workset weight, it really hurts my elbows. But during the actual lift, they're fine. Dips, chins and pullups bother it a little.

[WatsupHannity]

I did squats, press and rows last night and my elbow condition was much improved. I think the forearm stretches have helped it, but I also realized that I am improperly flaring my elbows on some exercises and focused on keeping them more inline. There was some minor tenderness but it was much better than it has been.