Another elbow pain thread

[Cargotruck]

I've been searching around for a couple hours now and have trouble finding a similar case to what I'm experiencing.

The pain starts at my lateral elbow and runs upwards the humerus right between the triceps and biceps insertions and muscles. Judging by palpation, it's definitely not the triceps insertion point, and it's definitely not the biceps insertion point. It's between the two laterally and the pain is at its worst just above the elbow, becoming less and less painful as you move up the arm. No pain in the forearm area below the elbow.

Some history:

This first manifested around 5 months ago when benching on the NLP, creating pain that radiated all the way to the shoulder and eventually started lasting for several days after a bench session, at which point I completely stopped doing that exercise.

Was fine after that, but slowly started feeling the pain again at the top of chin ups (most intense when chest was at the bar) and at the bottom position of presses, although fairly mild there. Eventually it started showing up on dips as well and quite heavily at that, especially when weighted. During the last 5 months, I've gone back to try the bench press every 4-5 weeks or so for just one moderately heavy set (70-80% 1RM) to see if the pain is still there, and the pain has always been present, which makes me think benching wasn't the actual issue at least alone.

I finished my NLP just yesterday and want to get this under control moving on to intermediate. I did pull ups or chin ups 3 times a week throughout my NLP with every other session being weighted, and alternated press and dips. Started doing arm work in the form of LTEs and curls towards the end, which I has made things slightly worse.

Could this just be too much work with too little deloading, particularly on the chins and pull ups? Any idea what muscle it actually is?

[Cargotruck]

One additional thing I forgot to mention was that I always got a bit of pain with the shoulder of the same side (left) from squatting. It was noticeable with the abduction of the arm with the forearm being perpendicular to the floor, especially during the warm ups. This was fairly bad when I was benching at the same time. Here's a video to show how my elbows were on squats. Thumbless grip, width was always index fingers on the rings.

[Taylor Grayson]

Almost every injury I've ever sustained while lifting weights has been due to trigger points in some muscle, and regular massages with a lacrosse ball has cured me, either immediately or after a few weeks of regular treatment.

[Cargotruck]

I have a lacrosse ball and I've played around with it, and while I've noticed that it has relieved tightness in certain areas, I think this is just a case of overuse and/or improper mechanics.

I've thought about this and it has started to seem obvious that low bar squats are the problem at least for the shoulder issue, maybe the elbow as well. If not, then the elbow may very well be due to the weighted chins and pull ups I've been doing 3 times every 2 weeks for the past half a year. Bench was likely never a problem because dropping it for 4 months didn't fix anything, instead the problems just slowly kept getting worse.

I decided to switch to high bar squat and take a break from doing weighted chins and pull ups. I'll try benching while I do this and see if things start moving in a better direction, and if not, I'll drop bench for a while as well.

[Taylor Grayson]

"that low bar squats "

My own problem also showed up with low bar squats, and soon spread to bench and press. I had to stop doing those. My symptoms were totally misdiagnosed by an orthopedist, who prescribed anti-inflammatories and a few weeks of physical therapy.

Even though my problem started in squats, the ultimate cause turned out to be a trigger point on the backside of my armpit, even though that wasn't where I felt the pain. The spot was actually too small to be adequately reached with a lacrosse ball and I had to use a smaller object. It took a number of weeks of working the trigger point several times a day for the pain to go away permanently, but it was immediately helpful in getting through my workouts.

Finding the right trigger point can be difficult and takes a lot of trial and error.

[Cargotruck]

I might have something similar. Had a moderate injury in my left shoulder blade area a year ago, and despite the strain symptoms disappearing after about 3 weeks, to this day I occasionally have stabbing sensations in the teres area just under the rear delt when doing everyday activities. I occasionally also felt it during the lowering portion of bench press. Also fatigue in the upper trap is common, as well as the lower trap being sore to palpation near the spine after horizontal pulling or anything involving strong scapular retraction like dips. It hasn't been debilitating so I haven't gone to the doctor, but it is annoying, and I'm still wondering what it is.

Maybe I need to whip out the ball and go through some pain.

[Taylor Grayson]

If it hurts, you're doing something right. :-) If you don't have it, you might pick up "The Trigger Point Workbook".

For self-maintenance, you probably need a variety of tools. While I was at the gym, I found the corner of the Captain's Chair was pretty good for digging into that location near the armpit. The barbell itself is pretty good for hitting a broad area. Kelly Starret recommends something he calls the "Triceps Smash" and it sometimes brings tears to my eyes. I've recently started doing something similar on my calves and it's excruciatingly painful.

Small dumbbells also work well for things like your quads.

[Ryan Arnold]

Tendinitis is a problem that has plagued many a lifter and as of yet there is no great solution. You might have someone look at your low bar rack position to make sure its not putting undue stress on the joints, but aside from that, switching to high bar is a good next step. Its not ideal, but at least you're still squatting

[Glasgow_Jock]

Could be lateral epicondylitis or more commonly known as "tennis elbow" which is what I was experiencing lately.

When you're benching do you feel you are you tucking your elbows in excessively in order to overly avoid shoulder impingement?

[Cargotruck]

Tendinitis is a problem that has plagued many a lifter and as of yet there is no great solution. You might have someone look at your low bar rack position to make sure its not putting undue stress on the joints, but aside from that, switching to high bar is a good next step. Its not ideal, but at least you're still squatting

Yeah. My right side is also very slightly sore in the same area when heavily palpated. It's the upper insertion of the brachioradialis and at this point I'm 90% sure squats are the main culprit. I think I used to point my elbows back too much and I remember occasionally pushing forward on the bar to keep it in position. I've switched to high bar and I'm now focusing on using my arms as little as possible, though I still feel like some effort is required on their part to keep the bar in place.

Could be lateral epicondylitis or more commonly known as "tennis elbow" which is what I was experiencing lately.

When you're benching do you feel you are you tucking your elbows in excessively in order to overly avoid shoulder impingement?

I used to do this excessively when I benched on NLP months ago because I used to have ac joint issues on the left side for flaring too much (elbows felt the same no matter what I did though). Now that I've brought the bench back, I'm focusing on going for the 45 degree angle.