Elbow Tendonitis

[confuzzl3don3]

Once again i've got some elbow tendonitis that seems to flare up when using my arms for certain things eg: playing tennis for about 30 min, after my heavy set of squats (interfering with my bench or press that is next). This only popped up this week, and it's not too severe right now, but i've had this problem before and I don't want to get screwed by it again. Last time it was a squat form problem and after cleaning that up, and resting my arm from tennis for a week, it self-healed. And since then i haven't had this problem for a good half a year and more. Now i haven't seemed to change my squat form but somehow this problem has returned. I've been thinking its one of these 3 things:

1. squat grip
2. pullups/chinups aggravating it
3. powerclean

I recently (maybe a month or so ago) switched from PCing twice/wk to only on monday and throwing in pullups/chinups on friday instead. So i went from doing pullups/chinups on one day to 2 (i normally did some on monday as accessory exercises). Not sure if this is the problem though because i've changed this for a while now. Anyways anything i could do about this?

[DV]

Once again i've got some elbow tendonitis that seems to flare up when using my arms for certain things eg: playing tennis for about 30 min, after my heavy set of squats (interfering with my bench or press that is next). This only popped up this week, and it's not too severe right now, but i've had this problem before and I don't want to get screwed by it again. Last time it was a squat form problem and after cleaning that up, and resting my arm from tennis for a week, it self-healed. And since then i haven't had this problem for a good half a year and more. Now i haven't seemed to change my squat form but somehow this problem has returned. I've been thinking its one of these 3 things:

1. squat grip
2. pullups/chinups aggravating it
3. powerclean

I recently (maybe a month or so ago) switched from PCing twice/wk to only on monday and throwing in pullups/chinups on friday instead. So i went from doing pullups/chinups on one day to 2 (i normally did some on monday as accessory exercises). Not sure if this is the problem though because i've changed this for a while now. Anyways anything i could do about this?

I have the same issue as you. For me chins usually help, so I don't think they're the problem (but individual difference might come into play here).

I have two main culprits, your number 1 and 3. Usually it starts with #1, I dont get my hands enough "on top" of the bar, and end up supporting it with my hands.

Then when my elbows are already sortof annoyed, my sketchy power cleans don't help, as I catch the bar in my hands more than on my shoulders once in a while.

Last time it was really bad some high-rep chins and Rips Ibuprofen protocol helped. It was, incidentally, by direct advice from Rip. Search my username, and you'll find it.

The Ibuprofen protocol is 800 mg 4 times a day for about 4-5 days.

[confuzzl3don3]

Yeah, thing is as i said it's not that severe. I don't experience any pain unless i aggravate it by a relatively long period of intense use of my arm like when i played tennis on saturday. That's why i don't really see the need to apply the ibuprofen treatment but i was just trying to come up with some ideas on how to prevent this from getting worse

[Beltshumeltz]

I don't feel like answering elbow questions anymore, because everytime I fix my elbow problems and tell people how I did it, I then get another elbow problems from something else.

But here is my latest discovery!

I had a training session with a certified barbell instruction (trained by Mark Rippetoe) in Montreal.

It seems my issue was that I put the bar too low on my back. While my elbow still hurt a bit during squats today, it wasn't as much of an issue as usual, and it might be the same pain I usually get whenever I do anything, but which was still CAUSED by squats initially.

So if you can put the bar a bit higher, while still being under some sort of shoulder bone, and still being on the deltoids but not the traps... try that. For at least a few sessions. It might still take a while to fix the elbow once you take away whatever the cause was.

[redshift]

I don't feel like answering elbow questions anymore, because everytime I fix my elbow problems and tell people how I did it, I then get another elbow problems from something else.

Do you or anyone think that once you get elbow problems you pretty much get them for life?

Im like you, I seem to get it every few months.

[Dastardly]

A common squat grip issue is trying to use either an ultra narrow grip or "elbows back & up" to try and hold the bar in place.

People seem to forget that the only thing they need to focus on is thoracic extension, if you do it properly everything is nice & tight with minimal strain on shoulders/hands/elbows.

I dont know if this is the problem for you, but it certainly is common.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

I had tried narrowing my grip awhile back, and got the elbow-hurts something awful. Assorted forearm stretches, ibuprofen, and widening the grip out a touch took care of it.

Also, if you get elbow pain from playing tennis, I believe it's probably tennis elbow.

[confuzzl3don3]

Nar i got the elbow pain from doing extended periods of intense activity with my arm. Happened that week when as well when i played some recreational basketball. It went al pins and needles on me. Anyways i seemed to have got it sorted out. The pain seems to have gone for the most part. It's a minor ache now after periods of intense arm activity.