my elbowes are on fire - Techniques & Training Forum

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my elbowes are on fire

Tuesday 17th February 2009 at 7:57:53 PM

benners145
Rank: Belay Test Passer
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iv been climbing for a few months now about once or twice a week. but lately ive tried going 3-4 times a week and my elbows really start to hurt. Ive been taking anti-inflammatory and iceing them after i climb as well as wear some things around my elbows which seems to help, but is there anything else i can do to help prevent this or alleviate the soarness and make sure this isnt something that can really be damaging if i dont take care of it

Wednesday 18th February 2009 at 9:34:00 PM

chilli
Rank: Cut-loose Expert
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a lot of times painful elbows are a sign of medial or lateral epicondylitis. this is pain caused by inflammation of the attachment points of some of your forearm muscles. most of the time in climbing, this is due to overexertion or hypertrophy of the flexor muscles (your grip muscles) with little attention to the antagonistic muscle groups (i.e the extensors - your opening the hand muslces). there are a few thoughts from various people on battling medial and lateral epicondylitis. some antagonistic muscle exercises for the forearms are as follows...

rotation exercises: with your forearm horizontal and a weight in your hand rotate your arm so that your palm (or fingers closed around the weight) faces up and down. there are also weight systems specifically designed for this with a weight on a string around a circular tube with a handle in the middle (which is supposed to be even better - but i find a simple barbell weight does the trick)

wrist extensors: forearm resting on a strudy surface like a weight bench, holding a bar-bell weight with your palm facing down, 'extend' your wrist so that your knuckles rotate toward your elbow.

finger extensors: with your hand in a position as if you were holding an imaginary tennis ball with your fingertips (and thumb tip), put a thick rubber band around your fingertips (and thumbtip) - not wrapped around each one but a circle around your fingertips holding the imaginary tennis ball. now open your grip (as though dropping the ball) and the rubber badn will provide resistance - thus you exercise your finger extensors

it's also a good idea to exercise other antagonistic muscle groups by doing push-ups or other presses. your goal is not to bulk up, but simply to give these muscle groups enough tone so that things are not out of balance.

other than that the ice is a good idea. and don't keep pushing yourself. it's never a good idea to climb for several days in a row - your muscles and tendons need time for recovery. but you should be able to climb at least a 3 times a week without a problem. if the antagonistic muscle exercises and rest days don't do the trick, it's time to see a doctor.

hope that helps.

Wednesday 18th February 2009 at 9:52:31 PM

benners145
Rank: Belay Test Passer
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thanks for the advise!

Tuesday 27th October 2009 at 7:55:46 AM

harrodnj
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Just to keep this topic alive for people still having issues with tendinotis and whatnot, check out the Powerball!!

http://www.powerballs.com/

Wednesday 18th November 2009 at 9:12:51 AM

Tom1987
Rank: Belay Test Passer
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Push-Ups!!!

I was the same way, I started climbing back in August and my elbows were killing me. It was to the point where just thinking about climbing was a sending shooting pain strait to my elbow. Then I went on an a 3 day outdoor trip and I couldn't drive home because it of the pain. When I got back I started doing push ups and the pain went away within days.

Its the balance of pushing/pulling muscles. Climbing is all pulling and no pushing so it creates to much tension in your pulling mucles/tendons on your bones causing that intense pain.

Try doing 3-4 sets of push ups twice a week.

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