Persistent elbow troubles

[Jeff Hendrix]

The doctor told me I have bursitis in my elbows a few weeks ago. I just got off of a complete ten day rest period went to the gym yesterday to do squats, TGUs, and tried to do some pullups. I've been kind of spotty with the NSAIDs that the doc prescribed because I'm a little scared of the long-term effect on the tissues (I had this arise in high school after staying on some AI for an extended period, but I can't remember its name any more). Besides that, they don't really seem to help the pain any.

I didn't get through more than five pullups before I noticed elbow pain, and they've been hurting off and on throughout the last 10 days prior. The pain seems to move around--sometimes it's on the medial side of the humerus and sometimes (like now) it's on the lateral side, just between where the humerus meets the ulna/radius. Given that this was completely preventing me from holding more than 135 lbs. overhead (I couldn't do more than a 115 snatch) on the 20th of last month, should I expect this to continue a while longer or should I go see the doc again?

Before my extended break I tried to work through it without doing much overhead work to no avail, so I've probably kept it pretty aggravated. It actually hurt a little bit bending my elbows yesterday while I was under the bar doing squats!

There is no visible swelling, though it is slightly tender to the touch.

[Mike ODonnell]

Layoff pullups for a while....they are usually a big suspect for elbow tendinitis.

[Steven Low]

Rest obviously. Biggest thing -- if you aggravate it then it will stick around long past when you should've gotten better.

Ice! If it's not muscular, pretty much ice is the way to go.

Massage -- more bloodflow to speed up healing. If it is bursitis or the tendon then they generally have very bad blood supply... so massage around the areas and most of the deeper tissue work pull back up towards your heart.

Anti-inflams as well.. fish oil, NSAIDs, etc. should be fine

[Jeff Hendrix]

I'll give it a shot, Steven.

Man, I was just getting all excited about beginning some serious O-lift training too. I guess this is as good a time as any to work on squats, huh?

[Garrett Smith]

Cold laser aka low intensity laser can usually clear up an issue like this in <3 treatments in my experience. You'll have to Google in your area, or search here for practitioners: www.meditech-bioflex.com .

If that's out of your price range, look for info on contrast hydrotherapy and/or DMSO.