tendon issue(s) in my left arm

[Pantlegz]

So since going to the gym today went so bad I decided to do a little googleing and it appears that I have tendonitis in everything from my elbow to my thumb... I've got pain at the back of my elbow, sometimes extending up into the triceps depending on how bad it gets. This pain actually hasn't been as bad lately. My forearm however is really bad at the points they say are typical with tendonitis there, basically the top/outside just below the elbow and mid-forearm what feels like right between the bones. And Lastly de quervain's tendonitis, making a fist with my thumb in and moving laterally towards the pinky I get pain around the top of my forearm kind of close to my wrist wrapping around to the base of my thumb, it hurts worst right at the side of my wrist.

This really couldn't have come at a worse time. I've got a blue belt test coming in about 2-4 weeks. I've got a tournament to compete in, in about a month(hopefully before the blue belt test). And I've got to at very least maintain weight/muscle mass but I'd like to continue with the success I've had cutting and maintaining strength.

I'm thinking cortisone injection(s) for the time being to help reduce pain/inflammation along with OTC anti-inflammatories and ice regularly. Along regular(weekly?) PT at the gym, I've got basically free unlimited access to a PT that doesn't mind helping out so I might as well take advantage of it. But is there anything else I should do? Aside from rest because that isn't going to happen right now. I think long term, if I end up going back to a dr anyway, I'll request an MRI initially because last time they didn't really do anything to help. I was told to "take it easy" and they offered cortisone if I wanted it. The gym PT and massage chick worked on it for a few weeks after occupational therapy didn't help at all and it's been pretty much ok for 6+ months so this may just be a flare up that has really bad timing or could it be something more severe considering it's basically all the tendons from my elbow down my arm?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I don't have too much time to type up a full reply, but you have to think of WHY is this happening? It has something to do with you and your activity level/choice. Cortisone injections aren't the answer until conservative therapy and reduced activity have shown to be ineffective. You haven't stopped activity and that's the problem. You can't keep working at the intensity you're working at while rehabbing. You have to unload the tissues for them to heal. That means, stopping the aggravating activities, breaking up adhesions or limitations that cause excess tension, and slowly/methodically reload that tissue, then return to activity. Yes, you have a lot of stuff going on, but would you rather fail your blue belt test or take a rest and try later? Honestly, if you keep doing this, especially if you're considering cortisone injections instead of resting the tissues, you're on track to tear something and be out for a very long time.

 

[Pantlegz]

There are a few issues with taking time off. First and probably most importantly is I have no idea what's causing the tendon issues. Do I lift heavy? Sure but that shouldn't cause the recurring issues I've had. BJJ can be hard on joints but I've always been careful, especially with my left arm. I spent at least $500 (after insurance) going to doctors and the only "answer" I got was just take it easy. And I have taken time off, when I initially hurt it I took about 2 months off just to be safe. Since then I've taken 3 months off lifting specifically for my arm and another 2-3(3-4 weeks at a time) off of everything due to the arm. And yes taking the time off stops the pain but about once every 3-6 months it will flare up again, I could probably help by being better about icing it and taking more anti-inflammatories when it's not hurting.

Honestly I'd use cortisone as a last resort and would probably not do more than 1 or 2 injections probably just before the test/tournament and possibly after depending on how far before and how it responds. I also plan on changing up my lifting routine and for the next 4 weeks would be lifting considerably lighter, I wanted to wait until after competing to make the change but if Thursday goes as bad as Tuesday I really wont have a choice. This would dramatically cut back on the intensity factor. In BJJ I can just tape it/tap early/let whoever I'm rolling with know that it's hurt and have them take it easy which I do already when it's bothering me. That means they basically attack my left arm because they know they'll get a tap but it just means I'm getting better at not giving up my arms.

As far as putting stuff off, that's not an option. The blue belt test is probably the only one for a year and I don't plan on being here for more than another 6 months. Normally I wouldn't care but I really want to get my blue belt under these guys. They've become a bit of an extended family for me, hell most of them have more idea as to what's been going on lately than anyone related to me. The tournament I could skip and might depending on when my test is. It's a pretty big tournament and I don't want to go and look like a fool right after getting my blue belt, especially with a messed up arm. And taking it easy lifting isn't going to happen either, I've got ~6 weeks until I get to see my girlfriend again and want to surprise her a little at her graduation from basic. Not that I feel I need to it's just something I want to do... being in worse shape then isn't really an option, for me. Once that's done I might take some time off depending on how everything works out in the mean time.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I rub this stuff into the irritated area multiple times a day until it burns so bad I can't stand it. When I train I put a neoprene sleeve over the joint to keep it warm and take 3 advil plus 2 aspirin three times a day.

I do not claim this as a cure to your problem, but it allows me to work through eblow and knee "issues".

 

[Sixguns]

I rub this stuff into the irritated area multiple times a day until it burns so bad I can't stand it. When I train I put a neoprene sleeve over the joint to keep it warm and take 3 advil plus 2 aspirin three times a day.

I do not claim this as a cure to your problem, but it allows me to work through eblow and knee "issues".

I hate that crap! Stuff burns so much I thought my knee was really on fire and could not wash the stuff off. Never used it again.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I hate that crap! Stuff burns so much I thought my knee was really on fire and could not wash the stuff off. Never used it again.

The burning means it's working. Put a sleeve over that stuff and you will know the feeling of glory.

 

[Pantlegz]

Well the good new is the bad news... it is tendinitis. It was actually a lot better tonight I was able to roll a few hours without it interfering. The PT said it was pretty inflamed which I kind of knew but also said it wasn't all that bad except for the fact that elbow tendinitis is a pain in the ass to heal and can come back basically whenever. Not that I didn't already know that. I'll lift as usual tomorrow, if I can, and switch to JTS Sunday which will be a little more volume but considerably less weight. Hopefully that will be enough to allow this to heal up and not be completely inactive. Taking NSAIDs and ice seems to work well last night so I'll contiune that, do the stretches and go from there. He suggested waiting at least 2 weeks before considering cortisone injections... which is about the time frame I would start considering them anyway. For now we'll try to manage it without and see where it goes and make that decision based on how recovery goes. I think I may convert this thread into my stupid arm pain blog rather than fill my workout log with this stuff.

 

[MrEgo]

I rub this stuff into the irritated area multiple times a day until it burns so bad I can't stand it. When I train I put a neoprene sleeve over the joint to keep it warm and take 3 advil plus 2 aspirin three times a day.

I do not claim this as a cure to your problem, but it allows me to work through eblow and knee "issues".

I know that may take care of the symptom, but it doesn't address the cause. Wouldn't it be a bad idea to keep working through pain? If you're getting tendonitis that badly, don't you run the risk of severely damaging something if you don't let it heal?

 

[MrEgo]

Well the good new is the bad news... it is tendinitis. It was actually a lot better tonight I was able to roll a few hours without it interfering. The PT said it was pretty inflamed which I kind of knew but also said it wasn't all that bad except for the fact that elbow tendinitis is a pain in the ass to heal and can come back basically whenever. Not that I didn't already know that. I'll lift as usual tomorrow, if I can, and switch to JTS Sunday which will be a little more volume but considerably less weight. Hopefully that will be enough to allow this to heal up and not be completely inactive. Taking NSAIDs and ice seems to work well last night so I'll contiune that, do the stretches and go from there. He suggested waiting at least 2 weeks before considering cortisone injections... which is about the time frame I would start considering them anyway. For now we'll try to manage it without and see where it goes and make that decision based on how recovery goes. I think I may convert this thread into my stupid arm pain blog rather than fill my workout log with this stuff.

I'll speak from experience of having tendonitis in the right wrist, left elbow, and left shoulder - it never went away for me until I went to physical therapy. I kept trying to work through it, hoping it would just go away, but it never did. Anti-inflammatory meds helped, but the problem still existed.

In fact, I'm currently in physical therapy right now addressing my left shoulder because I can't bench press comfortably. If I rotate my left arm at the shoulder socket, it sounds like a pack of firecrackers going off. Therapist says damn near the entire joint is tight as hell, which is causing my supraspinatus to get irritated when I put pressure on it. I'm getting ultrasounds, shock therapy, and she's doing some crazy stetches with my arm that couldn't be done by me or by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. It's definitely helping. I'm able to bench press without pain again, but I'm going to have to wait a few months before I start doing heavy weight. She says stick with low-weight, high rep activity until the joint regains its strength and mechanical correctness.

 

[Pantlegz]

I know that may take care of the symptom, but it doesn't address the cause. Wouldn't it be a bad idea to keep working through pain? If you're getting tendonitis that badly, don't you run the risk of severely damaging something if you don't let it heal?

Right, I would rather not just mask the pain. I'm doing the best I can to 'take it easy' I'll be dropping my lifts that effect the arm ~100lbs going from a max set of 5x315 to 5x10x205 for the first week benching. I'll also be sure I don't do any more curls because that will make it worse, and is probably what caused this to flare up in the first place. There is a chance that I could cause serious damage to the tendon but the way I look at it is, worst case I get a cadaver tendon(s) which would probably be better than what I've got causing me problems. It would also force me to take some time off for it to heal. That is obviously worst case and I'm not at all hoping it happens but really, not all that bad. At least not bad enough that I'm not willing to take the risk. But really the pain is manageable at this point as long as I don't try to push it too hard I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[Pantlegz]

I'll speak from experience of having tendonitis in the right wrist, left elbow, and left shoulder - it never went away for me until I went to physical therapy. I kept trying to work through it, hoping it would just go away, but it never did. Anti-inflammatory meds helped, but the problem still existed.

In fact, I'm currently in physical therapy right now addressing my left shoulder because I can't bench press comfortably. If I rotate my left arm at the shoulder socket, it sounds like a pack of firecrackers going off. Therapist says damn near the entire joint is tight as hell, which is causing my supraspinatus to get irritated when I put pressure on it. I'm getting ultrasounds, shock therapy, and she's doing some crazy stetches with my arm that couldn't be done by me or by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. It's definitely helping. I'm able to bench press without pain again, but I'm going to have to wait a few months before I start doing heavy weight. She says stick with low-weight, high rep activity until the joint regains its strength and mechanical correctness.

I'm seeing a PT, he does BJJ with me and doesn't mind helping out for free after class. He did some joint manipulation and gave me a few things to do I'll have him check it weekly even after it's not hurting. This isn't the first time it's flared up. I think curls actually caused the stress on my elbow and caused it to flare up again, which doesn't really hurt my feelings I've done curls like 3 times in the last year.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

There are a few issues with taking time off. First and probably most importantly is I have no idea what's causing the tendon issues. Do I lift heavy? Sure but that shouldn't cause the recurring issues I've had. BJJ can be hard on joints but I've always been careful, especially with my left arm. I spent at least $500 (after insurance) going to doctors and the only "answer" I got was just take it easy. And I have taken time off, when I initially hurt it I took about 2 months off just to be safe. Since then I've taken 3 months off lifting specifically for my arm and another 2-3(3-4 weeks at a time) off of everything due to the arm. And yes taking the time off stops the pain but about once every 3-6 months it will flare up again, I could probably help by being better about icing it and taking more anti-inflammatories when it's not hurting.

Honestly I'd use cortisone as a last resort and would probably not do more than 1 or 2 injections probably just before the test/tournament and possibly after depending on how far before and how it responds. I also plan on changing up my lifting routine and for the next 4 weeks would be lifting considerably lighter, I wanted to wait until after competing to make the change but if Thursday goes as bad as Tuesday I really wont have a choice. This would dramatically cut back on the intensity factor. In BJJ I can just tape it/tap early/let whoever I'm rolling with know that it's hurt and have them take it easy which I do already when it's bothering me. That means they basically attack my left arm because they know they'll get a tap but it just means I'm getting better at not giving up my arms.

As far as putting stuff off, that's not an option. The blue belt test is probably the only one for a year and I don't plan on being here for more than another 6 months. Normally I wouldn't care but I really want to get my blue belt under these guys. They've become a bit of an extended family for me, hell most of them have more idea as to what's been going on lately than anyone related to me. The tournament I could skip and might depending on when my test is. It's a pretty big tournament and I don't want to go and look like a fool right after getting my blue belt, especially with a messed up arm. And taking it easy lifting isn't going to happen either, I've got ~6 weeks until I get to see my girlfriend again and want to surprise her a little at her graduation from basic. Not that I feel I need to it's just something I want to do... being in worse shape then isn't really an option, for me. Once that's done I might take some time off depending on how everything works out in the mean time.

Why shouldn't that cause the recurring issues you've had? You let it rest for 8 weeks, which does more harm than good. You let the tendon and connective tissue atrophy due to the lack of tension, allowing its tensile strength to reduce. Then you return to activity that is much too high level for proper recovery from a tendon injury. Your pace is not a rehab pace, it is much too aggressive for that. That's why you keep getting injured. From the day of injury, tendons (with proper tensioning and PT) typically take 4-6 weeks to start healing correctly. From there, they can take over a year to put down the proper amounts of collagen to have sufficient tensile strength for serious lifting. A lot of people can get there in 3-4mo if they get really good muscular mobility, joint mobility, etc. You continue to have this because you continue to stress it without proper intervention in between. Cortisone is not the answer for you unless you fail a true attempt at conservative therapy. Cortisone actually isn't THAT effective (tends to last several months and then symptoms tend to come back) AND it reduces the tensile strength of your connective tissue even farther. This isn't the solution for your issue. You've gotta slow down or you're gonna blow it out and be out for way, way longer than you want.

 

[Pantlegz]

When I initially took the 2 months off I was seeing the dr about it, ended up doing about a month of occupational therapy which did help some(mostly some topical steroid/stim thing), I think at some point she suggested getting back in the gym with lighter weight which I did and moved up in pretty large increments as long as it didn't hurt, which it didn't. After a few weeks of lifting with no pain she declared me 'healed' and I didn't see her again.

As far as cortisone goes, it's a very last resort if I need it. And I am seeing a PT 3 times a week and taking his advice. Which as of yesterday was do a few stretches and massage the knots in my forearm to try to break up the soft tissue and do what I can in the gym but obviously if it hurts too bad stop whatever I'm doing and if I do it again reduce the weight.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I know that may take care of the symptom, but it doesn't address the cause. Wouldn't it be a bad idea to keep working through pain? If you're getting tendonitis that badly, don't you run the risk of severely damaging something if you don't let it heal?

I don't want to derail the thread, the OP seemed to want to continue to train through his problem. I am simply sharing my relevant experience.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

When I initially took the 2 months off I was seeing the dr about it, ended up doing about a month of occupational therapy which did help some(mostly some topical steroid/stim thing), I think at some point she suggested getting back in the gym with lighter weight which I did and moved up in pretty large increments as long as it didn't hurt, which it didn't. After a few weeks of lifting with no pain she declared me 'healed' and I didn't see her again.

As far as cortisone goes, it's a very last resort if I need it. And I am seeing a PT 3 times a week and taking his advice. Which as of yesterday was do a few stretches and massage the knots in my forearm to try to break up the soft tissue and do what I can in the gym but obviously if it hurts too bad stop whatever I'm doing and if I do it again reduce the weight.

I'm just letting you know that cortisone can be pretty ineffective. I think you're viewing it as the last resort that will solve everything, but a lot of the time, it only helps with symptoms short-term.

 

[Pantlegz]

I'm just letting you know that cortisone can be pretty ineffective. I think you're viewing it as the last resort that will solve everything, but a lot of the time, it only helps with symptoms short-term.

Oh, not at all. If anything I'll use it to allow me to compete and/or take the blue belt test with less pain than normal. After those there isn't much that I would consider using it for. And it's not something I want to try, it's simply a very last resort and only to allow me to push myself harder than I know I should...

I know I've made a big deal about being a good shape by mid march but honestly I can make that happen and not use my arm much, if that's what it comes down to. I would rather not, hopefully changing up the routine will give it 4-8 weeks to heal before the weight gets real heavy again so with everything else I think I should have it well on it's way to being recovered before I start pushing hard.

 

[exdeath]

Need to lay off unless you want permanent damage.

 

[Pantlegz]

I think I found where the problem is coming from, possibly. Re-watching http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/platform_the_squat_bar_position @ about 14min in. I was holding the bar wrong... If you pay close attention to my squat video my arms are too vertical(at the top) and my elbows aren't quite up enough. Or upper back torsion, which he goes over later, either way I'll correct it. Still plan on lightening everything up and letting it heal for a while.

 

[Pantlegz]

The arm is killing me after BJJ tonight. It's weird because I didn't really use it for anything and didn't get caught in anything. about an hour in I had to take it easy on the arm and by the end I wasn't using it at all, couldn't even post on it effectively. NSAID/ice/foam rolling tonight.

 

[marmasatt]

I rub this stuff into the irritated area multiple times a day until it burns so bad I can't stand it. When I train I put a neoprene sleeve over the joint to keep it warm and take 3 advil plus 2 aspirin three times a day.

I do not claim this as a cure to your problem, but it allows me to work through eblow and knee "issues".

QFT.

4 IBs. I Ice in the morning. I ice at night. And I ice right after activity. I'm on "Tiger Balm" right now, but I've been through many of them (BenGay, Biofreeze, Blue Ice, etc). I'm a big fan of deep rub with a sleeve. And I have vicodin when needed. I haven't been well in so long I forgot what it's like. It's all pain management at this point (bulging discs, rotator cuff, meniscus thing or something in my knee).

 

[Pantlegz]

Blue belt test prep today. The arm got a little irritated but overall it was ok. Icing it right now just to be safe. More NSAID in about an hour.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Blue belt test prep today. The arm got a little irritated but overall it was ok. Icing it right now just to be safe. More NSAID in about an hour.

Good luck man, sucks when the spirit is willing but the flesh won't quit hurting and do it's god damn job.

 

[Pantlegz]

Yea man it sucks. I'm just taking it as easy as I can on the arm and I'll just do what I can. It's feeling pretty good today, changing up squat form probably helped some. And the fact that the only thing that I used my arms for today was palloff pressing and that doesn't really strain my elbow. I didn't ask but I'm pretty sure the test isn't going to be for another month or 2. Hopefully they don't schedule it when I'm going to be out of town, that would piss me off but at this point I would rather see my girlfriend and say fuck the test....

 

[Pantlegz]

The arm is feeling great tonight. No pain after BJJ. Didn't bother me much at all during, maybe a little a few times but compared to last week I'd say 90% reduction in pain. Going to keep taking it easy, hopefully 50 reps of bench press tomorrow doesn't irritate it too much.

 

[Pantlegz]

My arm is at about 90% after BJJ tonight. There was once while I was rolling that it was slightly uncomfortable and I let people go for it a few times and it was fine. Oddly enough I don't think it's fully healed and I'll give it a few more weeks of going a little easier on it and having the PT check it, at least once a week.