Pull-up tendonitis, exactly where?

[tom]

I have read/heard of pull-ups causing tendonitis. Way back, fifteen years ago when I used to do them, I never had a problem. I've recently started doing them again since my weight has dropped. Just one can flare up a very painful spot.

The spot is bone that sticks out on the inside of the elbow, right by the funny bone. Is that where you get it, John and others?

It's very painful, it feels tender to the touch. I'm wondering if there aren't some trigger points nearby that help. Are the muscles so tight that they are wearing on the tendon?

As I mentioned, just one easy pull-up can cause the pain. I'm going to try some of my dit dat jow, that Chinese liniment. Any other suggestions are helpful.

Tom

[JoeJustice]

I just figure one of these days it'll quit hurting, or I'll be dead--one or the other- lol!
Donna

Or both! It's a win win!! :rotfl:

-Joe

[gruntbrain]

Strictly a guess based on Dr Len Schwartz's tennis elbow cure:

Try finger extensions againt the resistance of a rubber band( or DVRs or DSRs using the other hand)

[tom]

Donna, is it on that inside bone right by the funny bone? I can rest mine and sometimes it's better in a day or even a few hours. That makes me think it is related to a muscle spasm or something.

Grunt, I have read that cure several places and should apply myself more to it. I read it when I had no problems and didn't have a feel for it. Now, ouch. I don't know why it has happened all of a sudden. I was always a pretty good grip guy and never had problems.

:qq: I have no particular reason to use this smilie and don't know what it means, but it's cute.

Tom

[DJ]

Tom,

For what it's worth, I have the same thing and my doctor told me it was called "Golfer's Elbow". Evidently, pain on the inside is "Golfer's Elbow" and pain on the outside is "Tennis Elbow". She told me to wear one of those braces (which of course I haven't done :act-up:) for a couple of weeks and to ice it. You may want to look it up on your favorite medical site and get more information. I hope that helps.

DJ

[gruntbrain]

While rehabbing try "hands free" pullups: use Ab Slings or a homemade equivalent to initiate the pull from your upper arms( isolates the lats)

[vegetus25]

A few things that seem to be helping my elbows:

1. I do the stretches Clark mentioned, but do them w/ my hands against a wall. I push my hands against the wall while pulling my shoulders back. This gives a good stretch.

2. Massaging around my elbows (above and below).

3. I started taking Manganese. It seems to have helped.

4. I stated using G-T-G instead of one condensed workout. I think this has helped, but it could be one workout would have been fine if I had not been trying for high volume/little rest between sets.

Good luck to all who are trying to get over this.

God bless,

Veg

[chris64]

This is exactly what I had a few months ago, tendinitis on the tissue lose to the inner point of the elbow joint. I got it mainly from too much volume on my chin ups. I was doing the Armstrong pull up workout which involves doing them 5 times a week on consecutive days. I am not saying thats a bad program simply that it wasnt right for me.

I ended up going to a physiotherapist three or four times for some sort of electro therapy and icing it at home several times a day. I took a month off chin ups during this and when I returned I stopped as soon as I felt the slightest twinge. I have now returned to doing them but keep it to once or twice a week for multiple sets. I think when I try to increse my reps I will do a GTG routine using half to two thirds of my one rep max.

[HE LIVES IN MY HEART]

A chiropractor once explained to me that the reason that the tendonitis occurs is that as you perform the exercise and your forearms begin to fatigue, the stress is transferred from the belly of the muscles to the tendons. Place too much stress on the tendons and tendonitis develops. The best prevention is terminating your reps well short of failure; in other words, train, don't strain.

[A1C Evans]

A chiropractor once explained to me that the reason that the tendonitis occurs is that as you perform the exercise and your forearms begin to fatigue, the stress is transferred from the belly of the muscles to the tendons. Place too much stress on the tendons and tendonitis develops. The best prevention is terminating your reps well short of failure; in other words, train, don't strain.

Makes sense, that would allow you to recover a lot faster and be able to do them more frequently throughout the week. But to make the muscles and tendons better able to handle the stress you could work on DSR, DVR and isos for the same muscles to make you stronger at pullups.

[Free]

I got this too, when I first started doing pullups. Once you overdo it, the healing of this injury takes some time, so be patient.

One thing I used to help my injury heal, and strengthen my forearm, is a Gyroscope device:
http://www.dynaflexpro.com/store.php?crn=208

I think the Warrior Power T's would also be a good way to strengthen the areas that are causing trouble.

[A1C Evans]

I got this too, when I first started doing pullups. Once you overdo it, the healing of this injury takes some time, so be patient.

One thing I used to help my injury heal, and strengthen my forearm, is a Gyroscope device:
http://www.dynaflexpro.com/store.php?crn=208

I think the Warrior Power T's would also be a good way to strengthen the areas that are causing trouble.

Really? Doesnt overstrengthening the forearm flexors cause or aggrivate tendonitis too?

[blackbelt]

Really? Doesnt overstrengthening the forearm flexors cause or aggrivate tendonitis too?

I could be wrong. But, I think tendonitis is the result of TRYING to get too strong too fast. It’s the pushing of the muscles past their “breaking point”. At that point, more of the load is transferred to the tendons themselves.

Am I correct? John? Free? Anyone?

[Royce]

A number of my Qi Gong students have had bouts of tennis elbow. After receiving personal instruction, many of my students have gotten relief from the stretching exercise suggested by Grunt. Others have gotten great relief from meridian tapping.

I do have prepared a Primer that teaches meridian tapping, and it is free for the asking. But learning meridian tapping on your own isn’t always as easy as you might expect.

In addition, I want to suggest an approach that, strictly speaking, IS NOT meridian tapping. Nonetheless, it has worked very well for some.

Start off with the stretching that Grunt suggests. Follow that by gently—and I mean gently—tapping the sore elbow with the fist of your of your opposite hand. Repeat these protocols as needed throughout the day.

[Nathan]

Hey Blackbelt,

I believe you are right. I think the tendonitis is from you trying to get too strong to fast. I had a similar experience when I first tried doing pull-ups GTG style. I did way to many pull-ups to fast and was pushing myself way to hard. As a result I started getting elbow tendonitis. But all I did to fix that was to take a week off from amy pull-ups and I was fine. Anyway I hope this answers your question.

---Nathan---

[Free]

I could be wrong. But, I think tendonitis is the result of TRYING to get too strong too fast. It’s the pushing of the muscles past their “breaking point”. At that point, more of the load is transferred to the tendons themselves.

Am I correct? John? Free? Anyone?

That would be my understanding. Another difference between using the Gyro device, and the Pullup, is that, in the Pullup, you are putting tremendous strain in one position, and a lot of weight behind it. When you are using the Gyro, you are rotating your wrist around, which strengthens, and stretches the tendons. There is also little weight involved, and you are gently working the muscles and tendons in the forearm, in a gradually increasing pattern, rather than subjecting them to intense weight in one position.

I would still back off, and give it some rest before using the Gyro, or other wrist strengthening devices. Then you can work up to stronger forearms before getting back to doing Pullups. In the mean time you can do DVR pullups, which are surprisingly effective in increasing your pullup numbers anyway.

[tom]

Royce, where are you tapping with the opposite fist? I can't imagine it on the sore spot itself. When it's flared, the lightest touch is agony.

I've been trying massaging around the surrounding muscle. It seems to work some. It's strange. It can flare just like that, and then sometimes, an hour or so later, I have to poke around real hard to find it. Yeah, that sounds dumb, but my point is it goes away quickly, sometimes.

That makes me think that in my case, at least, it is muscle related, a spasm or something. I'm going to look for my trigger point book.

Tom

[Royce]

Yeah, by the bone on the inside when your palm is facing up.
I have done the suggested stretches and exercises, but I still get twinges in it when I use it.
Someone suggested massaging that area also.
There was also an arm grab exercise that helped someone:
http://www.noweightsworkout.com/exercises/armgrabs.php

I don't know that this has helped me, but I enjoy doing that exercise :)


Donna :pumpkin::skeleton::ghost:

Hey Donna,

Thanks for mentioning Steve Hamp. Steve showed up on Larry’s site some months ago. Certainly, he seems to be in good shape.

Like you, I like the exercise you referenced in your post. However, Steve advocates far more repetitions than I like to do. But to each his own. I have used the exercise, too, and it’s excellent.

By the way how many repetitions do you do?

And if you do get another sore elbow, please do try the elbow tapping that I suggested.

[Royce]

Donna,

Steve’s exercise provides a nice variation to the Tiger Moves. Certainly, there’s something to be said for variety. I can’t say I have tried it for treating tendonitis.
But I’ve never been convinced that high reps work well for me, regardless of what form of exercise I’m using. But I do urge people to experiment in order to determine what is best for them individually.

Anyway, I think that the stretching and gentle tapping on the elbow work well. I’ve, certainly, never consider stopping all exercise when I get tendonitis. I just don’t think that’s the way to go.

[tom]

Ahem. Ahem! AHEM!

So, where do you tap the elbow? Just around the bad joint? All over the elbow except the bad joint? I'm assuming not directly on the tendon sore spot.

Tom

[Royce]

Ahem. Ahem! AHEM!

So, where do you tap the elbow? Just around the bad joint? All over the elbow except the bad joint? I'm assuming not directly on the tendon sore spot.

Tom

Understand that I'm not giving you medical advice. What follows is what I would do if I had tendonitis in my elbow.


First of all, Istretch as discussed in a previous post.

After you do that, extend the arm that has the sore elbow in front of you. Your arm should be parallel with the floor, with your knuckles facing upward and your fingers extended.

Now trace an imaginary line from the top of your knuckles to your elbow. With the fist of your other hand GENTLY tap on the top position of the elbow. Tap at least twelve times.

Bend and stretch after tapping and then tap again.

This should bring you some needed relief.

[gruntbrain]

As with DVRs & VRTs, Hamp's arm moves can be performed using the HIT protocol at one extreme & the cardio("unlimited" reps, no rest) protocol at the other. When rehabbing lean more to the cardio end of the scale

[truth42day]

This forum is fantastic. I typed in elbow pain and w/o even having to state where & how someone else has had this....and all from pull ups. I'm a whimp w/pull ups only being able to do 5-6 straight...but I have seen when I've tried pyramids up and back w/just close grip pulls/chins my elbows REALLY hurt. Thanks for the wisdom. I believe I'm trying to get strong too fast and the suggested stretches, taps and DVR's I'm going to start (as well as laying off these for a week or more)...being 50 has some advantages and disadvantages :)!

[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,


The Pull-Up is a favorite exercise of mine but I have to be careful too or I can easily inflame a tendon. So with that in mind always remember that Pull-Ups utilize very close to 100 % of one's body weight on each repetition and depending upon one's length of limbs, leverage, and weight distribution, Pull-Ups may be, and are, far more difficult for some people than for others. Bottomline: Don't be hard on yourself if Pull-Ups don't work for you personally, we have plenty of other exercises that cover ALL the bases perfectly.


---John Peterson

[tom]

Some tricks that semi-work on me:

Pinch/Pull the skin out from that inside protruding bone and pinch and twist. I don't know why, but the inflammation will go away, sometimes completely. That means it is not inflammation, but spasm? I dunno.

If I don't wrap my thumb around the bar, sometimes there is no problem. This seems to indicate a grip connection.

FWIW on your body,
Tom

[gruntbrain]

"Hands free" chinups where the pull is intiated from the wrists( webbing around ttour wrists & the bar) minimizes the tendonitis risk . Such a setup places a greater load on the lats so expect fewer reps.

[Hank_Z]

Hey Friends,


... Bottomline: Don't be hard on yourself if Pull-Ups don't work for you personally, we have plenty of other exercises that cover ALL the bases perfectly.


---John Peterson

John,

I really appreciate this particular post. I can't yet come close to doing a single pull-up. When I was 40 years younger and 115 pounds lighter, I could do tons of push-ups but not a single pull-up. Not one pull-up in my entire life.:dazed: I'll keep working at the pull-ups with the aerobic isometric and other exercises that will help. But I'm not sure if I'll ever become a "pull-up guy."

I'm one of those people who can easily become too hard on ourselves. Especially when it's an exercise...such as pull-ups...that we know you and other top athletes benefit so much from. That's why I especially appreciate your post, John.

- Hank

[Flash11740]

While rehabbing try "hands free" pullups: use Ab Slings or a homemade equivalent to initiate the pull from your upper arms( isolates the lats)

Please could you provide a more detailed description of how to do this. I'm not quite seeing it yet, but this would probably help scratch my pull up itch.

[vegetus25]

I just wanted to update my previous post.

A co-worker kind of scared me off the Manganese. I have stopped taking it (except for the amount in a multi vitamin)...so far so good. I think (hope) it was the stretches that have helped my elbows. Time will tell.

God bless,

Veg