I Now Have an Elbow Injury. What is It?

[Schwank]

I've now apparently sustained an injury to the joints/tendons of BOTH elbows; however my left elbow feels the worse of the two. I believe that Seated Overhead Dumbell Tricep Extensions and Hammer Curls are the culprits behind my elbows' pain. For example, over the past few weeks I've noticed pain in my hands (left hand in particular) and wrist when doing both the aforementioned exercises. I foolishly ignored it and pressed on; I assumed the pain was merely resultant from a "weak grip".

Now I can't flex my arm without experiencing pain in the middle of the elbow, about an inch above its bony protrusion. Extending my arm outwards elicits little pain, however.

I googled and searched this forum and my symptoms sound more like "golfer's elbow" than "tennis elbow" because of the pain's location. However, there are TWO important distinction that don't fit the above-mentioned conditions: I don't have pain from bending my wrist downward or upward; and I have this pain in BOTH ELBOWS (which, from what I've read, doesn't seem to happen).

I have only been having this pain for 2 days now. And the pain is fairly mild, so going to the doctor isn't necessary yet.

So what do you guys think this is? I don't know how to best proceed because I'm not certain as to what it is.

 

[CaptainJ]

I've had this before, but i got it from squatting. Have you been squatting with improper grip on the bar?

It's a real ***** and takes a while to heal, but just do wrist stretches, and tricep stretches and a bit of foam rolling the areas with a tennis ball and they should recover. This is why it's important to stretch before working out.

 

[Schwank]

No, it's definitely not from squatting. As I wrote, I believe it's from the intense pressure applied through Overhead Dumbell Extensions and Hammer Curls.

As for your suggestion on doing tricep extensions, that's completely out of the question. Any tricep stretch would be inadvertently further debilitating.

a bit of foam rolling the areas with a tennis ball

What is this? Exactly how is this performed?

Thanks!

 

[Drum&Bass]

Your going to have to back off of any tricep work for a bit.

You will have to systematically eliminate certain tricep exercises that cause you pain when you do them. Sometimes it could be a simple adjustment in technique or it could be that your body wasn't designed to do them.

Bottom line, NEVER continuously do an exercises that hurts you. Try adjusting your technique for a few reps and if it doesn't help, get rid of the exercises completely or for the time being.
try not to lock out your elbows when doing isolation work especially curls dont drop your arms all the way down at the bottom always keep your elbows bent.

Also you shouldnt train your arms with heavy or maximal weight. Arm exercises are best done with weight you can do for reps. Your better off burning out your arms instead of trying to lift max weight with them.

Try focusing more on these exercises

EZ bar Reverse Grip Curls
tricep pull down (rope)
Farmers Walk
Dips

 

[CaptainJ]

No, it's definitely not from squatting. As I wrote, I believe it's from the intense pressure applied through Overhead Dumbell Extensions and Hammer Curls.

Thanks!

How do you know it's not from squatting? Do you have perfect squat grip form? i.e your wrists are straight and not bent under the bar and therefore carrying some of the weight. It's a VERY common problem caused by squatting without straight wrists which puts huge pressure on the triceps and elbows, giving you the exact problem you described.

You perform foam rolling by getting the tennis ball, applying to to the muscle area around where it hurts and pressing it against a wall/floor and rolling out the knots. The problem you have is that you have knots in your triceps, which are tight and causing pain when you use the muscle and move the elbow. Stretches will help this.