hey all,i have been bouldering for a year now,sportclimbed for about 3months before that and am hassled by niggling elbow injuries.it all started with my left elbow,never had a problem with right and now that ones started aswell.it a pain on the inside of elbow above the forearm which becomes dibilitating sometimes when climbing.when not climbing it just a irritating shocking sensation every now and then.decided to have a break(as hard as its been)and havnt climbed in a month.all was going well after the 1rst 2.5 weeks so started doing ristcurls with very light 2kg dumbells.after two days of this the shocking sensation started again.i am alot stronger than some of my buddys and do hard problems which they try do yet this doesnt happen to them!!!starting to loose my cool with all this.anyone had the same/similar problems.how long did you rest?any suggestions.why???i also was seeing a physio for awhile which only helped a bit.any advice would be nice.shot,hope no1 ever has to go through this shit.cheers

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mat

welcome to the wonderful world of elbow tendonitis!! Some of us are apparently genetically predisposed to suffer from it, yay! NOT! I struggled with this monster for years!

Back off the grades, at least until you have built a solid base level of fitness then work up them slowly. Develop open hand stregth so you dont crimp so much, vary the way you take holds as much as possible even if they are all jugs. Start stretching, especially your back and shoulders, its important to flush out old lactic acid so that the tiny overworked muscles in your forearms can recover.

Get the physio to give you shoulder stabilisation exercises and do them religiously, wirst curls can irrtate inflamed tendons, try wrist pronaters instead, they stabilise and strengthen the forearm without the tendons sliding backward and forward in their sheaths (as with wrist curls) which is what causes the irritation.

Once you are pain free and strong again it will still hurt on hard climbs, deal with it! Cranking hard routes freakin hurts period. Pain at first that disappears as you warm up is ok as are occasional dull pains during workouts, sharp pain or pain that builds and/or persists after a workout is not! If you are experiencing the latter you are not fixed yet. Go back to the physio (if you can go to one who is a climber you will be in the best hands) and listen to what they tell you to do! Good luck! Your symptoms sound mild, hope you get fixed before the pain radiates up your arm and across into the spine, and the elbow becomes inoperable and you cant lift a teacup!!

Hey Mat

Give me a call - this can go away.

Ciao

Guy

082 2940899

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There's no point being pessimistic, because it probably won't work

Check out these links:

http://www.nicros.com/New%20Training%20 ... ning.shtml

http://www.climbinginjuries.com/elbow.htm

thanks for the advice,appreciate it

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mat

A little bit of advice, sometime these things stay with your for a long time and you just have to climb through them. Obviously if the pain is severe you must rest but some people will climb with a niggle for a long time and are predisposed to these kinds of problems (like me). I currently have two fingers mummified in tape from working a crimpy project even after a month. Rest will only get you so far and active recovery is by far the best.