Elbow pain

I can get into a full crab position with proper form, but after holding for about 10 seconds and releasing the movement, I have some elbow pain.

Are there any stretches or modification that I should be doing to alleviate this or do I just keep doing the crab until it stops hurting?

Thanks.

I experienced a similar thing. My left forearm near the elbow was pretty sore/painful after doing it but subsided by the end of the day. My guess is that we're SUPER tight?

If you are experiencing elbow pain during the crab this indicates that you have tight biceps and are over stretching them during the position.

To reduce the intensity of the Crab on the biceps/elbows simply allow the shoulders to drop back behind the hands until your elbows are pain free.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

On 5/12/2016 at 0:13 AM, Coach Sommer said:

If you are experiencing elbow pain during the crab this indicates that you have tight biceps and are over stretching them during the position.

To reduce the intensity of the Crab on the biceps/elbows simply allow the shoulders to drop back behind the hands until your elbows are pain free.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Drop my shoulders behind my hands, meaning bring my elbows closer to my feet?

Essentially correct.  It may help to think of it as bringing the hands closer to your feet rather than thinking of bringing the elbows closer to the feet.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Hi Coach, hi everybody,

45 year old from Germany, one year into crossfit - and since about four month in permanent elbow pain on my right elbow. Tried all sorts of things, the Theraband Flexbar working the best in taking the pain away for a bit. Pullups usually inflame the pain right away, so do snatches and clean & jerks. Also been plateauing in my mediocre strength for some time now. Started the fundamentals to get it sorted out in the long run. Question now in regards to "taking a step back": Currently I view the programm as an addition to my usual programming. Would you advise to reduce the volume (I am a bit hesitant on this, thinking I will lose my hard earned strength, endurance and strength) and heal first. Or keep on going as before and heal eventually do to the gymnasticbodies programming. Thank you for any thoughts on this, all the best!

22 minutes ago, Oliver Hundt said:

Hi Coach, hi everybody,

45 year old from Germany, one year into crossfit - and since about four month in permanent elbow pain on my right elbow. Tried all sorts of things, the Theraband Flexbar working the best in taking the pain away for a bit. Pullups usually inflame the pain right away, so do snatches and clean & jerks. Also been plateauing in my mediocre strength for some time now. Started the fundamentals to get it sorted out in the long run. Question now in regards to "taking a step back": Currently I view the programm as an addition to my usual programming. Would you advise to reduce the volume (I am a bit hesitant on this, thinking I will lose my hard earned strength, endurance and strength) and heal first. Or keep on going as before and heal eventually do to the gymnasticbodies programming. Thank you for any thoughts on this, all the best!

If you are in permanent pain, is it really strength?  I'm lucky enough to have had holidays that last 4 weeks or longer, so for me the length of this course is not long to be stepping back from what I was doing.  This course so far has been 'light' in terms of workload, but even so, I'd be surprised if many of us are able to do all exercises to the required standard first time around.

I suggest you look at this as a 4 week rehab for your 4 months of pain, and in the long term what have you lost?  Worst case scenario, you still feel pain in four weeks time and you go back to lifting, maybe a couple of weeks behind where you are now. If you've been working hard on your lifts and are plateaued, then maybe a few weeks of deload can help you bust that plateau anyway?

Cheers

What some of you will be feeling is pressure within the joint, if your joints have not experienced any pressure like this for some time (read years) then your brain will interpret it as a painful sensation. 

If this painful sensation builds during the course of doing the crab, simply stop. Wait for it to completely pass before trying again. 

If it doesn't pass immediately, don't keep trying. 

After a few weeks, you should notice that you can now tolerate longer times of doing the movement. You may still feel this sensation upon release, it may take longer for that pressure to build during the exercise, both are signs of improvement 

Oliver, are you saying that your elbow has been giving you trouble for 8 months?

It sounds like the training you are doing is too demanding for your elbow and so it is letting you know. Pain is our friend, a friendly messenger letting us know that something is wrong. It is very unwise to ignore the message. If you do, the messenger will eventually shut you down and stop you from performing all together.

You may feel stronger in some respects from the last years training you have done with Crossfit, but it has come with a price, an elbow injury.

As an Osteopath, I would recommend backing off and sticking to the fundamentals for now. It may feel like taking a step back, and sometimes it literally is, but totally necessary to find the right path again.

I turn 39 this year and feel better than I did when I was 34, that was when I discovered GST. I'm stronger more mobile, have a higher work capacity and even more efficient with my time because of it 

Thank you Wayne and Wesley. Sometimes it is hard to accept the obvious. I will,take your advice seriously and keep my elbow out of the game for a while. In essence Want the long term results. And the pain and the plateau is sending some kind kind of message....  ;-)

A clarification question regarding the elbow pain - it seems that Coach Sommer is suggesting that elbow pain is caused by tight biceps. When doing the crab, I however have pain not on the inner (biceps) side of the elbow, but on the triceps side of the elbow (from the ulnar side). Is the cause and potential solution different? (When doing triceps exercises in the gym, I do not ever feel any pain at that spot). Thank you.  

Hi Marek,

Joints are complex structures and include all the soft tissues that cross them and hold the together. The vast majority of adults will have tight biceps simply from the fact that they never perform shoulder extension movements. 

When you get to the end of range position in the crab, some of the discomfort you feel will be due to raised pressure within the joint. Some of this pressure will be from the load in the extended position, but some will be generated by the tightness in the large muscles that cross the joint pulling the joint into further compression. Much of this extra compression will come form the biceps and forearm flexors. 

What you are feeling is most likely pressure within the joint (humero-ulna), make sure you don't stay in the position too long, as the pressure builds come out of the position and rest until it passes. The joints will adapt, slowly but surely, and as the biceps also lengthen out this will get easier and easier.

Hope that helps.

Hi There Wesley,

my crab, which was never a thing of beauty, has crashed and burnt.  I'm getting stinging pains in my elbows and finding it kind of locks when I'm extending my arm behind my back to put on a coat.  So I'm resting for the moment, keeping up the wrist mobility but I know my shoulders and scapula stability are truly uber-zombie.   I can't believe I'm asking for pre-fundamental fundamentals, but would love the get this deep ligament tightness dealt with.  Perhaps I am part of an uber zombie class that struggles even with the intro work!!  ARGH!  But seriously, I've had impingement syndrome in L. shoulder in the past and really hoping to get my ROM back.  Any advice greatly recieved!

I am in a similar situation Oliver (and also from germany btw  ). I also had elbow pain in certain movements (pull ups, cleaning, rowing) since december. Instead of taking a break i train around it - neutral grip pull ups are no problem, same with rows, and i just deleted Oly lifts. I have trigger points in my lower arms, on the triceps and also on my traps. But i have no pain when i don´t do this movements, but sometimes feel it in daily movements like when i lift my kids up on my arm. Also it seems to switch between left and right arm. Right now i do stretches for the lower arm and also "opening" work with a small piece of rubber for my fingers and some LAX work on the trigger points. Still not pain free but better. Even though the Crab brought a little triceps pain (which i never had until i looked for trigger points) and also a sore feeling on my lower arms. But i know how hard it is to listen to the body and take a break...

Hi Rhaya,

Sorry to hear that about your elbows, I know it sucks when you have an injury like that. Are you feeling the discomfort in both elbows or one? Also, where exactly in or around the elbow are you feeling it?

Take time off from the crab completely for at least a week, keep up with the wrist work as you already are and be sure not too push the stretches hard. If you have a history of shoulder issues then the arm will be involved also. Do you get any issues with the elbow resting on hands and knees? If not then this is good, it means that particular action of shoulder extension (as in the crab) is just too taxing right now. Practicing shoulder extension without weight bearing through the arms will be a good idea to open up this range before loading it again after this episode heals. You will see what I mean in Day 20 

Let me know how it goes okay!

Wesley

17 hours ago, Wesley Tan said:

Take time off from the crab completely for at least a week, keep up with the wrist work as you already are and be sure not too push the stretches hard.

Great, thank you,  I have backed off those too.  I'm putting very little weight through them.  Man, I knew I was tight but had no idea the mess my forearms were.

If you have a history of shoulder issues then the arm will be involved also. Do you get any issues with the elbow resting on hands and knees? If not then this is good, it means that particular action of shoulder extension (as in the crab) is just too taxing right now.

No, hands and knees are fine and front support is fine.  Well, not fine, it is hard work and the forum post on the difference between plank and front support really helped.  But no shoulder pain and no elbow pain from front support.  I can't do back support even in the modified position.

Practicing shoulder extension without weight bearing through the arms will be a good idea to open up this range before loading it again after this episode heals. You will see what I mean in Day 20 

Looking forward to day 20 and going gently!  The support here is great, thank you so much.

Do you ever do Zombie workshops in London?

thanks again

Rhaya

Hi There Wesley,

my crab, which was never a thing of beauty, has crashed and burnt.  I'm getting stinging pains in my elbows and finding it kind of locks when I'm extending my arm behind my back to put on a coat.  So I'm resting for the moment, keeping up the wrist mobility but I know my shoulders and scapula stability are truly uber-zombie.   I can't believe I'm asking for pre-fundamental fundamentals, but would love the get this deep ligament tightness dealt with.  Perhaps I am part of an uber zombie class that struggles even with the intro work!!  ARGH!  But seriously, I've had impingement syndrome in L. shoulder in the past and really hoping to get my ROM back.  Any advice greatly recieved!

Hi Rhaya, 

That's good news the front support is okay. Back support requires even more strength in shoulder extension as the knees straighten. London workshops could be a possibility after the summer, we'll have to wait and see.

Keep up the good work,

Wes

On 30. Mai 2016 at 9:08 PM, Jochen Friedrich said:

I am in a similar situation Oliver (and also from germany btw  ). I also had elbow pain in certain movements (pull ups, cleaning, rowing) since december. Instead of taking a break i train around it - neutral grip pull ups are no problem, same with rows, and i just deleted Oly lifts. I have trigger points in my lower arms, on the triceps and also on my traps. But i have no pain when i don´t do this movements, but sometimes feel it in daily movements like when i lift my kids up on my arm. Also it seems to switch between left and right arm. Right now i do stretches for the lower arm and also "opening" work with a small piece of rubber for my fingers and some LAX work on the trigger points. Still not pain free but better. Even though the Crab brought a little triceps pain (which i never had until i looked for trigger points) and also a sore feeling on my lower arms. But i know how hard it is to listen to the body and take a break...

yeah, pretty tough one, that listening to the body bit.... 

I am not really completely reducing training, but limiting the loads. Skinning the cat seems to help a lot in terms of stretching the bicep. I think I will take a few steps back and rebuild myself using the foundation program... and then bust through some plateaus later hopefully...

Hi,

I'm having elbow pain (near the end of my tricep rather than my bicep) any time I try to lock out m right arm specifically. So whether it is in a crab, plank position, or I just hold my arm by my side and straighten it, it feels a little tender. I wouldn't say it's excruciatingly painful, but it definitely is to a level of discomfort that I don't think it should be. I have noticed some improved flexibility in my ability to straighten/lock out my right arm though.

If it's any help, I don't feel this in my left arm where my tricep connects to my elbow. and my left arm does happen to be more flexible. 

Any advice? And/or modifications to the exercises that require locking out elbows?

Thanks,

Dillon

Hi Dillon,

This pain means that your elbows are currently deconditioned and are struggling to handle the load of rear support.  The solution is to stop training rear support for a few days and then cautiously experiment with reintroducing it back into your training.

If it is still too demanding, then simply note that the triceps are going to require some extensive work after Fundamentals is completed and move on.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I'm happy to report that I got rid of my elbow pain