Forearm Splints Redux- 2nd Opinion says work through pain?!

After another week where the forearm inflammation returned even at low volume, I decided to stop all upper body work last week. Will likely wait til July to start.

Oddly enough, I found this online and thought, "Man...this is counter to everything Coach Sommer et al have recommended." But then it turns out this guy was Men's Gymnastic Head Coach at the University of Oklahoma and 1996 Assistant Olympic Coach for US Men''s Team, 1999.

Here's the thread (http://en.allexperts.com/q/Gymnastics-2 ... tics-1.htm). What do you think?

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Chris,

This sounds to me like forearm splints. It is like shin splints but in the arms below the elbow.

What is happening is your muscles are not used to the strain that you have been putting on

them. They are contracting much more than they have in the past. This evenually causes the

muscle to slightly pull away from the bone and developing inflammations in the forearm. This is

actually a very common occurance in gymnasts doing pommel horse and other things that strain

the wrist.

Things that you can do include using a heat pack on the arms before practice to increase

circulation to the area. Ice cup massage after practice in the area. Sometimes using a support

wrap starting at the wrist and working upward helps. Also doing massage in the area to work out

the tightness will be helpful.

You will experience this for quite a while. In time, your body will get stronger and adopt to the

strains that you are putting on that part of your body. So rest helps but most of the time the pain

will come back as soon as you begin working out again. A gradual program to doing as much as

you can tolerate is best. The good news is that you are usually not causing any permanent

damage to your arm.

It is also wise to take an anti-inflamatory drug. Ibuprofen two or three times a day will help.

Good luck getting over the symptoms.

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Hi Mark,

I wonder if you an help. I am having some problems with a

couple of techniques that are causing me the same painful

problem.

I am starting to develop muscular pain in both my lower arms.

The muscle that hurts is on the back on my forearm, beneath my

elbow on the thumb side of the arm. The pain stretches from

just beneath the elbow toward the hand in a straignt line for

about 3 -4 inches. The pain usually starts when I perform the

technique and sticks around for a couple of days, most noticably

when i grip tightly.....I hope this is specific enough.

It first started to hurt a during training a couple of weeks ago

and recurrs whenever I perform the techniques. The techniques

that cause it to hurt are:

1. Back Flick. This one hurts in my left arm and is probably

related to doing the flick incorrectly. I should point out that i

have only been doing flicks for about 6 weeks now. The

problem is my left hand turns inwards by 90 degrees (So it

points to my right hand), when i am in the handstand position of

the file, causing me to colapse.

2. Pommel trainer. Again a recently started technique. So far I

can complete one 360 degree rotation. And even that little

causes both my forearms to strain and hurt.

I took the problem to my coach who suggested that it was tennis

elbow. Further research leads me to believe it's golfers

elbow.....tennis elbow is on the other side of the arm, but in the

same place. My coach couldn't suggest any treatment other

than rest or not doing the technique.

Personally i'd rather not give up on a technique, instead I'd like

to find a way of overcomming the problem and finding a way of

preventing it from returning.

Do you have any thoughts,

All the best

Chris

The one thing above all that struck to me about Coach Sommer is how his athelets stay healthy.

Its always very difficult to give a meaningful diagnosis on a forum as there can be many underlying causes for the problem. Too much load/volume too soon, form issues, muscle imblance etc.

I know of very few instaces where working through the pain is the answer. If this is one then i'm sure Coach Sommer will chime in. Somehow i doubt it to be the BEST thing to do if you're doing this to be healty.

Rest is almost always part of the answer and in the meantime see what you can find out about your condition, how you are doing it and any possible imbalances you can be working on.

Do not work through the pain. Although the advice to gradually build up the intensity of the training is spot on.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Definitley DON'T train through the pain. If it's only been a few days its likely tendonitis, if longer (months) its tendonsis. Tendonitis is actually suprisingly rare if you look in any medical book despite practitioners throwing the word about willy-nilly. For short term tondonitis ice and rest is the best thing. If it keeps coming back longer term then it is tendonosis and ice a rest will actually exacerbate the problem, heat is the gold standard.

A good start are light isometric gripping exercises such as a ball or bar for a minute or two max TUT 3-4 times a week. Once you can do so pain pain free start slow negatives (such as reverse curls and negative pronation wrist curls depending on which side of the elbow is injured). I've found increasing intensity every few weeks to a month to work if the jumps in intensity are small. More like a full SSC 8 week cycle for bigger jumps. Heating the joint as often as you can be bothered also speeds up recovery a lot.

Hope this helps.

Please do not work through the pain. . . a good friend of mine and a great gymnast worked through shoulder pain for over a year. Sadly he had a SLAP tear and his doctor said "it was the worst SLAP tear he had ever seen," Now, one surgery later, he has 3 bolts holding his shoulder together and will be completely out of action for at least 6 months . . . then he can start strength rehab. :shock:

Ok, I'm sold on resting.

I'm on day 10 of no work on my upper body. Will continue resting for 10 more days. Pain level is minimal but still noticeable. Like a 2 out of 10 in the left arm and a 1 out of 10 in the right arm. It's exacerbated most when I'm driving long distances, so I'm trying to grip the steering wheel with a false grip and resting my grip muscles. Still working rice bucket and contrast baths.

After 10 more days, I'll re-evaluate...if I'm down to no pain, I'm going to go back FBE work, but no more than 1-minute time under tension for two weeks. Maybe add 1-min. time under tension every 2 weeks from there. Even if that means only one set per day and then reevaluate. No FSP work. Surprising how hard the FSPs work the forearm tendons...once you add frog stand, L-sit, handstand work, and inverted hangs...that's a good 4-5 min. TUT. Plus adding in 6 sets of FBE work...no wonder my forearms got fried.

It's slow, but if it's what I have to do...

JMan

1. Rest. Massage. Use ice IF it helps, otherwise use heat IF it helps... otherwise use nothing. Mobility is effective. Depending on the condition, you may need flexibility work too.

Anti-inflams work IF it's an inflammation related problem. Fish oil is fine too.

2. Phase 2 is isolationist strengthening... for stuff like forearm splits rice bucket tends to be effective. That's what my gym(s) used to great effect.

3. Then as you get better you move back into regular work, but you MUSt keep up prehabilitative protocol.

If you don't it's like not taking your medicine after you feel ebtter and then you get sick again. You have only yourself to blame.

Whens the best time to do rice bucket work ?

before,after or at a completely different time to regular training ?

Hey all...

It's now been 5 weeks since I've halted all work due to soreness in my left elbow and forearm. Some notes from my recovery:

(1) For the first few weeks, almost all the pain was in the forearm extensors, right where the meet the elbow joint. I stopped all activity, including rice bucket, and did nothing but contrast baths and massage. Lots of massage.

(2) After about 3 weeks just about all tenderness in the extensors is gone. I say just about, because I still feel a very faint burning sensation. But it's barely noticeable, and usually only right when I wake up in the morning. Nothing compared to the throbbing pain that necessitated endless pressure point massage throughout the day.

(3) Once the extensor tenderness subsided, I was left with a throbbing where the tricep tendons meet the elbow joint. So I've been massaging that everyday for two weeks. That pain has reduced much as well...down to about 1-2 on a 10-point scale. Again, mostly in the morning. There is still some throbbing throughout the day, so it hasn't recovered as much as the forearm extensors. But defintely much better now. A far cry from a few weeks ago where I'd have to take a work break because the pain was an annoyance.

I started up the rice bucket work when the extensor pain disappeared. And that's been good. And this week, 3x a weeks I did very light negative on my left tricep. 10-second time under tension, 7 reps, 3 sets.

So I know that when I start up again, it should be low volume...maybe just 1 work set on the FBEs. No elbow hyperextension. No straight arm work. Maybe no FSPs for a little bit.

The questions is: Am I ready yet? Do I start up now? Or wait another week or two until the tricep tendon pain becomes like the extensor pain - barely noticeable?

I'd rather take another week of than risk taking another 7 weeks because I was impatient. What are the green flags so I kno I'm ok?

Jerry

p.s. I moved the rings back to a houlder width position instead of 50 cm. That extra 10 cm really did me in...