Inner elbow pain

Well I've had this pain for a couple months but it seems to be getting worse lately and yesterday it was real tender. It hurts to the touch, and I feel it constantly, but not too bad when i'm using it.

If I stand with my palms forward and elbow pointed back, it's actually on the inner part, the bony knob that would be towards my body, not the big part that you use to hit an opponent in the octagon, ya dig? It's (actually both elbows) real tight in the morning, it's both elbows but mostly my left. It does hurt to curl today, but didn't yesterday when I did 4 sets, and tricep extension on the rings was impossible yesterday, that really hurt!

I train handstand against wall, l-sit, German hang (now tuck bl) 4x a week, and do pullups, pushups, dips, rows, etc a couple times a week each. I also have been lifting some but only once a week and that hasn't really aggravated it. It's not so bad that I can't train, which I guess is why I've been ignoring it and hoping it would go away for the last 2 or 3 months. Looking back thru my log one thing I've noticed is the switching to palms down German hangs and as I've gotten stronger doing more and more of my time with palms down, which seems to be a possible clue, but it was bugging me before that, just gotten alot worse lately.

I hate the idea of a lay off, but not really sure what to do. Hoping for some exercises that'll fix whatever the root of the problem is. Rehab/prehab plan, and how much if a break should I take?

Are there any exercises that are still ok to do? I really hate to layoff handstands, l-sit, back lever as I feel I'm really making strides with them all lately.

Any help is very appreciated, I love training only second to my kids. After that there's not much else important to me.

Google "golf elbow."

I've not experienced the specific issue you're having with your elbows. However; with respect to persistent pain and fear of a break from training, I can attest to the positive effects of having a rest.

I was having peristent issues with wrist pain (particularly the right wrist) and decided to take a complete week off training; all I did for the week was mobility and (predominantly active) stretching; this included regular wrist prehab, icing and NSAIDS. And ye, it was tough to resist the temptation to at least "tinker" with a few strength elements, but I stayed the course.

The results were well worth it; not only is my wrist pain completely gone, I can now do 2 x 10 wrist pushups from knees with no discomfort and relative ease (it hurt quite a bit previously).

You should be far more fearful of the prospect of a lengthy layoff from severe injury than a short break for rehab/prehab.

I've stopped all exercises that strain that tendon, and been looking at the rehab videos I can find on YouTube, still training a bit, just pressing and legs, just nothing that would aggravate it, well except pullups, did a few of those. May need a total break though.

Time for a real layoff, cutting out ring and pulling hasn't been enough. I've only been doing handstand and some pressing exercises and it's worse than ever so I guess now I'm done training upper body altogether. This sucks.

jakaro said:

Time for a real layoff, cutting out ring and pulling hasn't been enough. I've only been doing handstand and some pressing exercises and it's worse than ever so I guess now I'm done training upper body altogether. This sucks.

Besides just laying off, what are you doing for therapy?

Hey jakaro, I've had problems with my elbows on and off for the last 8yrs or so and I'm breaking myself into all this kinda slowly as I want to rehab my body before going too crazy with the strength stuff!

Google 'trigger point therapy', it seems to be helping me at the moment along with other pre/rehab stuff. Its by no means a complete solution to your problems but its worth looking into I think. Good luck!