Tricep Tendonitis HELP

[tendonitis]

Whats up guys, title says it all. Im looking for one that is known to help heal tendonitis. Ive had my tricep tendonitis for 7 months. Seen 2 othorpedics and did physical therapy already and tried everything that was offered. It is also swollen, pretty gross, you can SEE my tendonitis. I was bodybuilding for 2 years and then I overtrained triceps, which is one of the worst mistakes Ive ever done in my life.

Pain occurs when trying to straighten arm with resistance, where tricep tendon connects to elbow. I can do pushups and light weight kickbacks, but DEF cant do any press exercises/pressdowns etc. Months ago I couldnt do a pushup, now I can do them, but swelling doesnt want to go away. This is taking WAY too long to heal. Please, I am serious about this.

My insurance dont cover those Sports Orthopedic places where they can probably prescribe steroids . The orthopedics I have seen can only prescribe NSAIDS, do cortisone shots and anthroscopic surgery. The 2 Doctors I have seen dont want to do a cortisone shot or perform minor surgery...

I am only 19, but if a cycle MIGHT work it is worth a try. This injury has brought too much negativity on me. I am not stupid I will research the steroids listed and run a Cycle Assist and a proper PCT.

[lovbyts]

Whats up guys, title says it all. Im looking for one that is known to help heal tendonitis. Ive had my tricep tendonitis for 7 months. Seen 2 othorpedics and did physical therapy already and tried everything that was offered. It is also swollen, pretty gross, you can SEE my tendonitis. I was bodybuilding for 2 years and then I overtrained triceps, which is one of the worst mistakes Ive ever done in my life.

Pain occurs when trying to straighten arm with resistance, where tricep tendon connects to elbow. I can do pushups and light weight kickbacks, but DEF cant do any press exercises/pressdowns etc. Months ago I couldnt do a pushup, now I can do them, but swelling doesnt want to go away. This is taking WAY too long to heal. Please, I am serious about this.

My insurance dont cover those Sports Orthopedic places where they can probably prescribe steroids . The orthopedics I have seen can only prescribe NSAIDS, do cortisone shots and anthroscopic surgery. The 2 Doctors I have seen dont want to do a cortisone shot or perform minor surgery...

I am only 19, but if a cycle MIGHT work it is worth a try. This injury has brought too much negativity on me. I am not stupid I will research the steroids listed and run a Cycle Assist and a proper PCT.

Hello, that would be considered stupid BTW. One because of your age, 2 because steroids are not going to help with your problem. You need to look into finding a good physical therapist but if the problem is physical damage then surgery may be the only option.

[LatissimusaurousRex]

There's no miracle cure for tendinitis. Yours sounds pretty bad. Just keep icing it, popping those NSAIDs, and abstain from doing any movements that aggravate it. That's all you can really do. When the time comes that pain has subsided you won't be able to attack it like you could prior to the injury or the tendinitis will flare up again, so always listen to your body, if anything ever hurts like that it's your body telling you to STOP.

[tendonitis]

There's no miracle cure for tendinitis. Yours sounds pretty bad. Just keep icing it, popping those NSAIDs, and abstain from doing any movements that aggravate it. That's all you can really do. When the time comes that pain has subsided you won't be able to attack it like you could prior to the injury or the tendinitis will flare up again, so always listen to your body, if anything ever hurts like that it's your body telling you to STOP.

if curls cause it to flare up I should stop that then too? Swelling once went away but came back when even when I did painfree exercises such as curls. The swelling seems that itll never go away.

[LatissimusaurousRex]

if curls cause it to flare up I should stop that then too? Swelling once went away but came back when even when I did painfree exercises such as curls. The swelling seems that itll never go away.

yes, whatever causes it to flare up STOP doing it. Keep taking the NSAIDs and ice it regularly to help with the swelling, inflammation, and pain.

[Builder15]

If you have had triceps tendonitis for 7 months you are doing something wrong most likely continuing to aggravate the condition. You say that you have seen 2 orthopedics and done physical therapy and did everything that was offered. What did they offer you? What kinds of things were you doing in physical therapy? Did you have x-rays done/results?

At this point you still have a couple of options for conservative and relative conservative treatment. More than likely you have developed more of a tendinosis than tenidnitis since it has been going on for so long. Did the orthopedic docs recommend a PRP injection or using nitro patches at all? The cortizone shot will probably help in the short term but long term PRP injections have demonstrated in the literature better results for treating tendinosis in other tendons (ex: ECRB for tennis elbow). Back to the physical therapy, did they have you doing any type of eccentric training? this has been shown in research to provide good results for chronic tendinosis at restoring the tendons tensile strength. However, it is not a short term solution and really the BEST case scenario is improvement in 12 weeks after following the therapists instructions. Obviously your last option would be surgery which it sounds like you want to avoid. Hopefully I gave you some ideas of the treatment and what you can expect.

[tendonitis]

If you have had triceps tendonitis for 7 months you are doing something wrong most likely continuing to aggravate the condition. You say that you have seen 2 orthopedics and done physical therapy and did everything that was offered. What did they offer you? What kinds of things were you doing in physical therapy? Did you have x-rays done/results?

At this point you still have a couple of options for conservative and relative conservative treatment. More than likely you have developed more of a tendinosis than tenidnitis since it has been going on for so long. Did the orthopedic docs recommend a PRP injection or using nitro patches at all? The cortizone shot will probably help in the short term but long term PRP injections have demonstrated in the literature better results for treating tendinosis in other tendons (ex: ECRB for tennis elbow). Back to the physical therapy, did they have you doing any type of eccentric training? this has been shown in research to provide good results for chronic tendinosis at restoring the tendons tensile strength. However, it is not a short term solution and really the BEST case scenario is improvement in 12 weeks after following the therapists instructions. Obviously your last option would be surgery which it sounds like you want to avoid. Hopefully I gave you some ideas of the treatment and what you can expect.

Pretty sure I have tendonosis...Orthopedic didnt recommend nitro patches or PRP inejctions. Can I get nitro patches online, and could if help? Thats because he doesnt offer that. He only can do cortisone and anthroscopic surgery (which I dont mind getting). He also suggested to check out an actual Orthopedic specialized in sport injuries, they have all the different types of injections and treatments-he said. Physical therapy focused alot on light tricep exercises, posture rehabilitaion, muscles around tricep and ultrasound/electrotherapy. I go see this 3rd orthopedic on the 30th. He's at the University of FL and specializes in the upper extremity, hopefully he has more treatment options, or else Ill take out a loan and go see a Sports Orthopedic thats not covered by insurance.

PRP...is that the plasma type injection? My first orthopedic mentioned it, that others might have it. If it takes care of swelling, I need it lol

[Builder15]

Pretty sure I have tendonosis...Orthopedic didnt recommend nitro patches or PRP inejctions. Can I get nitro patches online, and could if help? Thats because he doesnt offer that. He only can do cortisone and anthroscopic surgery (which I dont mind getting). He also suggested to check out an actual Orthopedic specialized in sport injuries, they have all the different types of injections and treatments-he said. Physical therapy focused alot on light tricep exercises, posture rehabilitaion, muscles around tricep and ultrasound/electrotherapy. I go see this 3rd orthopedic on the 30th. He's at the University of FL and specializes in the upper extremity, hopefully he has more treatment options, or else Ill take out a loan and go see a Sports Orthopedic thats not covered by insurance.

PRP...is that the plasma type injection? My first orthopedic mentioned it, that others might have it. If it takes care of swelling, I need it lol

Not sure if you can get nitro patches online. They are typically used for angina relief but are used off label by some sports med docs to treat tendonosis as it helps revascularize the tendon. I would not buy these online because there is a specific dosage that needs to be used but they are very cheap and needs to be used for at least 6 months, so again not a quick fix. Ask the next ortho doc about nitro patches and see if he has used them before, they are not very commonly used because like I said it's an off label use, but again do not take it upon yourself to do this without physician supervision for appropriate dosing.

Yes PRP is a plasma injection. Stands for platelet rich plasma. And they basically centrifuge out your platelets and reinject the autologous blood into the degerative tendon. Has shown some good results, but never seen a study done on triceps tendon specifically. Not a whole lot of docs in the US are doing this so you would have to ask around to find out who does this in your area. If I remember correctly the cost was somewhere in the 3-500 range (can't remember exactly, could be less or could be more). Cost also depends on the person doing it as insurance will not cover it so they can basically charge whatever they want. But I believe it costs them around $150 per injection, so price will depend how much they mark it up. If you do go this route or even if you get a cortisone injection make sure they dont just inject the tendon, they need to beat the crap out of the tendon with the needle (1-200 sticks) to help stimulate a full healing response.

Let me know if you have any more questions and best of luck. Remember, be patient. Better to take a year off of lifting and let things heal then never really be able to lift at your full potential for the next 5 years as you battle the injury.

[tendonitis]

Not sure if you can get nitro patches online. They are typically used for angina relief but are used off label by some sports med docs to treat tendonosis as it helps revascularize the tendon. I would not buy these online because there is a specific dosage that needs to be used but they are very cheap and needs to be used for at least 6 months, so again not a quick fix. Ask the next ortho doc about nitro patches and see if he has used them before, they are not very commonly used because like I said it's an off label use, but again do not take it upon yourself to do this without physician supervision for appropriate dosing.

Yes PRP is a plasma injection. Stands for platelet rich plasma. And they basically centrifuge out your platelets and reinject the autologous blood into the degerative tendon. Has shown some good results, but never seen a study done on triceps tendon specifically. Not a whole lot of docs in the US are doing this so you would have to ask around to find out who does this in your area. If I remember correctly the cost was somewhere in the 3-500 range (can't remember exactly, could be less or could be more). Cost also depends on the person doing it as insurance will not cover it so they can basically charge whatever they want. But I believe it costs them around $150 per injection, so price will depend how much they mark it up. If you do go this route or even if you get a cortisone injection make sure they dont just inject the tendon, they need to beat the crap out of the tendon with the needle (1-200 sticks) to help stimulate a full healing response.

Let me know if you have any more questions and best of luck. Remember, be patient. Better to take a year off of lifting and let things heal then never really be able to lift at your full potential for the next 5 years as you battle the injury.

Thank you very much and I heard somewhere cortisone should be injected in the sheath? Esp in my case. Idk hopefully doctor knows lol. But yea when I go see this Orthopedic Im going to mention all these options, to make sure something is done and he doesnt just say nothing. I want something done when I go see him. Is the PRP injection a 1 and done type thing? Cant acupuncture also help me?

[Builder15]

Thank you very much and I heard somewhere cortisone should be injected in the sheath? Esp in my case. Idk hopefully doctor knows lol. But yea when I go see this Orthopedic Im going to mention all these options, to make sure something is done and he doesnt just say nothing. I want something done when I go see him. Is the PRP injection a 1 and done type thing? Cant acupuncture also help me?

Most will do 3 injections and the spacing seems to be dependent on what protocol they follow, but generally i believe its in a 3-6 week time span. Accupuncture certainly won't hurt. There is a lot of good research that shows its helpful for a lot of different things so it may be worth looking into. Most accupuncturists want a series of 10 treatments though so it can certainly add up price wise, but if you aren't noticing any difference after 3-4 treatments I don't think going all the way to 10 would make the difference.

[tendonitis]

You think I should push for a PRP injection or a Cortisone shot?(if he can do both) And what if the orthopedic says the swelling has nothing to do with the tricep tendonitis which I THINK is total BS. And that is what the 2 other orthopedics tried to say.

You can google tricep tendonitis and itll say SWELLING LOWER TRICEP NEAR ELBOW...hopefully this next orthopedic is serious. The tendon IS getting stronger but the swelling is still there, is it possible the 2 have nothing to do with each other? Either way I want to get rid of the swelling.

[Builder15]

Generally if the swelling is as visible as you are making it out to be, the swelling is more than likely not in the tendon itself. If you could take a pic of what you are talking about that would help. Degenerative tendons get nice and thick so the swelling you see may actually be the tendinosis (Much more pronounced in the achilles tendon, never really seen it in the triceps before). Could also be olecranon bursitis but that is usually pretty obvious.

As for what type of injection, that really depends on your goals. How long are you willing to wait for this to get better? Is pain your biggest concern or the swelling?

[tendonitis]

Generally if the swelling is as visible as you are making it out to be, the swelling is more than likely not in the tendon itself. If you could take a pic of what you are talking about that would help. Degenerative tendons get nice and thick so the swelling you see may actually be the tendinosis (Much more pronounced in the achilles tendon, never really seen it in the triceps before). Could also be olecranon bursitis but that is usually pretty obvious.

As for what type of injection, that really depends on your goals. How long are you willing to wait for this to get better? Is pain your biggest concern or the swelling?

Im willing to wait like one month. Previous docs didnt want to perform anthroscopic surgery, rehab for that would of been a while...My concern is that with the swelling there, Im never going to be normal as in the pain is never going to go away and everytime I workout its going to flare up. So I def need a shot or something to deal with that. I can now do 20lbs on tricep pressdown and thats the most in 7 months.

Oh and the pic is from 7 months off bodybuilding, please excuse the small arm. lol

[tendonitis]

So I discovered other people have the swelling I have but without pain. You might have it and not even know. Kinda looks like fat hanging from your tricep. This kid at the gym has big triceps and has puffiness towards his elbow. I noticed other people do too.

[tendonitis]

well I am going to the specialized orthopedic next week. 3rd othorpedic. He works for University of Florida. and I am driving 2 hours to go see this guy. Hoping he has treatment options besides surgery.