Tendonitis that won't go away?

[ltlbear]

This may be the wrong forum, but I am 50 and I can't get rid of this problem, so I thought I'd ask the over 30s group what they do for this problem.

Last year I went to a physical therapist over shoulder pain that wouldn't go away. He determined the problem stemmed from shoulder damage I did many years ago. Adjusted me, and put me on some exercises which I did for at least 3 months and pretty much alleviated the pain (not entirely tho). Anyways, as soon as the shoulder/back pain subsided, I started getting tendonitis in my left arm (same side as the shoulder pain), I am assuming from over compensating or something due to the shoulder pain. Now I can hardly do bench or pressing exercises, in particular tricep exercises without serious pain. I have tried sticking with machines, going light weight, etc., but am becoming very frustrated with this pain/injury and need to get this over with so I can get on with lifting. I am even doing 1800mg of Ibuprofen/day for two weeks, under recommendation from another friend. Any suggestions or recommendations???

[Anime Man]

I am 35 and have much of the same problems. I have had success with doing very light excercises at night in front of the tv. My elbow is where I get the soreness. I would take 5 days of doing 20 * 5 reps of 8 pound forearm curls and then take 5 days of 30 * 5 of 5 pound dumbell, then 40 with 3 etc. I would keep a short note at the bottom of my training journal to say how sore my elbow was and found that 20 * 5 with 8s were the best for my situation. You do have to go off the pain meds to use the system, which sucks. I also upped my vitamins and took fish oil caps. My problem flairs up every 6 to 12 months and sticks around for at least 2. It took me almost a year to get rid of it the first time. Not much, but the best I can do.

[spywizard]

44, same problem in my forearm at the elbow..

nothing seemed to help... had a deep muscle massage... did the trick... hurts like all get out.. but it helped it 95%...

[woodiechopper]

go see an orthopedist...worst case, they can give you a cortisone shot. I'm not sure that continuing to lift with recurring pain is a good idea, either. At this age, problems tend not to resolve themselves so easily.

[AnabolicBoy1981]

Even though im a youngin i'd thought id insert my opinion.

Do you guys take any oils? Glucosamine? MSM?

Omega 3 fatty acids help reduce the bodies inflamation response by competing for the same ezymes that your body uses to make pro-inflammatory chemicles.
I would start using 2 teaspoons of flax oil a day plus an additional 10 grams of pure high quality fish oil.
These oils won't make you fat.

Glucosamine is a good all purpose joint builder, but MSM is supposed to be the stuff that really helps with inflammation of the joint. I had a friend that said the MSM help her tendonitis in her elbow when it acted up.

If i had to suggest just one of those 3 things it would be the oils, especially the fish oil.

I dunno. Just my 2 cents.

[AnabolicBoy1981]

oh, and give that stuff a month or two to start working. Glucosamine takes about 2 months to build up, and oils take about 3-5 weeks or so.

At your age i'd be takin the oils anyway for the other health benefits. Cholesterol, thriglicerides, platelet stickiness etc.

[Tock]

I had pains in my elbows from doing barbell curls, have to stick with hammer curls (dumbells only) to get around that. Can't play the accordian anymore, either, so I guess it's worked out for the neighbors . . .
Also had pains in my knees from doing squats. 12 weeks of nandrolone and finding other leg exercises fixed that.

So . . . you may find a solution to your troubles by changing your routine, and/or adding a wee tad of nandrolone for a few months.

-Tock

[bluethunder]

Anti-inflamortries what you are taking will help but time is healer here along with rest. Best is to completly avoid the exercises that directly cause sharp pain. You need to "work around" the problem area not attack it.. Drop the lying french presses aka skulls because at that position stresses the elblow joint. Do overhead tricep extensions and rope push downs. Dropping the weight may be needed too. Wearing a icy/hot brace may temp relieve pain. Increases you efa's with a ratio of 2-1 omega 3's and 6's. take both flax and fish oils 3 times a day. I have tendonistis too but it is controlled. Remember tendonitis is cause by a repeated stress on a tendon in a repetative motion. If need be drop the tri exercises completely as they get work on many pressing excercises anyways.

[Flynman]

I had same problem and the only thing that worked was a good message therapist 2x week. It took about 3 weeks but I am now pain free.

[kdtl61]

Rest your upper body for 2 weeks.
Train only legs like every 4th day for this time.
Then back to full body in week 3.
See how you feel.
I'm not kidding. Rest works wonders on the sore joint etc.

[ducatibob]

Take two weeks off of any arm exercises. Tendonitis is from over use of a specific tendon causing inflammation in that tendon and the subsequent pain. During those two weeks switch to three Aleve (naproxen) every 12 hours. In addition, ice for 20 minutes at least twice a day.
Once you've knocked the inflammation down begin the light weight exercises to strengthen all of the muscles that support that joint. Your guess about over compensation is most likely correct. You've probably changed you exercise form ever so slightly such that you unduly burden a few tendons. You'll need to also make sure you shoulder is also strengthened so that you don't fall back into the same poor form and repeat the injury.
If this doesn't work, your next step is to see an orthopedic for a cortisone shot.
Definitely add the glucosamine and chondroitin. They will help “aging” joints (really good results with my knees) but not so much with truly injured joints (shoulders for me).

[candyman md]

Bro, i went to physical therapy for three months for 'Golfer's Elbow" go figure what I do can't be called golf, however, I finally went and had a cortizone injection and I have felt great ever since. I trained biceps pretty light for about a month. Figured they really hurt when I pulled and would grow from pressing motions. It all worked out for me. PT was OK but it didn't do the job by itself. Good luck