Elbow injury/ pain- should I do a cortizone shot at end of tricep tendon?

[harley121]

Hello All, Hope you can offer another opinion, I have had major elbow pain for almost 2 months on the inside tricep side of my elbow- MRI showed fluid in bersa sac and inflamation of the tricep tendon. Been on antiinflamabories, rest, ice massages, several seperate weeks off the gym and it still hurts. He is very hesistant to do a steriod shot in that area vs. say for tennis elbow as he says that tendon is under alot of stress due to the tricep muscle being a large muscle and that it could weaken it, cause it to tear easier and really take me out w/ surgery.
I am planning a cycle early Feb. and want to be very ready for it but now dealing w/ this. Im very tempted to get the shot as I had one a year ago in the other elbow but in a different place and it helped alot. But, I respect his recommendations of proceeding w that very cautiously. Does anyone have any experience w/ this? I think its from skull crunchers- going to heavy, putting too much stress on the inside of elbow on the last few reps as elbows flared out a bit.

[Thicknick1]

I am not a doctor and I can only talk from years of experience. I had bad elbow pain as well, To many years of lifting heavy. I can tell you everyone of my friends who have gotten Cortisone shots anywhere through out the years all wish they wouldn't have. It will help drastically, but once the pain and inflation has calms down you will feel great and start pushing yourself again and cause more damage, then in a year or so it will be worse. You will have to keep getting shots and you can only do that for so long.

Instead of cortisone I started using Animal Flex and it works wonders for my elbow and joints. After about two weeks my pain is almost completely gone. Also I changed my workouts around my elbow so I minimize the damage I do. There are a lot of good tri and bi work outs you can do that will not put all the stress on your elbow.

[jseek]

Often surgeons can tell during 'scope surgeries on knees&shoulders when people have had cortisone injections cause they find small "dead" white nonvascularized patches of myofilaments/ligamentous type tissue in whole joint spaces ... So consider now how many shots u want in an area of extreme stress. Ie ur elbow in question obviously, but many docs shoot up Achilles tendons, patellar tendons.... Almost like job creation programs for surgeons! Ur doc is doing it right by being cautious.
Skull crunchers...triceps on stretch with heavy weight...
1).. Ulnar nerve or "funny bone" is near there and also on stretch...pissing the nerve off as well as tendon can lead to chronic long term anguish. At worst, ulnar nerve entrapment and needing surgery to release the ligament holding it in place may be needed if the nerve symptoms like firearm/hand numbness, pain, weakness starts..only be aware of the possibility...highly likely u will b fine
A) consider tricep exercises that dont stretch the tricep out so much ( or the nerve)--
B) consider less leverage but combined joint movement exercises (watch it...more joint stress than tendon)-- thinking presses here instead of fixed elbow positions in space, and firearm doing most of the arc movement....
C) wrap/strap....just like the kneecap tendon strap...try stretchy Coban like taping around elbow at the spot of pain, or proximal/distal to the pain and see if that can relieve the pain by compressing the area...or during alternative exercises...strapping may allow the area to "rest" by allowing pain reduced but stronger forces to be applied...
D) muscle may be tight forcing tricep tendon to over stretch.....stretch those awesome triceps---may need a trainer
E) same as d but add some muscle work...trigger point work to the muscle to get lengthening in the muscle and give the tendon a rest
F) if nerve is indeed involved, chances are the over stretch is due to tight shoulder muscles/scapular muscles/neck muscles/joints...loosen those things up
G) combo of above with rest to tricep area (as in trigger point deep muscle work on whole arm to lengthen with reduced workload )
H) elbow wrap (general joint)- neoprene during workouts, and a more clothe like one at rest/out of gym....both supply rest ( more aware of sore area-more likely to rest it), passive heat and blood flow to area (with ice every 2 hours to chill it out), compression of area to push out the swelling.......neoprene stinks due to plasticy sweat- great for workouts where people tolerate you, not as good as cloth that dries and smells ok in boardroom...
Nuff for now. Good luck!

[harley121]

Thanks for all the input. I have a dr. appt on tues and will prob. push it out another few weeks till I can implement this. MRI, diagnosis, etc done, all thatwas next was shot.
So, Im hearing you say- close grip bench and what else would you recommend to work tris while minimizing inflaming it more? If I do tri pushdowns w/ the ropes vs the bar or v bar, it dosent hurt but w/ either of the bars it hurts, I can do cable tri kick backs, they don't hurt. But is there any other recommendations?

[Thicknick1]

I do machine dips (I find it does not put as much pressure on my elbow are free dips). over head vbar pulls work great as well (at lease that's what I call them ill post a link to what they are). Close grip bench like he said above. Incline hammer curls (not specifically for tri's but they do add mass and dont hurt my elbow personally so I do them).

But at the end of the day you need to build a workout around your elbow. Its going to affect us different ways. Also you should really spend the 25 bucks and try the "animal flex". It was like magic how much it helped my elbow and joints. Well worth it over a doctors visit and no I dont work for the company.

Vbar pulls (I cant post links yet so delete the space I made after the H)
h ttp://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/cable-rope-overhead-triceps-extension

[jseek]

U r answering ur own question to some extent.
Basically... Do movements with ur handgrip in a position that does not cause pain.
Reason...press downs with straight bar causes elbow pain...a simple change to less forearm extreme position and pain goes away..ie bent bar press downs or rope
The inside of ur elbow is getting flared up, and right beside it is that ulnar nerve grumpy area and attached to it all is ur MRI confirmed bursa sac inflammation (might be continuous with medial elbow btw) and tendon strain pain area.
So do exercises that
1) relax the ulnar nerve-keep elbows below shoulder
2) relax forearm position so that straight bar extreme wrist positions are minimized-use ropes/bent bar/ exercises
I'm letting u figure out what exercises u can do in ur gym setting