Other/Mixed Bjj and elbow pain

[Gary W]

Hi guys, started bjj 2 months ago doing 2 gi classes a week, simple and sinister twice a week.
The last 3 weeks ive had golfers elbow so ive started doing 1 gi and 1 no gi as im sure its down to gripping the gi thats causing most of the pain after rolling, gives me more recovery time after which i feel i need.

I could probably carry on with the above but ive dropped all my simple and sinister training due to my elbows hurting every day, ive not picked up a bell for 3 weeks and already feeling weaker but just dont want to do my elbows more damage to where i have to have time off bjj.

I know from previous tennis elbow it can take months to heal
I dont know whether to stop strength training altogether for a while or just work through it.

Any advise appreciated

 

[ShawnM]

Check with a Doc first just to make sure you don't have an injury. After training I immediately put ice packs on my elbows. I bring them with me to class and loosely ace bandage them in place with the help of a few people I train with. I also pop a few Moltrin (200mg) to help reduce joint swelling. Your problem can become quite severe as I had the same issue and ended up with bone spurs. There were a few other things on my end that added to it outside of BJJ but it can become a bigger problem if not addressed. Best of luck to you.

 

[offwidth]

Doctor

 

[Gary W]

Not sure i need a doctor? Ive had tennis elbow before and im 99.9% sure this is golfers, doc will just say xray which probably wont show anything and physio which is basic stretches im already doing.

It hurts the most in the mornings as i think i sleep with my arms bent some how and thats when i normally do S&S.

Its not super painfull but after rolling they feel stiff, especially if i roll hard (try to avoid these people)!

Im not sure what im expecting from this post really, just hoping people in similur position could share there thoughts.

Ive stopped doing pull ups as im not sure they will be very good, dropped S&S for now and just focusing on bjj.
Might just do S&S once a week, light.

Might even drop gi altogether and just do no gi as they were no where near as stiff after no gi

 

[Snowman]

Might even drop gi altogether and just do no gi as they were no where near as stiff after no gi

Probably a good idea.

I would get a medical opinion, as well.

My advice for dealing with a chronic injury is two-fold:
1) Don't do ANYTHING that causes pain, except for prescribed therapy.
2) Do as much as you can (within reason) that doesn't cause pain.

Sprint, jump, etc to keep your hips strong, do knuckle push ups if they don't hurt, just find movements that you CAN do. Obviously, it might be pretty hard to train pulling strength, which is one thing that has a lot of carryover to BJJ. Sucks to suck . Get good at using your forearms to frame and pull, and do less flexing at the wrist. More triangles, fewer kimuras.

Edit: When I had golfers elbow, I found that I could still do swings without pain, as long as the KB didn't have a thick handle. Holding my wrist straight against a load (press, TGU, top of the snatch) is what actually bugged it. Extensor bands also helped with the pain a lot, but I don't know if they sped up recovery. It still took months. Probably a year before 100% resolution.

 

[LukeV]

This may help you. Good luck!

Suggestions for training with tendonitis

 

[sizzlefuzz]

@Gary Wilson

I had a similar issue from BJJ myself. I found using the "Tyler Twist" exercise with the TheraBand Flexbar as well as some hand exercises as prehab/rehab in terms of the extensors of the hand (looping a rubber band around the fingers & opening the hand go light with this). Additionally, using a gel-type stress ball helped also.

 

[Gravytrain]

Stems cells cured mine, I hear PRP works just as well.

 

[JCavin]

I had a hard labor job for 6 years that caused mean tennis elbow. Had no choice but to work on it every day.

It went away eventually. One thing that helped was “flossing” with a bike tube.