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Kettlebell Elbow situations - jump in and give a guy some help

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Marius_Lefter

Marius_Lefter

Level 4 Valued Member
Good evening to all of you (because is evening in Romania, and a beautiful one I may add).

I have two situations involving my right elbow. Neither of them is new, felt them for years when lifting weights, but I want them sorted out. Now, I know the proper way: seek a medical professional and do what he/she says. I will do just that once the schedule of the medical office permits me to show up.

Until then, I hope that these are situations which can either be fixed by attention, form & technique, or by getting stronger ("Pain is weakness leaving the body" type of thing). I hope some of you will know something about what I am about to tell.

In full disclosure, I did recently an FMS, I have 2s and 3s on all tests, excluding Trunk Stability Push-up, were I am a 1, and currently working on fixing that. Also, I am a student of an SFG certified instructor, working in a distance (online coaching) program, but this is just one of those moments where face-to-face training is just better than anything else.
  • Situation 1:
I feel some pain or pressure on the inside of my right elbow, where the forearm flexors attach to the elbow, or where the bicep ends. I feel it when I am doing movements that involve supporting my bodyweight or some external load: for example, the tall sit position, during push-up or planks, or when I am supporting the load overhead for a lengthy period of time. This stays with me like a sore sensation after the training.

It feels like the load is actually held/supported by the muscles that surround the crook of my elbow and not by a body part better suited for that job. I feel that that region takes on too much force. I do not think my elbow has anything wrong with it. I believe this is a symptom of something else: either poor alignment, a weekness or mobility/flexibility issue in some body part (wrist, or shoulder, or rhomboids/back, or even in the forearm itself, I do not know enough to identify); and because that body part is not doing its job properly, that region starts to compensate.
  • Situation 2:
I get snapping/popping noise in the medial head of my triceps, the one that is extremely close to the right elbow. I get this when I am doing pushing movements, when my elbow flex and then extends. Now, this does not hurt, it never did, but is annoying and want to resolve it somehow.

I hope you can help with these two situations, which are the most important for me when it comes to fixing discomfort in my body. As you can see, both of these situations are happening in my right arm (and my dominant arm is left).

Good night and God bless!
 
Like you said the ideal course of action is to seek out a medical professional...

There are just too many unknowns and variables to consider otherwise.

But cessation of training and rest won't hurt anything at least...
 
Marius_Lefter said:
Now, I know the proper way: seek a medical professional and do what he/she says. I will do just that once the schedule of the medical office permits me to show up.

Until then, I hope that these are situations which can either be fixed by attention, form & technique, or by getting stronger ("Pain is weakness leaving the body" type of thing). I hope some of you will know something about what I am about to tell.
Click to expand...

To be honest it sounds like you are putting off actual treatment (going to a doctor / specialist) and instead trying to exercise the pain and discomfort away.

The SFG coaches.. the FMS coaches.. are not medical professionals.. the tests these people give you are causing you harm..

I don't know who has been training you, but it seems like you have been misguided somewhere along the way..

I don't mean to sound harsh, but you're just digging yourself deeper into this problem by trying to exercise it away
 
+1 for professional advice in person. Try an Osteopath.

Voodoo floss has been a staple for my elbow health
 
Hopefully you can get in and see a clinician soon. I had similar symptoms in my elbow a few years ago and thankfully was able to get it permanently resolved with the help of a good physical therapist. He was able to do some provocative testing, determined that I had a tendinopathy present, and not only that he was able to guide me through exercises to help address the issue and make a full recovery. Keep in mind, you do have a tendinopathy, the rehabilitative exercises will be unique to the specific location and severity of the condition, so trying to recommend exercises over the web is not probably going to be particularly useful. Best advice would be to not just see any medical pro, but hopefully a qualified body worker / physical therapist. Best of luck getting it cleared up!
 
Marius_Lefter said:
Now, I know the proper way: seek a medical professional and do what he/she says. I will do just that once the schedule of the medical office permits me to show up.
Click to expand...
Fair enough, I'll hold you to it ;)

I will offer my armchair diagnosis, mainly because it doesn't change anything that you've already been told. I am a long way from a medical professional, so trust me at your own risk.

Marius_Lefter said:
where the forearm flexors attach to the elbow, or where the bicep ends. I feel it when I am doing movements that involve supporting my bodyweight or some external load: for example, the tall sit position, during push-up or planks, or when I am supporting the load overhead for a lengthy period of time. This stays with me like a sore sensation after the training.
Click to expand...

Sounds like medial epicondylitis. In the US, we call it golfer's elbow. It's inflammation of the common flexor tendon where it attaches at the elbow. It's caused by over-use, and the only really reliable way to rehab it is to stop doing things that irritate it until it gets better on it's own. That is to say, stop doing things that make it hurt. A doctor might be able to give it a shot to speed things along, and you can look up self-massage techniques that can help too, but it's very unlikely that it will get better while you're still doing things that make it hurt, which is going to be anything where you're flexing your wrist, or actively resisting wrist extension (as in when you're hold a 'bell in the front rack or overhead). My advice would be to get real friendly with swings and knuckle push ups for a while (and a physiotherapist). It can take a few months to resolve, so hang in there. Our tendons take longer to adapt to training than our muscles, and they take a heck of a long time to heal. Also, an issue with technique may have caused improper loading of the wrist flexors, causing them to be over-worked. Maybe investigate this.

I should point out that your actual bicep tendon should not hurt. You should be able to bend at the elbow without pain. If the bicep tendon hurts, then I would presume it's something similar, an irritated tendon that's been worked too hard. Two different injured tendons on the same side would seem to indicate an imbalance or technique issue, but it's hard to tell from this far away...

Marius_Lefter said:
I get snapping/popping noise in the medial head of my triceps, the one that is extremely close to the right elbow. I get this when I am doing pushing movements, when my elbow flex and then extends. Now, this does not hurt, it never did, but is annoying and want to resolve it somehow.
Click to expand...

Is this new, or has it always done this? Sometimes tendons don't slide along their tracks quite right, and you get a little popping. It happens to my in my right shoulder, but only if I'm not packing it correctly. Some people will tell you not to worry about pops and snaps as long as there's no pain, but the pops and snaps can beat up the tendons, and open you up to injury later on. Definitely sounds like something to bring up with properly trained human being who can actually place their hands on you and observe your movement in real time ;)

I hope that makes some sense of things (unless I'm just completely wrong), but like I said, it doesn't really change the advice that you've already been given.

I spent a few weeks in Romania back in 2016, towards the end of summer. We were doing maneuvers near Cincu. We didn't have the chance to see much else of the country, but we were set up in the middle of lots of green, rolling hills that got flooded with mist in the early mornings. It was beautiful.
 
Marius_Lefter said:
Until then, I hope that these are situations which can either be fixed by attention, form & technique, or by getting stronger ("Pain is weakness leaving the body" type of thing).
Click to expand...
FMS and StrongFirst share one principle : pain is the border. If you feel pain, it is the job of a medical professional, not a coach, and online advice are never a good option.

You don't have to stop all training, though. Just avoid to practice what cause (or may cause) pain until you get to see the medical professional.
 
Besides all the valuble advice already given I'd say make a elbow pre/rehab a daily routine:

-teacup drill
-egyptian

These two should not cause any discomfort

-halos
-hanging

Only if they di not cause pain.
 
I had success with bicep curls going for lower weight and really feeling the muscle contract. Weirdly triceps extensions (weight hold above the head and lowered to neck) appeared to help as well as my triceps were tense from pressing movements. So both movements helped with that. Just my own experience.
 
Stretching my wrists have been preventative measure for overusing elbows.
I believe there is or are muscles in forearm and wrist area that gets involved in moving elbow joints however overusage of those they get inactivated and by compensation starts to overstrain elbow.

I'm not a medical profession but stretching wrist does not do any harm to you. And given all of the kettlebell training encourage straight or neutral wrist, my personal opinion is that wrist movement gets overlooked. I use this for recovery measures and has worked well.
 
I did the following:
  • Went back to straight S&S practice.
  • Extensor exercises using iron mind bands (which is practically the same as what Pavel metions in the book with the broccoli stalk rubber band.
  • Theraband exercises with the red flexbar.
  • Self massage.
Took about 6 months to feel 90% and another 2 months to feel 100%. If I were to guess, I would say the most effective parts were time and removing the things that irritated; everything else, although possibly contributing to recovery probably had a small impact.

All the best and hope it helps.

EDIT: This was for medial and lateral epicondylitis which had reached a chronic state. I did see an ortho which had recommended rest and cortisone shots. Based on what I've read cortisone does not actually assist with recovery.
 
Just my first thoughts:
a. Shoulder location?
b. Gua Sha!
c. Ulnar nerve?!
d. Any discomport when moving fingers? Find out by by moving each one at a time. Might be a finger tendon thing?!
These are the things I would try to find out more about.
BUT see a doctor and do not be prejudging what he might think because you saw Dr. Google before ;)
 
See a medical professional/physio first.

Elbow issues for me have been helped by Tyler twists and reverse Tyler twists with a flexbar, voodoo floss, hangs, wrist mobility and strength.
 
Good morning Marius,
I can relate to your elbow issues. It got to the point where I could not bend my elbow enough (without extreme pain) to button my shirt. I was fortunate to find Smashworx on YouTube. It's creator Trevor, taught me that many times the problem lies up or down the chain. For example, my issue was caused by a shoulder mobility limitation. Once I addressed my shoulder mobility issue my elbow pain became manageable and over time completely gone.
An elbow issue could be a wrist or shoulder issue. A knee issue could be a hip or ankle issue. Good Luck, Fyreman
 
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