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Kettlebell Update: Elbow injury follow-up and support

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Tom0Blom0

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Hey All - apologies if this is in the wrong forum. This is a follow up to this thread: Form Check: Worried Swings are Causing/Exacerbating Tennis Elbow

So the issue turns out to be an ulnar nerve problem. This has been an issue for me in the past and seems to have come back full force. I had rested for a week (when I thought it was just tennis elbow) and thought things were better, did two days of S&S as usual and started having really significant irritation in my elbow. As a result I'm taking a break from S&S until I can get into an ortho. From what I've read I'm looking at anywhere from a month to 3 months off of S&S, which is a significant bummer. I started in September and was really happy with my steady progress in improving my overall strength. Now I'm worried I'm going to lose all my gains. Here's my question/request:

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do in the meantime? I figure I'll need to not do much of anything for a month (hiking and the like will probably be okay). I will talk with my Doc and PT as well, but any additional insight would be greatly appreciated. I figure I need to avoid anything load-bearing with my arm. I thought maybe body-weight squats could be an option. I plan on trying to find some lower impact cardio like rucking as well. Trying to keep my arm as straight as possible as often as possible seems like the target for recovery. Anyone else run into a similar situation?
 
Sorry to hear about that - wishing you a speedy recovery! When you go to see your ortho it may be good to have them do an exam on your neck as well. Some ulnar nerve issues originate upstream (e.g. the neck) so it would be good to have someone qualified take a look at that and see if it might be contributing.
 
I would second Tony's advice.
Post back after a medical professional has made an eval and recommendations.
 
Brett Jones said:
I would second Tony's advice.
Post back after a medical professional has made an eval and recommendations.
Click to expand...

Will do. I have an ortho appointment on May 14th and I start PT on Wednesday. I'll keep this updated as things change/I get more answers/insights.
 
Update: I have been to the doctor. X-rays of my elbow and neck didn't reveal any structural issues. An ultrasound of my left arm was reportedly consistent with cubital tunnel syndrome. Womp womp. Kind of already knew that...

I was referred to an hand specialist OT for nerve guiding exercises.

I've been seeing a PT to address issues with my posture and relative weakness in my left arm. I work at a computer all day and play guitar so that nerve is pestered quite a bite; however, I'm pretty sure that my relative weakness is where things went wrong during my workouts. I'd started doing single arm swings a month or so before things started getting bad. I think I increased weight too quickly with my left. I was able to swing and lift the weight fine, but if I think about it my form started to suck and my shoulder on the left would unpack. Idiot!

Anyway, I'm going to continue resting and avoid any kind of upper body stuff until I meet with the OT and get their thoughts on plans moving forward.

In the meantime, I would appreciate any recommendations on what I can do to maintain my fitness goals even if I'm just focusing on lower body (note, I was given the doctor's okay to do lower-body exercises but told to wait to do anything with upper body until I speak with the OT). I Generally dislike intense cardio workouts but I'll do whatever I need to do to avoid becoming a bump on a log again. I was really proud of myself and what I was doing with S&S and I'm afraid of falling back into a sedentary rut while I recover. TL;DR: I hurt my arm. Are there any workouts programs routines that are good for focusing on lower body to maintain general fitness that would be inline with S&S?
 
@Tom0Blom0, my next stop after the doctor would be with an SFG. Sometimes these things happen as a result of form issues which can be corrected. Ideal, IMO, would be an FMS, deal with whatever comes up there, then an SFG and deal with what comes up there.

Put another way, if after your doctor's visit, all that potentially stands between you and pain- and injury-free exercise is dealing with movement and form issues, why would you not want to check your status on those things ASAP before trying to return to the movements that, in the past, had caused you problems?

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
@Tom0Blom0, my next stop after the doctor would be with an SFG. Sometimes these things happen as a result of form issues which can be corrected. Ideal, IMO, would be an FMS, deal with whatever comes up there, then an SFG and deal with what comes up there.

Put another way, if after your doctor's visit, all that potentially stands between you and pain- and injury-free exercise is dealing with movement and form issues, why would you not want to check your status on those things ASAP before trying to return to the movements that, in the past, had caused you problems?

-S-
Click to expand...
This is a great suggestion. Unfortunately there is only one SFG near me and I have emailed them a couple of times with no response. I have also reached out to a couple of other folks in the area about doing some personal training with kettlebells and no one seems interested in providing help? It's been very strange. I'm not sure if they just do not want to focus on the simple and sinister movements or what, but I've been striking out. I live in Evansville, IN and my girlfriend lives in Louisville and I have been having similar difficulty finding someone to help me out in Louisville as well (I'm there every other weekend so that would have been an option as well). I'm going to keep trying, but it's been incredibly frustrating trying to find someone to help with my goals.
 
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