[i.munro]

I was told that the problem is that if your shoulder is not working right, it is not helping your elbow as much as it should when you climb, thus more load goes through your elbow leading to the tendonitis.  I imagine the people who crank hard regularly without injury have shoulders that have naturally co-operated.

Exactly the story I'm getting from my physio & trying to address the shoulder issues seems to have prevented tendonitis re-occurring.

[Falling Down]

Went to see John at The Clinic yesterday morning.  Had a good (if painful) session and he diagnosed nerve compression/irritation of the Ulnar nerve in my 1st and 2nd rib/vertebrae and inflammation at my tricep insertion point which was manifesting itself in weakness in the hand and consequent elbow irritation.  It all sort of makes sense as I've had thoracic spine problems in the past due to posture and too much computer work.   He did some deep tissue massage around my shoulder/1st rib and under the armpit where the tendon insertion point is and it's really helped.

The Tennis Elbow that I had last year was successfully treated by the physio in the Autumn.  Feeling pretty good about things after yesterdays diagnosis and have a green light to climb without aggravating the elbow if I keep doing my stretches and pressups.

[sidewinder]

Just as an update, with the press ups and massaging of the tendon I am now back to climbing to a greater intensity than before the problem started.  I occasionally get a bit of 'tweakiness' during a session, at which point I switch to some easier stuff/stamina circuits and am experiencing no pain the next day.

Just out of interest, does anyone have a definitive answer/opinion(much easier to come by than answers) on how much deadhanging on a fingerboard is likely to aggravate it?  I am still laying off pull ups etc. but like to think that starting some deadhangs on the beastmaker is probably not too bad, however a previous post seemed to suggest fingerboarding is a big no no.

[Falling Down]

Glad to hear you're on the mend.  For me deadhanging is fine but pullups don't feel so good...

[Paul B]

Sorry I hadn't looked in this thread. Basically because I've never had any trouble 
ps - I'm skinnier than him I bet.

Maybe I spoke too soon. I've only had a couple of sessions back but my left elbow has a sharp pain in it when I extend my are fully. Not a great start to starting climbing indoors again 

[Steve R]

Just wondering how people go about massaging the affected area for golfer's?  I bore right in there with my thumb, fingers wrapped over top side of forearm, starting on the epicondyle itself (which often feels tender) then work down a little to where it feels like the tendon attaches.  This is mostly from my own intuition and habit since the physio I saw was totally whack.  Not sure it does anything though I'd like to think the slight pain and discomfort from probing and prodding stimulates some healing.  Just read that athlon article for the 174th time...  Nothing left to improve or new to try as far as I can see  such a frustrating injury!

To be certain, as I've never read or had it confirmed otherwise, is the classic problem area that spot just below (hand/wrist side) of the epicondyle?

Has acupuncture worked for anyone?  My long-term management is sucking so far it seems.......

[sidewinder]

I go for massaging with my fingers, by placing my thumb on top and wrapping my hand fingers round the back, this seems to put my fingers in the right position to massage transversely across the tendon.

I did not however start doing this until a couple of weeks after starting the cold water baths and wrist curls which had reduced the general pain, the rational being that it was probably aggravating it more than helping while the tendonitis was still quite acute.  In fact I only started massaging when the cold water baths started to seem superfluous and I was reducing their frequency.

My physio gave me acupuncture, both in my shoulder, elbow and wrist/hand.  It seemed to help by releasing some of the tension in the tendons/general area allowing him to manipulate it more successfully/with less discomfort.  However even, he, a firm believer said that acupuncture alone is not going to fix the problem, it is the exercises/icing that fix it.

However maybe we could all save some time and just buy some accapi/nexus supports, rather than any of this physio/massaging/icing/exercise bollocks  .

[sidewinder]

Anyone got any good tips for loosening/stretching shoulders?  My elbow is pretty much under control, but the underlying cause (my left shoulder) likes to stiffen up, which, if I am not careful starts the cycle over.  Not yet found a good way to get it to loosen up.