Training power with tweaky elbows

[socrate]

Hello,

I just did my 10th hang-board strength session.  My left elbow is giving me some minor discomfort. Nothing serious, I've had elbow problems in the past and have solved the problem with complementary pronation and wrist curls. (Which I an doing). 

I'm simply worried about getting into the power phase and aggravating the elbow. I also don't really want to break my training plan. I'm thinking of skipping the campus session for the first week or two and simply doing limit bouldering. 

Have you any better recommendations or experience with this problem. 

Thanks and by the way great book.  I've been climbing or ages and have slowly worked up to lower 13. Your blog and articles have gotten me motivated to try a few training cycle and see how it goes. 

Cheers from Quebec

[tomfallen]

Since I started climbing (7+ years ago) I've had troubles with elbow tendinitis, both medial epicondylitis and tendinitis in my brachialis.  Every time I tried to do a campus cycle it's get two workouts in and have to quit, usually from the brachialis tendinitis.

Rest makes the pain go away, but it comes right back if I pull hard.

I tried pushups, pronation exercises, reverse wrist curls, "antagonist" training, etc.  They seemed to help a little.

I tried icing after workouts and doing contrast baths.  Neither seemed to help.

I tried eccentric exercises:  wrist pronation and wrist curls, but only the lowering portion.  This helped quite a bit, and kept the tendinitis at bay, but it was always there.  There's an article by Dr. Julian Saunders titled "Dodgy Elbows" with good info, and I believe Dave Macleod has written about this on his blog.

Recently I started rolling my forearms and upper arms using a foam roller and lacrosse ball.  This was inspired by Kelly Starrett's book "Becoming a Supple Leopard" which, despite the funny title, is an excellent book about movement and mobility (not climbing related).  It's like I have new elbows - pretty much all the pain is gone, and they feel better than they ever have since I started climbing.  I recently managed about 6 campus workouts over three weeks with minimal pain.

Here's what I've been doing:  Using the foam roller, I lean against the wall and roll my triceps, brachialis, and the muscles that extend my wrist.  I also lay face down on the floor and use the roller on my biceps.  I put a lacrosse ball on a coffee table and mash whole underside of my forearm:  finger flexors and the stuff around my medial epicondyles.  At first there were a bunch of incredibly tight, tender places that could take only light pressure, and made me want to cry a bit.  Now I can push pretty hard just about everywhere.  It seems important to smash not only the places that are sore, but also upstream and downstream of them.

I think this stuff ends up being called massage, active release therapy (ART) or trigger point therapy.  It might be worth looking into the details of these therapies, but I've been having amazing results just smashing everything in my arms.  Initially I spent 45 minutes or so maybe 5 times per week, but now I don't have to do it nearly so often.  Recently I've been experimenting with a Body Back Buddy (www.amazon.com/Body-Back-Company-10100000003-Buddy/dp/B0006VJ6TO) to get at some tricky bits around my medial epicondyles, with positive results.

Here's a blog by someone who went through a similar process:  theinspiredclimber.com/2014/03/04/a-rock-climbers-elbow-pain/

Best of luck with the campusing.

[socrate]

Thanks Tomfallen,

I am definitively getting myself a foam roller. The link sounds alot like what I've experienced over the years.

[MarkAnderson]

Wow. I think that Body Back Buddy might have more than one use, if you know what I mean

Often epicondylitis is caused by overly tight flexor and extensor tendons in the forearm and upper arm. Tom's suggestions are right on. Another option that will help in mnay cases is thorough stretching of these tissues, as discussed on pages 178-179 of the RCTM. The antagonist work seems to help a lot of folks as well, but I would suggest trying stretching, massage and icing first, simply because they are easier and less time-consuming to implement, and they often do the trick.

[tomfallen]

Yep, the Body Back Buddy is a bit suggestive. Size-wise, it might be a bit disappointing. 

Mark - I've tried stretching without seeing much results. I'm naturally pretty flexible, so I might have been getting to the end of range of my joints before properly stretching the muscles.
 But I suspect that some people will see significant benefit from stretching, particularly if they're lacking full range of motion.

socrate - don't forget the lacrosse ball.  Laying the ball on the a table then pushing the underside of your forearm into the ball and rolling around is probably the single best thing I've done for my elbows.  I also have a pair of lacrosse balls taped together with athletic tape.  You can use one ball as a handle to press the other ball into your arm.  It's also perfect for rolling the muscles on either side of your spine.

[socrate]

Little update...

So far all is good. I have dine 2 limit bouldering sessions and 2 campus sessions. I don't feel any tweaks in the shoulder during the LB.   During the campus sessions, they are feeling worked but no pain. 

I continue the different exercises and stretches, I've also added a good icing after a hard workout. I have included the foam roller massages and they really relax the forearm. I think overdid it at first by pressing too hard. I had a lingering soreness in the arm!!  But everything is great. 

Thanks all for the information.