Post by Chris W on Apr 23, 2014 5:29:53 GMT -7
In the event that someone else has suffered from a similar affliction, I'll share my case.
Several years ago, I developed a case of elbow tendonitis. I eventually discovered that it came from hanging for long periods of time on my 35 degree wall doing [what I thought was endurance training, but what I now recognize as poorly performed] power endurance training. The pain I developed was NOT either a lateral or medial epicondylitis (I regularly diagnose and treat each of these conditions). It was deep to, and in between, the olecranon and the lateral epicondyle. Through trial and error I found it was caused by hanging from a straight arm on my steep wall.
I spoke to several of my GP/FP colleagues (none of them climbers) who didn't know what it was and simply told me to stop climbing. I obtained several armchair consults from VERY GOOD ortho colleagues (non-climbers), but none of them knew exactly what it was. I obtained an armchair consult from an ortho colleague who was an ELBOW SPERCTMkicksAssT (non-climber), who didn't know what it was. I obtained a consult from a very intelligent and very sexy PT (my wife), who didn't know what it was. None of the climbing literature seemed to address this problem, always citing either lateral or medial epicondylitis. See a pattern?
I eventually poured through some of my anatomy atlases and texts to [virtually] dissect my elbow. The conclusion I came to is that my condition was caused by excessive PRONATION and strain on the elbow in a pronated (palm facing away from you) position. To remedy this, I perform some PT exercises on a regular basis. To do this, I hold a dumbbell at the very end of the handle. The weight has been removed from the end that I'm holding (a heavy hammer would work as well). The dumbbell is perpendicular to the long axis of my arm. I'll start in a neutral position (thumb up, weight straight up) and SLOWLY eccentrically lower the weight by pronating (turning the palm down). I'll repeat this for 10-15 reps, then do the same thing by supinating (weight up, slowly lowering by turning the palm up). This has fixed my problem and prevented it from recurring, so long as I am faithful with my exercises.
Confused? Hopefully not, but I can explain more if need be.
