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dbrian56
Apr 10, 2007, 4:30 PM
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I've been gearing up for the season and have upped my climbing gym sessions to 3 days a week; but a pain in my lower bicep (towards the elbow but not in) has limited me to two nights instead. I need to the extra day or two for my arms to recover.
I have a sneaking suspicion that it's tendonitis and my logic has been that if I keep working them that the pain would eventually subside over the course of my training, as I know exercise of the muscle usually helps with that. But so far, it hasn't really helped any.
Are there other exercises that I should be doing instead to work out that muscle or something else that I am missing? It's really starting to cramp my style as I'm breaking into V3s & 4s/ 5.10-11.
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bajcsi
Apr 10, 2007, 5:06 PM
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Not a doctor, but very well could be tendonitis. I've had the exact same thing though mine (pain-wise) was located more centrally in the elbow. Just climbing more actually isn't the way to go about it. Generally tedonitis comes from muscle imbalances (as well as the classic "overuser" or too much too soon), which is in climbing is easy to do, especially with that joint.
If you have access to resistance training of any kind, I recommend you work all four groups of muscles around the eblow - top of forearm, bottom of forearm (i.e. the popeye part), triceps and finally biceps. Strengthing and balancing all the muscle groups takes a load off the elbow and the tendons around it and allows you to avoid injury more. Additionally, make sure you ice after every climbing session.
Bajcsi
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dbrian56
Apr 11, 2007, 1:50 AM
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Awesome! I'll give that a whirl. Hopefully I'll be in for a less painful season.
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yekcir
Apr 11, 2007, 2:16 AM
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I got similar pain in the biceps tendon from bouldering in the gym all winter. The answer I found is to take advantage of the good weather and climb less steep, more footwork intensive stuff (or take a month off, but who can really do that?).
I've noticed over the years that my muscles get really strong really fast and my tendons always suffer as a result. Low impact, consistent training to the painful tendons helps me keep them on pace with muscle strength. Afterward, a bit of motrin and beer always helps too!
(This post was edited by yekcir on Apr 11, 2007, 2:18 AM)
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bajcsi
Apr 11, 2007, 2:55 PM
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yekcir wrote: I got similar pain in the biceps tendon from bouldering in the gym all winter. The answer I found is to take advantage of the good weather and climb less steep, more footwork intensive stuff (or take a month off, but who can really do that?). I've noticed over the years that my muscles get really strong really fast and my tendons always suffer as a result. Low impact, consistent training to the painful tendons helps me keep them on pace with muscle strength. Afterward, a bit of motrin and beer always helps too!
Heh, yes, Beer does help in the short term anyway with forgetting about the pain. I often choose to go that route. Though I must say that it's very important to stay well hydrated when working out or climbing because your tendons are affected by dehydration. Remember that alcohol is a diuretic.
Bajcsi
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aerili
Apr 11, 2007, 6:36 PM
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Try shooting up with steroids. That will strengthen your muscles and weaken your tendons....Maybe you will blow out a knee and forget about your elbow entirely.
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keelie75
Apr 11, 2007, 6:44 PM
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I too have experienced something similar in my lower bicep/elbow... it was tendonitis (fun fun) and my doc said it was a cross between "tennis elbow" and "golfers elbow" (?) so i ended up taking a few weeks off climbing...
i'm back at it now but i take advil before bouldering (to combat swelling) and i try to ice it after and i picked up a tennis elbow brace for added support/stability. i've also been using one of those grippy-things to strengthen my grip/forearms which seems to help as well...
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dbrian56
Apr 11, 2007, 6:46 PM
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Yeah, I'll work on that. In the mean time I'll just stick to shooting smack and snorting lines on the crag. And with some luck, I'll slip and fall into a puddle of AIDS.
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