Tennis Elbow and cycling

plook
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Joined: 12 May 2012, 11:55am

Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by plook »

Anyone here ever had tennis elbow? I've had it about 8 weeks now after sawing logs in the garden (i think). Not been to see a GP about it (because it's not easy to see one), but i have finally made an appointment for 16th. I have been resting it as much as possible over Christmas but wondering if getting back on the bike will prolong the recovery. Most painful thing is picking up a cup of coffee.
Pebble
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by Pebble »

yes its awful, I had it on and off for 5 or 6 years, needed towear a small strap just below the elbow that allowed me to function, and cycle - cycling was particularly troublesome (all todo with the hand being tilted backwards when riding.

By chance I did find a very simple cure, and have not been bothered with it for 10 years or more.
plook
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Joined: 12 May 2012, 11:55am

Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by plook »

I'm glad a posted this, i'm pretty miserable with the pain. What was that simple cure?
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foxyrider
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by foxyrider »

plook wrote: 4 Jan 2023, 8:36pm I'm glad a posted this, i'm pretty miserable with the pain. What was that simple cure?
and why is ypit hand tilted backwards when you ride?
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
plook
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by plook »

Hands resting on tops of drop bars with bars too low?
Jdsk
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by Jdsk »

DropperPost
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by DropperPost »

plook wrote: 4 Jan 2023, 8:20pmAnyone here ever had tennis elbow?
I got it pretty bad from kayaking using a different paddle and a different stroke. I think the problem was that I was doing a paddle stroke with very high cadence, grasping the paddle tight whilst radically articulating my hand in relation to my forearm. Just a few hours at sea resulted in almost a year's worth of pain. I found it was really painful doing things as mundane as holding my mobile phone up to talk or just lying in bed at night.

I contacted my GP, who referred me to a physio. The physio got me to do a load of eccentric exercises (which basically means allowing the weight/elastic to pull on your muscle as it's slowly extending, i.e. you're lowering the weight.) You can find all of these via a Google/YouTube search. I've made a complete recovery, but it took ages. Thankfully, the physio had warned me how slow the recovery would be - otherwise, I'd have probably been back to the GP demanding surgery.

I can't think of any cycling-related reasons you might get tennis elbow - I've never had any grief from either lengthy road rides or janky off-road rides. I did specifically ask my physio if I would be okay riding my bike, and he told me to wait until I'd seen a bit of improvement from the eccentric exercises. After this, I got back on with riding as usual, and had no problems. I'd agree that the log-sawing is a more likely culprit - i.e. you're gripping hard whilst repeatedly articulating your wrist. I have had much shorter periods of tennis elbow type pain (less than a week) from kayaking (e.g. when gripping harder because my hands were slippery with sunblock) so hopefully yours will turn out to be one of these.
Last edited by DropperPost on 4 Jan 2023, 11:21pm, edited 1 time in total.
plook
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Joined: 12 May 2012, 11:55am

Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by plook »

DropperPost wrote: 4 Jan 2023, 11:13pm
plook wrote: 4 Jan 2023, 8:20pmAnyone here ever had tennis elbow?
I got it pretty bad from kayaking using a different paddle and a different stroke. I think the problem was that I was doing a paddle stroke with very high cadence, grasping the paddle tight whilst radically articulating my hand in relation to my forearm. Just a few hours at sea resulted in almost a year's worth of pain. I found it was really painful doing things as mundane as holding my mobile phone up to talk or just lying in bed at night.

I contacted my GP, who referred me to a physio. The physio got me to do a load of eccentric exercises (which basically means allowing the weight/elastic to pull on your muscle as it's slowly extending, i.e. you're lowering the weight.) You can find all of these via a Google/YouTube search. I've made a complete recovery, but it took ages. Thankfully, the physio had warned me how slow the recovery would be - otherwise, I'd have probably been back to the GP demanding surgery.

I can't think of any cycling-related reasons you might get tennis elbow - I've never had any grief from either lengthy road rides or janky off-road rides. I'd agree that the log-sawing is a more likely culprit - i.e. you're gripping hard whilst repeatedly articulating your wrist. I have had much shorter periods of tennis elbow type pain (less than a week) from kayaking (e.g. when gripping harder because my hands were slippery with sunblock) so hopefully yours will turn out to be one of these.
That's really interesting and useful information. When you get something like this you find yourself looking at every possibility and all i can think of is the log cutting and stacking a week after covid. I was in the Boundary Waters doing the most intense canoeing of my life for a week in August, but that was months before i developed it. Thanks so much for this. I'll look up those exercises and see if my GP will point me towards a physio.

Not been on my bike since i got it and want to get training for tours.
Last edited by plook on 5 Jan 2023, 12:04am, edited 1 time in total.
axel_knutt
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by axel_knutt »

I've had tennis elbow in both arms for the last 6 years. After the first year or so it got better to the extent that it wasn't intensely painful, but it still returns any time I do anything even slightly active with my arms. Unless I want more trouble, I can no longer carry bags of shopping home from Tesco if they're more than a third to a half full.

My left arm was caused by lifting a rucsac repeatedly whilst on holiday in August 2016, I should have grasped the handle palm up but I was lifting it with my palm facing down, which puts the offending tendon under tension. Whilst I was waiting for an ultrasound I did the right arm as well, this time I was feeding a heavy cable under the flooorboards: sat on the floor with arms outstretched, I was pushing the cable down with my left arm and pulling it up with the right. Again I was lifting with palm facing down.

Squeezing brake levers was a bit painful as I recall, but I've not done any cycling anway for nearly three years now anyway.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Pebble
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by Pebble »

plook wrote: 4 Jan 2023, 8:36pm I'm glad a posted this, i'm pretty miserable with the pain. What was that simple cure?
Like all medical stuff i doubt it will work for everyone, but first of all when I was having the elbow problems I used a simple elbow brace that allowed me to do most things, but if I forgot to wear the brace the tennis elbow would return, and it was surprisingly disabling.
https://www.wikihow.com/Wear-a-Tennis-Elbow-Brace
It worked wonders for me over 5 or 6 years, but never cured the cause!
I believe it clamps the tendon to the bone and takes the strain off the troublesome join.

Anyway, how it was pretty much cured. I was seeing a pilates teacher (she was also a nhs physiotherapist) on a one to one basis (very expensive) to try and get over my back problem, and when she was assessing me she was was going over my entire body poking and prodding various bits of my anatomy, looking for faulty bits I guess. And when on my left forarm, the arm of my tennis elbow, she said (completely unprompted by me) "I can show you how to get rid of your tennis elbow" I protested " I don't have tennis elbow", I don't really know why I told her that lie, may be I just didn't want to admit to a pretty woman I was totally shot! Still amazed she knew I had a tennis elbow, but she clearly did, without question - this boy has a tennis elbow, no doubts about it

But thankfully she persisted in showing me the solution, she obviously knew I had a problem despite my silly denial. Apparently the forearm muscle was overly tight, short and knotty, this shortness of the muscle was overloading the joint? The solution was simple, just massage it 3 or 4 times a day, and always massage upwards towards the heart was her instruction, a week or so later she got me one of these roller ball things.
Image
at first massaging the muscle was very uncomfortable, it felt knotty and lumpy, but after a few weeks it felt much smoother and even enjoyable, never had tennis elbow since, and that was maybe 10 years ago. I don't use the roller thing everyday now, or even every week, but I do occasionally to check if the muscle is soft and unknotty.

I would imagine there are many causes of tennis elbow, but if your forearm muscles are overly tight then it may be worth a go - but do check with your own doctor that this remedy you have gleaned from an entire stranger on social media is safe for you. All manner of nutters on the internet.

She also pretty much sorted my back out too, a truly remarkable woman. Who knows, may be my back and elbow were related, and curing my back also ured the elbow, or may be it was the other way around - the body and its workings is a very strange fish.
axel_knutt
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Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 12:20pm

Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by axel_knutt »

Pebble wrote: 5 Jan 2023, 1:00amwhen I was having the elbow problems I used a simple elbow brace
I tried one of those, but there was nothing between tight enough to make my hand go purple, and loose enough to fall off, so it quickly got discarded.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
plook
Posts: 67
Joined: 12 May 2012, 11:55am

Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by plook »

Pebble wrote: 5 Jan 2023, 1:00am
plook wrote: 4 Jan 2023, 8:36pm I'm glad a posted this, i'm pretty miserable with the pain. What was that simple cure?
Like all medical stuff i doubt it will work for everyone, but first of all when I was having the elbow problems I used a simple elbow brace that allowed me to do most things, but if I forgot to wear the brace the tennis elbow would return, and it was surprisingly disabling.
https://www.wikihow.com/Wear-a-Tennis-Elbow-Brace
It worked wonders for me over 5 or 6 years, but never cured the cause!
I believe it clamps the tendon to the bone and takes the strain off the troublesome join.

Anyway, how it was pretty much cured. I was seeing a pilates teacher (she was also a nhs physiotherapist) on a one to one basis (very expensive) to try and get over my back problem, and when she was assessing me she was was going over my entire body poking and prodding various bits of my anatomy, looking for faulty bits I guess. And when on my left forarm, the arm of my tennis elbow, she said (completely unprompted by me) "I can show you how to get rid of your tennis elbow" I protested " I don't have tennis elbow", I don't really know why I told her that lie, may be I just didn't want to admit to a pretty woman I was totally shot! Still amazed she knew I had a tennis elbow, but she clearly did, without question - this boy has a tennis elbow, no doubts about it

But thankfully she persisted in showing me the solution, she obviously knew I had a problem despite my silly denial. Apparently the forearm muscle was overly tight, short and knotty, this shortness of the muscle was overloading the joint? The solution was simple, just massage it 3 or 4 times a day, and always massage upwards towards the heart was her instruction, a week or so later she got me one of these roller ball things.
Image
at first massaging the muscle was very uncomfortable, it felt knotty and lumpy, but after a few weeks it felt much smoother and even enjoyable, never had tennis elbow since, and that was maybe 10 years ago. I don't use the roller thing everyday now, or even every week, but I do occasionally to check if the muscle is soft and unknotty.

I would imagine there are many causes of tennis elbow, but if your forearm muscles are overly tight then it may be worth a go - but do check with your own doctor that this remedy you have gleaned from an entire stranger on social media is safe for you. All manner of nutters on the internet.

She also pretty much sorted my back out too, a truly remarkable woman. Who knows, may be my back and elbow were related, and curing my back also ured the elbow, or may be it was the other way around - the body and its workings is a very strange fish.
Thank you for this. All of these replies has really lifted my spirits and made me feel more optimistic for recovery. I have started to look sat exercises on YouTube, and massaging the muscles in tension. I too bought one of those elbow compression supports but my arm swelled up from it being more like a tourniquet. I was initially reluctant to post my request for info but so glad i did. yes, i did look at the NHS web site 8 weeks ago but it's not actually that helpful. It guided me towards ibuprofen which made me feel very unwell. Thanks everyone for all of these amazing experiences and hope.
plook
Posts: 67
Joined: 12 May 2012, 11:55am

Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by plook »

axel_knutt wrote: 4 Jan 2023, 11:45pm I've had tennis elbow in both arms for the last 6 years. After the first year or so it got better to the extent that it wasn't intensely painful, but it still returns any time I do anything even slightly active with my arms. Unless I want more trouble, I can no longer carry bags of shopping home from Tesco if they're more than a third to a half full.

My left arm was caused by lifting a rucsac repeatedly whilst on holiday in August 2016, I should have grasped the handle palm up but I was lifting it with my palm facing down, which puts the offending tendon under tension. Whilst I was waiting for an ultrasound I did the right arm as well, this time I was feeding a heavy cable under the flooorboards: sat on the floor with arms outstretched, I was pushing the cable down with my left arm and pulling it up with the right. Again I was lifting with palm facing down.

Squeezing brake levers was a bit painful as I recall, but I've not done any cycling anway for nearly three years now anyway.
This is interesting because a few weeks after the log sawing i was doing a wild camp on Bleaklow with a 15kg rucksack that i found agonising to hoist. I turned 60 in September and an older friend told me a few years ago that when i did my wheels would start falling off. I have always been fit, active and health-conscious with my nutrition and this makes me really feel that i can't take it for granted and must take extra care with wellness. By the way, the 'F' on my out of warrantee £2000 MacBook is near dead and it's so annoying.
Stevek76
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by Stevek76 »

Pebble wrote: 5 Jan 2023, 1:00am I would imagine there are many causes of tennis elbow, but if your forearm muscles are overly tight then it may be worth a go -
My entirely unexpert impression, both of my own and of people who I know have had issues, is that niggling joint pains that aren't a result of arthritic or acute trauma are far more often than not a result of some sort of imbalance or tightness in adjacent muscles. If some muscles are relatively weak because they aren't used then for certain movements, the stronger muscles will overcompensate and strain the joint.

The other thing that helps therefore are exercises to address/reduce than imbalance, bit like a balanced diet, a balanced exercise schedule is generally a good thing though sometimes you need specific targeted exercises that isolate the weak muscle to undo existing imbalances.
The contents of this post, unless otherwise stated, are opinions of the author and may actually be complete codswallop
axel_knutt
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Re: Tennis Elbow and cycling

Post by axel_knutt »

plook wrote: 5 Jan 2023, 9:31amI turned 60 in September and an older friend told me a few years ago that when i did my wheels would start falling off. I have always been fit, active and health-conscious with my nutrition and this makes me really feel that i can't take it for granted and must take extra care with wellness.
I think mine occurred because my arms had become so weak and wasted through inactivity.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
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