When your last option still sucks

[vicarz]

Since before June 2008 I've been seeing the doctor(s) about my elbow. I boxed / took a ring boxing class (never fought in the ring, just drilled and sparred) for about 7-10 years or so. My left elbow often got sore after throwing many hooks, or worse, mitting for someone with a strong hook. It always got sore - it always got better, until one uneventful day when it just didn't get better. I stopped boxing which just crushed my spirit - I loved loved loved boxing, but I could not return without directly impacting the problem. I thought I just needed rest, but weeks turned into months turned into...this. Holding a drink in my hand for too long leads to this tight feeling or burning in my bicep area?

I switched over to lifting, but the same problem was fighting me in the gym. I tried to just avoid areas that hurt my elbow, but it was never enough - there was no way to avoid my elbow in anything outside of a leg press or squat. I went to the doctors.

The regular doctors were worthless. The same old answers: if it hurts when you do x, don't do x. Rest 4-6 weeks. Take ibuprofen. Try stretching. I did all that early on - I tried and retried.

The orthopedic specialists called it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_elbow lateral epicondylitis and I couldn't help but notice my sports-playing ortho also had it. Bad sign - doctor has something you want cured? They say "tennis elbow" is on one side, while "boxers elbow" or "golfers elbow" was on the other. I had cortisone shots twice, x-rays and an mri, more months off from all gym activity (other than squats, and even then I racked weights with my right hand/arm only). No change.

I went to physical therapy, and they seemed clueless as well. Little rubs, some e-stim (cough), exercises that did not seem to make it any better...and the recommendation to return to the gym. I started back on my old beginner program, but as usual the more I tried to work out the more my elbow started screaming. It only seems to hurt or act up less lately as I'm more used to avoiding it - I almost instinctively avoid carrying groceries or other manly activities that might cause me to grip things with my left. The PT suggested I get a 2nd opinion on the elbow issue.

I went to a second ortho who trains/fixes sports people in this area (Redskins if I remember right). He said my symptoms were classic AND HE HAD IT TOO. Again, that bad sign. He said I had done what you could do, he had simply learned to avoid things like gripping too much
OH DEAR FUCKING GOD, really? Avoid gripping? Thanks Doc!?
and that while there is a surgery...it's not 100% nor are the results.

All this time I've been trying to find a way to avoid surgery, but it turns out even if I get the surgery I will not be 100%. If I understood his description correctly, they remove some of the torn tendons/tissue, and try to stimulate the remaining healthy tissue to attach and heal correctly. In short, no matter what happens I wind up with less tendons connecting.

I'm at a loss. I can't box, which means MMA is off the table, and even weightlifting is a constant battle to simply gain or maintain mediocrity. I can try surgery but the results are guaranteed to be less than 100%.

I just don't know what to do.

Comments

If it hurts when you do that, don't do that!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_blackjack_/]

See, I told you all that exercise was bad for you. *knees creak* *wheeze* *pant*

Re: If it hurts when you do that, don't do that!

[djpsyche.livejournal.com]

Exactly what I was going to say!
That sucks though dude, getting old is no fun.

[unapologetic.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

You'll be upset and spiral further down your unsatisfying options for a few years, until you come to accept that what you wanted to do is just not feasible. Then you'll come up with something else do focus on, stop fighting a losing battle, leave academia, spend a year unemployed, finally get a private-sector job, and still feel like a miserable failure about something that was ultimately out of your control.


Um... maybe swap out something between "leave academia" and "get a private-sector job"...

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Nice! Also, I just yesterday turned down a private sector job (higher pay, but as a contractor/consultant doing the same thing I do now for DoL).

[greatevil.livejournal.com]

Try Yoga and Kettlebells. I fucking love kettlebells. It won't replace what you can't do but it will keep you strong and moving.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I've seen multiple specialists, they were all screened for being sports / fitness educated, and I've had multiple breaks of 6-8 weeks.

[have-inner-lady.livejournal.com]

Oh for all gods, that sucks! I wish the news were different. I hope, if you end up going with surgery, you get 95% back if you can't get 100%.

Ooouf.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_blackjack_/]

Heh. This just made me think of Cris's response to that whole money argument, asking if her training logs are offensive to her disabled friends. I guess I'm just a lot more used to my body not necessarily doing what I want it to than you are. Hell, I'm pleasantly surprised when my bowels move normally nowadays.

Which isn't to say you shouldn't be upset by this, of course. It sucks to have something you enjoy become difficult. But you'll figure something out. Even amputees find ways to exercise, right? Maybe you can just work one side and make lots of masturbation jokes. Have you tried swimming? That's what arthritic old people do.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

I've been able to fix my elbow problems by soaking in ice water. It hurts like hell and makes your fingers feel like they're going to freeze up and die, but it helps a lot. Ten minutes, twice a day.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

What kind of elbow problems did you address with the icing technique?
Heh...icing technique. See also Ace of Cakes...

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

I've had tendinitis a few times, and one time I pulled something in my forearm.

[coronalrain.livejournal.com]

I am in a similar boat with my neck though surgery is not an option given it's location. So I don't do the things that hurt it and I try to do the exercises the PT gave me. The only thing I would suggest to you is to give yoga a shot. It may not alleviate all your discomfort, but it could possibly help and the right instructor may be able to give you exercises for your elbow that the PT didn't. And to be honest, it is all over good for your body in the long run.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I've taken one yoga class and am not adverse to the idea. I also want to make an anti-yoga shirt that says "Stretching is not exercise" but I never seem to follow through.

I did just make a shirt that says
"Skinny isn't fit"

[anarcha.livejournal.com]

Yoga isn't really stretching -- I consider it bodyweight strength training, with some flexibility built in.

Thing is, if you are unable to do pressing-type actions with your elbow, then you won't be able to do most yoga classes.

I think you first need to decide: do I want to push further on this, or accept lifestyle modifications (no wrong answer here).

If you want to push further, than I would a) give my physical therapist a call; b) if that doesn't work for you, just try using the elbow anyway.

I've found that rest is not always best for tendon injuries -- in my experience, I've run through a decent amount of pain when rehabbing my tendon injuries, and they've seemed better for it -- my healing seems to plateau until I start pushing the injury past its limits. There's some evidence to support this too -- see all the research on eccentric loading and soft tissue injuries.

Actually, that's maybe what I would try if I was in your place -- try doing eccentric loading of the elbow (maybe get under a smith machine bar, load it up, and then "press" it up with two arms, and lower in controlled fashion with just the bad arm).

If a and b fail, then I'd do the surgery.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I am due to reach out to the PT people again. Oddly it was they who said to do a 2nd opinion ortho, and it was their sports oriented ortho who said PT is not good for injuries like this. I may need to find a better PT (and you recommended some but we are location incompatible :) )

I'll have to look up some eccentric loading and soft tissue injury studies then. What, reading?! Just cut me open...

[turbogrrl.livejournal.com]

eccentric stretches also tend to help a lot. I got one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Thera-Band-Flexbar-Hand-Exerciser-Tennis/dp/B000P7YMW0 on the rec of someone else who had tennis elbow that no doc or PT could budge, and it was fucking awesome. Well, in that it hurts-it hurts-ow that really hurts-wow my arm feels so much fucking better sort of way.

Try the red one.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_blackjack_/]

"Yoga" comes from the same root as "yoke." Done properly (I'm told) it is an incredibly rigorous and difficult discipline. Of course, by "properly" I mean "from a half-naked old guy in India..."

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I had wandered into my first yoga class thinking it would be nice to be guided through a bunch of stretches after my workout. I was surprised to find that it was actually physically difficult, not just in terms of flexibility, but also balance and even strength. Seems like a very good overall exercise and I should do it more often.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I got diagnosed with bicipital tendonitis a few
months back and I've stopped rock climbing for over 3 months. The main pain I felt was in my shoulder but also a second nagging pain near my
inside elbow, felt like where my biceps muscle attached. Went to a few PT appointments that didn't seem to be doing anything and have been
mostly just avoiding doing anything too strenuous with that arm. Tried a set of pullups and pushups today. I'm much much weaker and the pain seems to have returned (not acutely...just a dull ache). I'm unsure whether to continue resting or keep trying to do a little exercise
with it and hope that it stimulates it to heal itself. I'm sorry your injury has been frustrating you for so long. Wish you were hearing better news.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Hope you don't wind up with similar news - err on the side of caution, if you can take my lesson.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

and what did you think of boxing? I've been curious to try but since I wear glasses, I can't stand the idea of getting hit in the face.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Then you should try and do boxing for a long time. I used to be scared of fighting...and under some conditions I still am, but after hours upon hours for months and years - fists flying by my face don't really phase me any more. I don't particularly like being hit and I'm the first to say I don't have "heart" as the boxers say, but the fear of getting hit is something you overcome.

I highly recommend boxing - also it's a KILLER workout. The funny thing is you have to learn to conserve energy yet hit hard and move fast - when you start you do everything wrong so you get extra tired. The result is you get in great condition, but as you get better at boxing the workout isn't as hard because you're used to it and more practiced at conserving energy. Compare beginner and expert jump rope jumpers - experts hardly leave the ground.