JMW <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Chris Malcolm <[email protected]> wrote:
>>JMW <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Hugh Beyer <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>>JMW <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hugh Beyer <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Chris Malcolm <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>>>>> In a few months I moved from
>>>>>>> only being able to hang twitching from a pullup bar to being able to
>>>>>>> do one pullup. At about 4 pullups I started developing the kind
>>>>>>> of elbow tendon soreness you describe. At 6 pullups it lasted for days
>>>>>>> rather than hours and I was getting very excited by how fast my
>>>>>>> strength was developing. I was adding a pullup to my max reps about
>>>>>>> every fortnight. I regarded the soreness as simply a good sign that I
>>>>>>> had strained things enough to boost strength growth.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> At 8 pullups the tendon soreness just didn't go away, and I discovered
>>>>>>> I had injured my tendons and was going to have to take a break. A year
>>>>>>> later they're a lot better but still haven't recovered. In my weakest
>>>>>>> arm they still hurt slightly, all the time.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My guess is that after decades of driving a desk for a living my
>>>>>>> tendons had dropped down in strength to match my reduced arm power,
>>>>>>> and that muscles can be grown in strength much faster than tendons.
>>
>>>>>>Interesting... I had bad elbow tendinitis for quite a while, which I
>>>>>>blamed on DB swings with poor form, but I was also doing weighted chins
>>>>>>at the time. The tendinitis didn't go away until I gave up doing
>>>>>>chins--maybe they were the culprit.
>>
>>>>> Try using straps/hooks for grip assistance. I think you'll find out
>>>>> that makes a difference.
>>
>>>>What confused me is that I could never tell what was bothering the elbow
>>>>in the gym... it wasn't till later that I realized it was messed up. Grip
>>>>strength never felt like a problem.
>>
>>My experience too. No apparent problem with grip strength, and no
>>soreness at the time. It develops some hours or a day later, and
>>persists.
>>
>>> Grip strength isn't really the issue.
>>
>>Well, if it isn't, then how do straps to assist the grip help?
> What movement causes the tendonitis in the first place?
It's hard to decide what aggravates it, since the aggravation often
takes hours to develop, often overnight. It's even harder to decide
what caused it nearly a year ago in the first place. Possible
candidates are using a badly placed keyboard too much, spending a
whole day tree pruning until I could no longer squeeze the shears with
either hand, starting to use a motorcycle with a heavy clutch, doing
too many pullups too frequently, and doing to many grip-strengthening
exercises while watching TV in the evening.
I note that although I can do a pullup without hurting it much, one of
the nastiest twinges occurs when tightening the laces on my heavy
boots. The main area of pain is just forward of the elbow on the
outside of the forearm. Both arms were originally affected, but the
stronger right arm recovered some months ago.
--
Chris Malcolm
[email protected] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[
http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]