Post: #1

Back when I was drinking a lot, I'd always find myself arm-wrestling in the bars.

When I fell off the wagon the N.Y.E. before last, I ended up arm-wrestling some giant Scottish guy that looked big enough to play pro basketball. Not sure what I was thinking but I refused to give up though I was clearly already done, and the guy remarked afterward that he was impressed by my tenacity but that he'd thought my arm was going to break.

My arm has never been quite the same. I gave it a month or so off after that and then came back timidly before falling off completely and then didn't work out for a long time. It has been well over a year now (the majority of this time I was not working out) and it still gives me pain sometimes when I lift. Regular curls really fuck with it - for some reason curls with the parallel handles are no problem, so I usually do this.

And arm wrestling people is now out of the question - when I was still drinking I made that mistake a few times and quickly regretted it.

Anyways, it seemed like it was getting a little better in December when my pullups were getting a lot stronger, but then I slacked a lot for a month after a hand injury (didn't stop going, just went less) and have finally gotten serious about it again earlier this month.

After the time eased back my arm just seems to be hurting more. I'm hoping it'll work itself out but at the same time I feel I should be leaving it alone and letting it heal like a normal person. But over a year and it still hasn't healed. Damn. Don't know if time off will do it either - at least not with some serious time off the elbow.

I have a goal of muscleups this year and beginning to wonder if I'll make it because right now it's definitely slowing me down. I may have to focus on other things in the gym and take the pullups a bit slower, unfortunately.

Anyone have experience with this type of injury? I must have gotten a hairline fracture or something. Maybe an x-ray or a visit to a physical therapist wouldn't hurt. In any case, there's still plenty I can do that doesn't aggravate it.

I don't know what I expect out of this post. I'm sure the general advice here is bro you've got to let it heal. I'm trying to rack my brain to figure out if it really felt that much better in December. I don't remember it bothering me much at all but can't think of anything I did to hurt it again other than easing up on the visits to the gym for a while.

I'm Here.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #2

For joint pain I'd take a bunch of fish oil, drink some bone broth and do 50+ rep work to the affected area. So if it's your elbow joint that's bothering you, you could try some high rep curls.

Fish oil is a natural anti inflammatory and it's all around good for you, the bone broth is for micronutrients (30-45 minutes in a pressure cooker on high will dissolve most anything).

As far as high rep sets are concerned, supposedly the pump you get flushes the joint with blood and speeds up the healing process. It's worth a shot so long as it doesn't cause any pain. I used to get some moderate pain in my elbow where the tendon meets the tricep, pushups and light tricep extensions cured it.

This is all broscience though. If it's been bothering you for that long and it hasn't gone away, I'd see a doctor.

Post: #3

You're right of course.

I'm a bit ridiculous about going to the doc when I need to...obviously. Everyone in my family is like that. My grandma broke her arm when she was older and never got it fixed. Unless something is obviously broken beyond natural repair I never go in, but now that I'm in my mid-30s I better break out of that cycle.

I guess part of me figured it's been so long that he won't be able to do much but I should probably go give him his look and get some advice on how to deal with it. I think there's an American doc around here somewhere practicing even.

I'm Here.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #4

(03-20-2015 05:32 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  You're right of course.

I'm a bit ridiculous about going to the doc when I need to...obviously. Everyone in my family is like that. My grandma broke her arm when she was older and never got it fixed. Unless something is obviously broken beyond natural repair I never go in, but now that I'm in my mid-30s I better break out of that cycle.

I guess part of me figured it's been so long that he won't be able to do much but I should probably go give him his look and get some advice on how to deal with it. I think there's an American doc around here somewhere practicing even.

I've collected and rehabbed a few injuries over the years, some fairly serious ones without medical assistance. Obviously I would advise you went to a doctor in the first instance, because if it is simply a fracture in the forearm (you haven't actually said what/where specifically hurts), then it may simply be that two months in a cast will do the trick. Annoying, but not bad for a pain free lifetime subsequently.

That said, if it is your elbow that is hurting, it could possibly be muscular/ligament/tendon related rather than muscular, and some deep aggressive tissue massage might make all the difference.

Essentially, see a doctor, but, if you provide more information on the specific location, type of pain (sharp, stabbing pain, or permanent dull ache), and the things that aggravate it (carrying shopping, pushups, just dumbbell work, simple daily tasks) then it's possible we can make some initial suggestions.

Post: #5

You might have partially torn an elbow tendon or ligament. I would see a doctor first, then when you get the all clear start hitting forearm curls, false grip training (which you need big time for muscle up anyhow) and regular arm curls.

Post: #6

Does it feel like it hurts at the tendon at the elbow? If curls hurt but hammer curls dont, it could well be a bicep injury.

Try massaging your bicep with a lacrosse ball against the wall, or with the bone at the palm of your other hand. Common trigger point is mid-bicep to lower bicep. If you find a tight knot with a kind of "hurts good" pain, work at it with a few strokes a few times per day. It will gently release over a week or two.

Note that the knot will be above the area you actually feel pain in when you curl. That's the deceiving thing about soft-tissue injury, it often sends pain to a joint when the root cause is actually in the muscle.

Sports medicine people are excellent for this kind of thing. Soft tissue massage will probably sort you out.

Post: #7

The pain is just below my elbow towards my forearm.

Sometimes it's a dull ache or a certain numbness but if I flex or tense or stretch the muscles in my arm just about any way I get a sharp pain. Also when I do pushups.

And especially the regular curls the other day. The pull ups aren't bad until I'm straining, and pull ups are worse then chins. Even swimming was hard on it earlier in the year though I don't remember if I noticed last time I went.

I think I have a high pain tolerance so sometimes I have a difficult time recalling when it bothered me or how much. Even now it doesn't kill me or anything. More concerned of the risk of causing a long term problem because it has gone so long unaddressed without healing.

I do think it has gotten worse lately because definitely more aggravated these last couple days. Will go easy tomorrow and avoid using it much in the gym. Give it a break. Also will look into booking an appointment.

Common sense really but still good to get the input. Thanks, guys.

I'm Here.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #8

(03-20-2015 10:21 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  The pain is just below my elbow towards my forearm.

Sometimes it's a dull ache or a certain numbness but if I flex or tense or stretch the muscles in my arm just about any way I get a sharp pain. Also when I do pushups.

And especially the regular curls the other day. The pull ups aren't bad until I'm straining, and pull ups are worse then chins. Even swimming was hard on it earlier in the year though I don't remember if I noticed last time I went.

I think I have a high pain tolerance so sometimes I have a difficult time recalling when it bothered me or how much. Even now it doesn't kill me or anything. More concerned of the risk of causing a long term problem because it has gone so long unaddressed without healing.

I do think it has gotten worse lately because definitely more aggravated these last couple days. Will go easy tomorrow and avoid using it much in the gym. Give it a break. Also will look into booking an appointment.

Common sense really but still good to get the input. Thanks, guys.

If you are confident it isn't skeletal, then I would strongly suggest you get a golf ball or something and start rolling it around the entire arm, above and below the injured area.

Start gently at first so you don't exacerbate anything if it is more serious, put the golfball on the table, and roll your arm across it, trying to work all the muscles from as many angles as possible. If this hurts (it will hurt - it hurts even if you don't have an injury) in a way that suggests something more serious is wrong, obviously stop straight away. I had a chronic elbow problem from increasing the ROM on handstand pushups too quickly, that I suspect felt a lot like what you're feeling now. A week or so of focused deep tissue massage made it disappear completely.

Post: #9

Really cool breakdown where this world champion arm wrestler takes you through arm wrestling grips, postures and mechanics going into a match:

Post: #10

I can arm wrestle with the hand again now. Obviously I don't go as hard as I used to if I can see I'm arm wrestling a better, but for making a fool out of ripped young blokes trying to test me it still serves the purpose. Didn't Oliver Reed die this way?

From time to time it flares up when I'm doing a lot of pullup/chinup workouts. A week off usually sets me right again.

I'm becoming a big believer in the body's ability to adapt to whatever limitations, within reason, that you provide for it. Assuming that you give it time and back off when it tells you you're going too fast, anyways.

This falls way beyond the realm of the cracked elbow - maybe I'll get into it some other time. But I will say that I've blown physical therapists minds doing stuff after injuries way worse than this in the past few years, and left them at a loss of words to argue with the value of strength training to heal seemingly crippling injuries with the right focus of mind.

The human body is an amazing thing. Back it with the human mind and it really gets wild.

More on this later, I think.