List Of Common Injuries

[avasatu]

So, this is something I would have loved to see as a warning type of post when I first got into grip.

I think it would be good for newcomers if we listed injuries that are more likely than average to happen during certain grip lifts. Additionally, if people could list their own personal gripsport injuries, and what caused them (to your knowledge), and, if you have time, what you would have done to prevent them and what you did to rehab, I think the totality of the thread could be a gold mine of info for new guys. Even small injuries or little nagging impingements welcome!

Some "common" injuries (not my own) I have seen pop up in my research so far:

Instability and chronic pain in the thumb joint during wide pinching.

Instability and chronic rear pain in the thumb joint with too much dynamic pinching.

Bicep tears during more supinated V Bar pulls.

Soft tissue damage from (I assume poorly set) heavy grippers.

Rear finger tendon impingement and tightening from improper hubbing.

Wrist tendon inflammation from going too heavy/improper setup on Wrist Wrench.

Pain in knuckles from overuse or over-intensity in expand your hand bands.

Pain in elbow and even torn muscles from fast, uncontrolled sledgehammer levering.

I really hope this can become a useful thread to new guys. Again, I would have LOVED to see something like this upon entering the community.

Edited February 2, 2016 by avasatu

[anwnate]

Skin tears. They slow your progress. Being "manly" means it takes longer to achieve your goals.

There is something to be said about pushing through a bend on occasion...but when your hands are blistered like ground meat...again...you slow your progress with extra recovery.

Grippers...I probably wasted a year by not protecting my pinky...and constant ripped it back open. I had torn it as a child and it's prone to open up. I wanted to use my will to overcome the pain...and tough it out. Now...I always train with a bandaid on it. Grippers, particularly above the #3...can easily rip your skin open...even with rough calluses.

Euro...if you hands are questionable. ..wear gloves. Will it be more difficult...yup...but that's not a bad thing.

Your hands are vital to gripsport. Protect them. Tuff foot won't stop the tears...but it will make them less injurious...and lessen recovery time.

[Justin Matney]

Golfers elbow has been my battle this time around. I've had it for exactly a year now, and it's just getting worse.

When I started a few years back my knuckles and thumb webbing ached really bad.

[jvance]

With tendinitis the only thing that helped was a long rest cold turkey. Then it was balance and flexor/extensor complementation. Doing light rotations and active WHILE still in pain made it worse.

[avasatu]

I had a bout with tendonitis of the inner left elbow (and it still somtimes makes a tiny 1-2 day appearance), and here are my best tips (still constantly learning and experimenting):

1) make sure all of your nerves are free. medial, ulnar, and radial. Glide them!

2) Make sure ALL of the muscles of your forearms are loose, but not too loose. Check your thumbs, every pair of two fingers, your pronation/supination, deviators, everything! But don't become TOO lax.

3) Loosen the crap out of your triceps. I can almost with full confidence say you can't have lax enough tris provided you are also training them. However, traditional stretches don't really work. Take a golf ball to them, and dig in along the WHOLE length. Another awesome pain relieving drill (but it burns!), is to dig the golf ball into your triceps along the long head starting at the elbow, and co flex your bi/tri in bursts against the golf ball along the entire ROM of the elbow and back. Then move the golf ball an inch backward and repeat. Keep doing this until you've exhausted the length of the long head. Repeat on the lateral head if needed.

4) Obviously, don't overuse, and don't max out too much on stuff. Lol.

5) Hit your pronators/supinators with high reps until burn style failure weekly. This will do wonders for your elbow.

6) Sleep with elbows bent less than 90 degrees, and with elbows below your shoulder level on every plane.

7) Bench with a closer grip and with straighter wrists. Curl more strictly and with straight wrists. For inner elbow issues, grab closer to the front of dumbbells while curling them. I haven't ever had outer elbow issues, but it stands to reason that grabbing closer to the back may help there.

Edited February 2, 2016 by avasatu

[Evan Raftopoulos]

IMHO it is nearly impossible not to suffer from pain in your elbows/wrists/hands at some point if you are doing grip sport or arm wrestling. Best you can do is a really good warmup every single time and when you are dealing with pain modify your workouts or just rest.

[Fist of Fury]

When you start out I would say it's smart to stay away from heavy negatives with grippers (and probably other stuff too). It can really mess up the tendons and it's a very risky type of training if you're new. I think high rep work is best in the beginning.

I also think that many injuries can be prevented by resting, sometimes when you really want to achieve something you train too much and that can lead to an injury.

IMHO it is nearly impossible not to suffer from pain in your elbows/wrists/hands at some point if you are doing grip sport or arm wrestling. Best you can do is a really good warmup every single time and when you are dealing with pain modify your workouts or just rest.

Actually, I have never had any problems with my elbows by doing grip training. Yes of course sometimes I've felt minor pain there, but it has always been very minor and short lived (like a day or two). I've had most of my problems in my fingers and wrists. I haven't done much pinching so I don't know how that would affect my elbows though.

[Royz]

Two more for your list:

- Partially torn A2 pulley in ring finger from rim lift. Took about 3 months too heal.

- Thumb joint thingy from mounted wristroller (from eccentric part). It hurts when pressure is applied sideways on the thumb. Not sure yet if this will ever heal completely.

Mostly had a lot of tendonitis both on the outside (tennis elbow) and on the inside (golfers elbow).

In my experience grippers mostly cause tennis elbow and thickbar mostly golfers elbow.

Best for tennis elbow for me: dry needling therapy and massaging all painfull areas daily with Armaid.

Best for golfers elbow for me: Daily eccentric only dumbbell wrist curls(light) and eccentric only bicep curls.

And off course lay off the grippers, thickbar etc. while it still hurts badly.

[Lucasraymond]

I had a bout with tendonitis of the inner left elbow (and it still somtimes makes a tiny 1-2 day appearance), and here are my best tips (still constantly learning and experimenting):

1) make sure all of your nerves are free. medial, ulnar, and radial. Glide them!

2) Make sure ALL of the muscles of your forearms are loose, but not too loose. Check your thumbs, every pair of two fingers, your pronation/supination, deviators, everything! But don't become TOO lax.

3) Loosen the crap out of your triceps. I can almost with full confidence say you can't have lax enough tris provided you are also training them. However, traditional stretches don't really work. Take a golf ball to them, and dig in along the WHOLE length. Another awesome pain relieving drill (but it burns!), is to dig the golf ball into your triceps along the long head starting at the elbow, and co flex your bi/tri in bursts against the golf ball along the entire ROM of the elbow and back. Then move the golf ball an inch backward and repeat. Keep doing this until you've exhausted the length of the long head. Repeat on the lateral head if needed.

4) Obviously, don't overuse, and don't max out too much on stuff. Lol.

5) Hit your pronators/supinators with high reps until burn style failure weekly. This will do wonders for your elbow.

6) Sleep with elbows bent less than 90 degrees, and with elbows below your shoulder level on every plane.

7) Bench with a closer grip and with straighter wrists. Curl more strictly and with straight wrists. For inner elbow issues, grab closer to the front of dumbbells while curling them. I haven't ever had outer elbow issues, but it stands to reason that grabbing closer to the back may help there.

#4...Jedd and I honestly go to max lifts pretty much daily when training grip then drop back to work sets....wouldn't recommend to newcomers at all.

I dealt with bilateral lateral epicondylitis my first year for about a month prior to winning 93kg at NAGS...it took a month of rest to recover from it

[climber511]

I suppose its a good idea to put things all in one place but............................................ain't gonna change a thing. Breaking stuff and trying to fix it is just gonna happen - especially in new guys who want it ALL - and RIGHT NOW. The board is full of advice that no one listens to until its too late. Train - don't test goes a long way - especially when you start something new.

You do NOT want to train the same way the advanced guys train - train like they trained back as they developed that strength.

Edited February 2, 2016 by climber511

[Jose Cabrera]

This^^^ piece of advice has completely changed the game for me. "Train more test less." No more tendinitis, no joint pain and no crazy skin tears. Train sub maximally but with good effort. Fish oil and vitamin D.

[Lucasraymond]

I suppose its a good idea to put things all in one place but............................................ain't gonna change a thing. Breaking stuff and trying to fix it is just gonna happen - especially in new guys who want it ALL - and RIGHT NOW. The board is full of advice that no one listens to until its too late. Train - don't test goes a long way - especially when you start something new.

You do NOT want to train the same way the advanced guys train - train like they trained back as they developed that strength.

Yes Chris as you have a set program for newbies to follow initially to begin to build tendon/ligament strength....I'd be curious to see how often that is actually done

[climber511]

I suppose its a good idea to put things all in one place but............................................ain't gonna change a thing. Breaking stuff and trying to fix it is just gonna happen - especially in new guys who want it ALL - and RIGHT NOW. The board is full of advice that no one listens to until its too late. Train - don't test goes a long way - especially when you start something new.

You do NOT want to train the same way the advanced guys train - train like they trained back as they developed that strength.

Yes Chris as you have a set program for newbies to follow initially to begin to build tendon/ligament strength....I'd be curious to see how often that is actually done

Luke - over the years several people have put out "beginners programs". I know myself and David Horne both have them here on the board somewhere. And I'm sure Jedd and several others have them as well. I doubt anyone ever thinks they are a "beginner" and it applies to them though. It's kind of a shame - everyone is a beginner when they start something totally new to them - no matter how advanced they may be in another area. I treated myself as a "beginner" when I started using my new pinch twist system setup just weeks ago - lots of reps and light weights - not planning "heavy" for a couple more weeks and even then no "maxes" for a while after that. I may still get an injury but I think I will have increased my odds of not doing so by doing things this way.

[Jose Cabrera]

One more thing ive been doing that i didnt do in the beggining is taking breaks periodically. Call it a deload, an easy week or vaction, doesnt matter. Most people dont take a break until something gives and theyre forced to take one. Use the week to catch up on stuff youve neglected ie chores, mobility/flexibilty, getting a massage or taking youre spouse on a date. I take one every 7th week of training, at the very least.

[vickg]

The only pain ived experience is a thumb sprain from thin pinching. Some discomfort from doing singles on grippers and levering heavy weight. I always warm up using an ironmind egg. Then do light weight using whatever tool I'm going to use along with taking rest days. I think part of the reason there is so many injuries is that we love to train and everyone wants to get stronger. Perhaps even training against our better judgement when we should rest.

[KapMan]

I've had dual elbow tendinitis, on the outside. Still lingers at times but, isn't too bad through training. I've rolled them out, stretched and flex the triceps and really kept up on the stretches as outlined in Jedds bending ebook. I also have begun to wear Slingshot cuffs when I workout its takes pain out of the picture all together.

I normally ice and heat them too. All is well just a lot of work to keep this greased up.

[avasatu]

Slingshot cuffs are amazing! It should be noted that I'm not really looking To try to make a beginner program here. I know that has already been done and that people will do what they want. Just want to identify problem exercises and movements you really want to be extra careful with in execution or setup, and gather all the rehab and prevention techniques we can here.

[wobbler]

For new lifts I just do 2-3 singles at the end of a workout, make sure everything feels ok the next day. It's hard to tell what is just painful at the time or what will cause an injury.

Face lifts on smaller blobs, doesn't feel good at all on the thumb but a few reps was fine for me, I'll slowly build up from there.

[Mikael Siversson]

Table top wrist curls can produce some pretty spectacular injuries. I snapped a ligament in my left wrist and 13 years later still cannot perform a wrist curl with that hand without the bones jumping out of alignment. There are other who likewise injured themselves doing this exercise.

[avasatu]

I have seen something similar with over the bench dumbbell wrist curls. I cannot do them personally without pain because I snapped something I think in high school, but I can do them with a barbell and just about any other wrist movement I can think of pain free. Strange.

[climber511]

Table top wrist curls can produce some pretty spectacular injuries. I snapped a ligament in my left wrist and 13 years later still cannot perform a wrist curl with that hand without the bones jumping out of alignment. There are other who likewise injured themselves doing this exercise.

There have been some unreal weights lifted on that lift - I only tried it a couple times and it just felt like something really bad was about to happen.

[Evan Raftopoulos]

IMHO it is nearly impossible not to suffer from pain in your elbows/wrists/hands at some point if you are doing grip sport or arm wrestling. Best you can do is a really good warmup every single time and when you are dealing with pain modify your workouts or just rest.

Actually, I have never had any problems with my elbows by doing grip training. Yes of course sometimes I've felt minor pain there, but it has always been very minor and short lived (like a day or two). I've had most of my problems in my fingers and wrists. I haven't done much pinching so I don't know how that would affect my elbows though.

with grip training alone (pinch, thickbar, grippers) it might be less likely to develop elbow pain and more likely to develop hand pain, although heavy singles with grippers can lead to elbow pain or re aggravate previous issues. But if you are doing a lot of wrist strengthening or arm wrestling type of training on top of grip training then it's more likely to have problems in the elbows as well. I don't think pinching stresses the elbows a lot. On a side note, I've used pinching as rehab for myself when I have finger pain with grippers and it felt helpful to me, but this always depends on what kind of problem you are dealing with.

Like with any other sport there is a risk and there is a benefit. With grip sport there's a fine line between maximizing benefit and developing pain and you cannot always see it coming or prevent it, no matter how experienced you are (jmo). Yes, there are some mistakes that beginners tend to do but things like warming up are more about common sense and less about experience i think. Some guidelines might help but at the end of the day It's up to the individual how risk averse he/she wants to be when uncertain about pushing boundaries.

[Fist of Fury]

IMHO it is nearly impossible not to suffer from pain in your elbows/wrists/hands at some point if you are doing grip sport or arm wrestling. Best you can do is a really good warmup every single time and when you are dealing with pain modify your workouts or just rest.

Actually, I have never had any problems with my elbows by doing grip training. Yes of course sometimes I've felt minor pain there, but it has always been very minor and short lived (like a day or two). I've had most of my problems in my fingers and wrists. I haven't done much pinching so I don't know how that would affect my elbows though.

with grip training alone (pinch, thickbar, grippers) it might be less likely to develop elbow pain and more likely to develop hand pain, although heavy singles with grippers can lead to elbow pain or re aggravate previous issues. But if you are doing a lot of wrist strengthening or arm wrestling type of training on top of grip training then it's more likely to have problems in the elbows as well. I don't think pinching stresses the elbows a lot. On a side note, I've used pinching as rehab for myself when I have finger pain with grippers and it felt helpful to me, but this always depends on what kind of problem you are dealing with.

Like with any other sport there is a risk and there is a benefit. With grip sport there's a fine line between maximizing benefit and developing pain and you cannot always see it coming or prevent it, no matter how experienced you are (jmo). Yes, there are some mistakes that beginners tend to do but things like warming up are more about common sense and less about experience i think. Some guidelines might help but at the end of the day It's up to the individual how risk averse he/she wants to be when uncertain about pushing boundaries.

I think it can be a question of technique as well. If you're using a strict form when closing grippers I don't think you will have as many problems with the elbows. If you jerk your arm while closing and doing reps with heavy grippers I can totally see why you'd get elbow pain. If you use strict form, i.e only use your hand and nothing else I don't think elbow issues will occur too seriously. It's also harder to close a gripper this way so it's better training IMO.

Proper training of the extensors is crucial also to prevent elbow problems.

[Jose Cabrera]

Parallel setting grippers too often will always aggravate my tendons.

[avasatu]

I think injury also has a lot to do with how frequently and how often you train to failure in your sets. Lately, I've been stopping exactly one rep before failure, if possible, except on grippers.