Inner Forearm/ Elbow Discomfort?

[AdriaanRobert96]

So the past week or two I've had this annoying sort of discomfort in the inner part of my elbow when doing bicep curls.

Generally I love to avoid supinated curls because I simply hate them and hate training biceps for some reason.

Som stats:

Straight Bar Bicep Curls: 80kg: 5x5 

DB Curl with strict form: 38kg

Main working sets (when I actually do work biceps) which ia every week because "balance": 

3 sets of 15-20 reps with a 20kg DB.

Not sure if all these are relevant, I also rotate bicep exercise variation each week.

(Also I am on a cut atm, so it might be all that diet fatigue?).

No idea, let me know and let me know whatever I can do to improve that area.

Supinations?

Thanks!

[Blacksmith513]

Fwiw You made a post about reverse curls recently. I don’t remember if you were just asking about them or if they are in your program….

They bothered the inside of my elbow. I lessened the ROM and stopped when I was a little past parallel, pain went away fast

[DoctorOfCrush]

Is your pain here?

[AdriaanRobert96]

20 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

Fwiw You made a post about reverse curls recently. I don’t remember if you were just asking about them or if they are in your program….

They bothered the inside of my elbow. I lessened the ROM and stopped when I was a little past parallel, pain went away fast

Yup I did, I just asked what a good weight would be and all that standards stuff😄

I will keep that in mind, thank you!

[AdriaanRobert96]

15 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

Is your pain here?

Yup, exactly there, very close to the elbow only during heavy supination type curls.

[DoctorOfCrush]

 

4 minutes ago, AdriaanRobert96 said:

Yup, exactly there, very close to the elbow only during heavy supination type curls.

Sounds like it could be medial epicondylitis / Golfer's elbow. Essentially an overuse injury. 

[BenMorrissey]

Typically inner elbow pain will be golfer's elbow i.e. medial epicondylitis. I'd recommend backing off on the weights and sets - you do not want this to get worse. I find that rehab by doing high volume low weight (i.e. just the bar) reverse wrist curls, reverse curls, biceps curls, wrist curls helps get the blood flowing. Tendons take longer than muscles to strengthen and get used to volume, so you just have to back off a bit. Severe tendinitis can take several months to fully recover, so taking precautions now will likely save you down the road.

Anyone who has had severe tendinitis will tell you that you don't want it to get worse. I have taken cissus quadrangularis supplements previously, which seemed to help, along with anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen (Advil). The forearms are particularly susceptible to overuse as we use them every day for normal movements, so proper resting can be difficult.

In my own experience, setting grippers and reverse bending seem to be the motions which cause it most frequently for me. 

Edited November 27 by BenMorrissey

[Griptron]

31 minutes ago, BenMorrissey said:

Anyone who has had severe tendinitis will tell you that you don't want it to get worse.

Can confirm, it sucks. I can manage it and still do everything I want to, but it never fully goes away.

TheraBand FlexBar can help (green one or above). Also look into rice bucket work.

[DoctorOfCrush]

Looks like you've dealt with something similar before.  I'll make the same suggestion that I made then: @Jedd Johnson 's "Fixing Elbow Pain" helped me immensely. Got rid of the issue for me. 

[AdriaanRobert96]

2 hours ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

 

Sounds like it could be medial epicondylitis / Golfer's elbow. Essentially an overuse injury. 

The only thing I've done more of the past month or so is heavy pull ups of all sorts which might have caused it.

[AdriaanRobert96]

2 hours ago, BenMorrissey said:

Typically inner elbow pain will be golfer's elbow i.e. medial epicondylitis. I'd recommend backing off on the weights and sets - you do not want this to get worse. I find that rehab by doing high volume low weight (i.e. just the bar) reverse wrist curls, reverse curls, biceps curls, wrist curls helps get the blood flowing. Tendons take longer than muscles to strengthen and get used to volume, so you just have to back off a bit. Severe tendinitis can take several months to fully recover, so taking precautions now will likely save you down the road.

Anyone who has had severe tendinitis will tell you that you don't want it to get worse. I have taken cissus quadrangularis supplements previously, which seemed to help, along with anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen (Advil). The forearms are particularly susceptible to overuse as we use them every day for normal movements, so proper resting can be difficult.

In my own experience, setting grippers and reverse bending seem to be the motions which cause it most frequently for me. 

Really appreciate the help with this one, had this waay back once aswell and I am most certain that it's an overuse issue, started having this after pulling heavy weights on pull ups recently.

I'll probably look into some higher rep low weight work,  not doing anything will be hard for me😅

If I have too I will of course

[AdriaanRobert96]

1 hour ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

Looks like you've dealt with something similar before.  I'll make the same suggestion that I made then: @Jedd Johnson 's "Fixing Elbow Pain" helped me immensely. Got rid of the issue for me. 

Yeah it was a while back.. I have to look into it and see, probably too much too early or just overuse.

I will look into Jedd Johnsons tips aswell:)

Thank you!

[Fist of Fury]

Avoid exercises that triggers it. You can get rid of it by not doing that as well but it will probably take you a year or so with pain, I recently did that and I don't think it's worth it to be honest. 

Grip the bar more in your hand, as far away from the fingers as possible. With other words thick bar is going to make this worse for you. The more you use the outer part of your fingers the worse it's going to get. 

I would suggest 1-2 months of wrist training with a thin bar, all directions. Every other day. Stretching several times a day, massages every night before you go to sleep. Massage your whole arm, forearm, bicep and triceps.

I wouldn't do any thick bar during this period and as I said, avoid all exercises that makes it worse. Trust me you will become much weaker if the inflammation increases, way more weak than if you rest for two months from an exercise.

 

Edited November 28 by Fist of Fury

[AdriaanRobert96]

1 hour ago, Fist of Fury said:

Avoid exercises that triggers it. You can get rid of it by not doing that as well but it will probably take you a year or so with pain, I recently did that and I don't think it's worth it to be honest. 

Grip the bar more in your hand, as far away from the fingers as possible. With other words thick bar is going to make this worse for you. The more you use the outer part of your fingers the worse it's going to get. 

I would suggest 1-2 months of wrist training with a thin bar, all directions. Every other day. Stretching several times a day, massages every night before you go to sleep. Massage your whole arm, forearm, bicep and triceps.

I wouldn't do any thick bar during this period and as I said, avoid all exercises that makes it worse. Trust me you will become much weaker if the inflammation increases, way more weak than if you rest for two months from an exercise.

 

Thanks for the feedback broski, I will definitely not be using any fat implements but I will make sure to think about the way I am gripping the bar.

Funny you mentioned thin bar lever work since I've been doing that recently

[bdckr]

Best thing for medial (or lateral) epicondylitis is eccentric contractions. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4060314/#F1

The easiest way to do this is with a wrist roller (vs the specialized equipment used in the study), rope completely rolled around the bar, with the short free end (with weight attached) hanging on the side closest to you when holding the bar in both hands.  Pick it up, and lower (un-roll) the weight in a controlled manner. If you're unsure if you've got the rope on the correct side, as you lower the weight, the hand that is doing the work (holding the wrist roller starts off with the wrist flexed and goes into extension as the weight is lowered.

The key is doing eccentrics without the concentric portion of the movement.  The medial epicondyle is where the finger flexors (grip) and wrist flexors attach.  So you're moving in the opposite direction (wrist extension)  of a concentric contraction (flexion) while under a load that would resist a concentric contraction . 

Part of the reason eccentric contractions weren't as clearly beneficial for medial epicondylitis (what you have) as it was for lateral epicondylitis is that doing eccentrics for either require holding onto something with your hands.  That's fine if you have lateral epicondylitis because the problem (and attachment) is only for wrist and finger extensors.  Gripping something for rehabbing wrist extensors (lateral epicondyle) wasn't a problem.  You don't want to have to grip too hard if you're rehabbing medial epicondylitis because your finger flexors are part of the problem.

So it's important to pick a weight that doesn't require too much of your grip strength to hold on to.

 

 

[AdriaanRobert96]

12 minutes ago, bdckr said:

Best thing for medial (or lateral) epicondylitis is eccentric contractions. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4060314/#F1

The easiest way to do this is with a wrist roller (vs the specialized equipment used in the study), rope completely rolled around the bar, with the short free end (with weight attached) hanging on the side closest to you when holding the bar in both hands.  Pick it up, and lower (un-roll) the weight in a controlled manner. If you're unsure if you've got the rope on the correct side, as you lower the weight, the hand that is doing the work (holding the wrist roller starts off with the wrist flexed and goes into extension as the weight is lowered.

The key is doing eccentrics without the concentric portion of the movement.  The medial epicondyle is where the finger flexors (grip) and wrist flexors attach.  So you're moving in the opposite direction (wrist extension)  of a concentric contraction (flexion) while under a load that would resist a concentric contraction . 

Part of the reason eccentric contractions weren't as clearly beneficial for medial epicondylitis (what you have) as it was for lateral epicondylitis is that doing eccentrics for either require holding onto something with your hands.  That's fine if you have lateral epicondylitis because the problem (and attachment) is only for wrist and finger extensors.  Gripping something for rehabbing wrist extensors (lateral epicondyle) wasn't a problem.  You don't want to have to grip too hard if you're rehabbing medial epicondylitis because your finger flexors are part of the problem.

So it's important to pick a weight that doesn't require too much of your grip strength to hold on to.

 

 

Appreciate you taking your time brother, I am familiar with this exercise in fact very familiar since I used to do it all the time a while back

[bdckr]

Just realized it wasn't as clear as I had meant it to be:

1. for this kind of rehab work, the wrist-rolling should only be to lower the weight, not raise the weight. 

2. The side that the free end of the rope (with weight) is on makes the entire difference between whether you are rehabbing your lateral or medial epicondyle

[AdriaanRobert96]

1 hour ago, bdckr said:

Just realized it wasn't as clear as I had meant it to be:

1. for this kind of rehab work, the wrist-rolling should only be to lower the weight, not raise the weight. 

2. The side that the free end of the rope (with weight) is on makes the entire difference between whether you are rehabbing your lateral or medial epicondyle

Oh alright, got ya so just lower the weight!