Poll of the Day > i'm pretty sure i have tennis elbow and i don't know what would have caused it

(+) Yeah! (+)

but it really fuckin sucks

Do you play tennis?

You can get it from some of the muscles in your forearm being too tight, which can happen from inactivity. Notably, it was one of the things my physio gave me stretches to avoid after I broke my elbow and was stuck in a sling for a couple weeks, which left me with a very stiff forearm. In that state, I found that the repeated thumb motions of playing controller-based games gave me some tennis elbow, so maybe yours has been caused similarly.

You can stretch out your forearm by holding your arm out straight, grabbing your outstretched hand with your other hand, and gently twisting the arm until you feel a stretch in your upper forearm (both directions can offer stretches). Don't go too hard, since you don't want to hurt yourself, but it can help loosen things up.

Sorry to hear about that. I wish I could give you an acupuncture treatment.

JOExHIGASHI posted...

Do you play tennis?

lol

Did you happen to notice it while watching anything in particular?

adjl posted...

In that state, I found that the repeated thumb motions of playing controller-based games gave me some tennis elbow, so maybe yours has been caused similarly.

mm, it's possible

JOExHIGASHI posted...

Do you play tennis?

no

Count_Drachma posted...

Did you happen to notice it while watching anything in particular?

not that arm

be warned that while rest alone may reduce the pain, it likely won't eliminate it or prevent it from coming back without strengthening exercises. Particularly light eccentric movements

Indeed. In general, RSIs like tennis elbow are caused not just by the repetitive motion, but by the fact that doing the motion repeatedly instead of a wider variety of motions causes certain muscles to become over/underdeveloped, resulting in unbalanced/incorrect tension on the affected tendons and more strain than the overdeveloped muscles would normally see during other motions because they end up doing more of the work than they're supposed to. Doing a variety of light exercises can help even things out.

my hand on that arm has also been pretty much nonstop cramp twitching for the past day now

Do you carry a lot of things? Or maybe work out a lot?

It's probably worth seeing a physiotherapist for that. If it were just hurting and you could pinpoint some form of overuse that was likely the culprit, you could work to balance that out yourself. If you've got other symptoms (though symptoms that are likely related), it's worth getting a professional opinion to help narrow down the root of the problem and make sure whatever you're doing doesn't exacerbate the other issues.

while that's good advice, i am going to elect to ignore it because i live in america

Which is about what I expected, because America. The next best option is to stick with the advice of stretching your forearm out and doing a variety of small exercises to round out your arm's musculature.

rehab can be free. warm up with finger extensions, literally just fully extending your fingers.

keep weights light and movements slow/intentional (3-4 seconds each rep)

1) light weight eccentric wrist extension and flexion. Don't need to buy dumbbells if you didn't have them, can be with a big can of soup or something. use your pain-free arm to assist in moving the weight back to the top of the movement and slowly lower it back down.
https://youtu.be/TBWstdLfq3g?si=ghu_Q4nDhqgy-Tye

2) forearm rotation with long rod, can use broomstick or pvc pipe. Start very light and only the eccentric portion.
https://youtu.be/JaHw5h3vwCY?si=nviAVe6SW6eTINVr

I've had it for a few years now, and it's awful. Really a cruse in that it never truly goes away, and living with that kind of...fear? That suddenly your arm and muscles will just give out.

Been to PT twice over it, once again after tweaking it trying to paddle board (same elbow but different muscle groupings). It's okay now, but about once a week I'll do something, even something simple, and feel a small twinge of pain.

Gotta keep it strengthened and working it out. Worst part is, it's my non-dominant hand and I don't do anything regularly that would have caused this. Just keyboard typing/video game playing.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

while that's good advice, i am going to elect to ignore it because i live in america

it's become not ignorable anymore, it has extended to the entire arm constantly aching off of the elbow