Frustrating Elbow/Tricep/Forearm Injury from Weight Lifting

I’ve seen 2 different physios over the last few months and I haven’t had much success with treatment. One was convinced it was an acute problem, I definitely think its chronic though.

My problem first occurred in march 2011 with pain and swelling on the forearm (olecranon bursitis?) as a result of seated dumbbell shoulder presses. Decided to rest it after having pushed through the pain for a few weeks. Now having rested it for several months it is no better and has infact got worse. It has turned into full blown pain of the elbow joint, forearm and tricep. The swelling quite sensitive and painful if rubbed hard. The other thing is that this problem is basically symmetrical. All the issues I have in the left are mirrored in the right although the right holds up better (dominant arm).

All of the forearm, both on top and below, as well as the elbow and tricep are tender. The feelings when pressed are different however. The triceps is more of a sore, painful feeling. The forearm is a mixture of burning and tenderness. The tenderness is quite strong when rubbed moderately.


I’ve had a huge drop in strength, (was pressing 17.5kg dumbbells, now am barely able to do 5kg dumbbells on dumbell press due to painful cracking at the elbows here:

Attachment 1018

I also have a general feeling of weakness and shaking when I lift weight. The cracking occurs as the arm begins to come up straight on the concentric portion of the lift.

The tendons under the swelling also crack and is quite painful when they do. This is the swelling:
Attachment 1019

It swells a little more during exercise, even light exercise, and calms back down to about this state as seen In the picture but never fully drains.


The painful cracking underneath this is reproduced by picking up my dog and lowering her with one arm (she’s pretty light, ~5kg). As the forearm drops from 90 degrees to less and less you can feel the crack coming on and there is pain almost straight down the bottom edge of the ulna (palm facing down) as if its almost on the bone. It travels in a line about 1/3 way down the forearm from the elbow. This pain is extremely hard to pinpoint and to this day I still can’t 100% figure out its exact location.

I have also noticed my pinky fingers tend to give out after a lot of typing (they sort of sit in a weird curled up position and shudder if I try to keep them in the normal position they sit in.

There is constant irritation at the triceps just above elbow, particularly at rest for long periods or if held in a position for a long period e.g typing. Irritation / pain seems to correlate with more cracking. There is also some running down the tricep into the elbow. It is a sort of burning ache. The tricep is more straight muscle pain.


Sorry I’m so vague the feelings and positions of the pain are hard to describe and pin point.

Attachment 1020Attachment 1021

Above: Constant Pain and constant pain! The band over the tricep is another location where cracking/clicking is common, particularly in the middle.


Additionally, there is irritation at the inside of the elbow and tricep. Clicks like crazy when going through range of motion eg bicep curl. It is extremely tender on the site where tennis elbow usually occurs, so I’m guessing at the very least I have chronic tennis & golfers elbow….?

Attachment 1022

Above: : Irritation @ inside of elbow and tricep attachment

This is straining feeling, burns sometimes. Its weird, doesn’t feel like any of the others. Most are a mixture of pain and burning.

When I stretch the underside of the forearm, something in this little space circled above spasms in the right arm (but not left) until I release it, I don’t know what this is indicative of.


Other notes: Shoulder dysfunction (Ive been told my left shoulder comes off the skeleton) so I am working on scapula stabilization there.



I am attempting to treat myself by strengthening the forearm & tendons with eccentric wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, tennis ball gripping, expanding a rubber band with my fingers. I was doing eccentric triceps isolation exercises but I have stopped this due to the cracking and weakness / instability I get in the forearms.



I would really appreciate any input anyone has to offer.

Thank you for your time,
Dan

I don't really know what is going on with your arm - maybe compartment syndrome? If so, then you want to rest and avoid exercising the area directly; also, i'd be concerned about the pinkie finger symptoms; sounds like ulnar nerve irritation that may also be related to high compartment pressure in the forearm; muslce weakness not due to pain should not be ignored; if left untreated for months and months it may not fully recover - just a word of caution; i'd get it looked at by a physician - SN

Hey Vanc,

I was originally thinking i had compartment syndrome (and it might actually be but i'm just going with the flow here) after going through everything I could find on elbow / forearm conditions!

I'm getting it seen to by a new sports physio and I think she's doing a good job. She mentioned she had a case similar (gym related as well) to this and said she couldn't figure out why it wasn't getting better until she started fixing the things that support proper arm function like the scapula etcc, so I'm pleased she's treating the body as more of a unit than my previous practitioners who tried invain to treat it as an isolated issue. Massage and stretching relieves 80% of the symptoms, particularly the cracking and muscle ache. She diagnosed it as basically a bunch of muscular issues compounded by poor function in shoulder/shoulder blade region. "Not true tennis elbow (because its largely muscular, not tendon), but basically that." Haha.

Could the issue with the pinky finger just be overuse? It only becomes an issue when I am typing and I do alooooot of typing, basically 5 days a week non stop. The muscle on the outside of the hand is all tender when you rub it.

The aim at the moment is to loosen the forearm muscles as well as tricep and bicep, upper traps and pecs. The other goal is to get my shoulder stuff back into working order, so strengthening the lower traps, rhomboids and serratus anterior of which she said "you basically don't have one" :P

Sound like a decent start?

Yea, sounds like a good start. The outside of the hand tenderness and finger cramping could def. be overuse. Carry on and good luck!