Elbow and bicep tendonitis

any way to speed up healing?

 

interesting.. never heard of it. ill check it out thx for the tip

 

I have struggled with it my entire life...from throwing my arm out in baseball to the most recent case due to judo (lots of hard gripping and pulling on thick gi plus a lot of pullups caused it to flare up terribly). My issue is always my inner elbow joint /lower biceps...is yours the same? Can you give some more details on the exact location and what tends to cause it?

I found a solution at least for myself from an arm wrestling trainer.

First thing to realize is that rest isn't really that effective at healing tendons. Extremely high rep/super low weight movement is though. The reason for this is the dense white tendon fibers receive very poor blood flow. So by doing certain exercises at 50-100 reps you really force blood into that area and accelerate the healing process.

Also, cut out the movements that are causing the damage for now. Supine grip chin ups are a no go for me so now I just use gymnastics rings for a more neutral and comfortable grip position for example.

 

interesting. anecdotally I did find better relief for my knees (aforementioned in journal) with this approach, but never thought to find out why besides it was just easier lol. I'll research further. thanks.

 

interesting take on rest not being the best option.. yes ive read its a slow heal due to
lack of blood flow.

problem area below, lower bicep and inner elbow more recently that flared up after pushups, its for sure from pull ups and perhaps barbell curls.

I think my wrist position is the problem when trying to muscle up the last couple reps with
elbow taking the load on the way down.

so, perhaps switching to neutral grip and an ez bar less stress on the elbows.

 

this video shows the proper exercise that helped cure my issue, (it should be time stamped for around 8:30). start with no more than 5lb and try for at least 50 reps...once you hit 100 reps then go up to ~7lb, (if you are dying at only 20 reps then no shame...just call it and go until failure again the next time). One set to failure. This movement is the opposite of ego lifting....do very slow reps and squeeze at the top...control the downward movement. The idea isnt to just get your 50 reps in and that will be good enough...the idea is to force as much blood into that area as possible...your last reps will be extremely uncomfortable just from the supreme pump you will have. You will be forcing yourself to failure and that is always easier said than done.

also, these should be done at the end of your workout...like last exercise. if you were to do this then immediately go try to do some heavy bag work or similar high intensity exercise you would be begging for serious injury. as far as frequency goes...i like high frequency on this like 3-4x a week. start with just 2x per week then add a day, then another as you feel necessary. And of course...if your pain worsens then dont do them anymore. slow, light weight to failure is key.

 

KCalhoun has a new product on the market that will take the stress off your wrist and elbow.