Elbow has me sidelined

Oz · Post by Oz » Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:18 pm

It's been a little slow on TT lately, so I thought I would pipe up with what I'm doing.

I thought I had my elbow problem solved. But about 3 weeks ago, I noticed that my elbow hurt all the time. In the middle of the day, I had sharp, shooting pains.

Dryfire during the day was painful and actual shooting at night hurt so bad, I had to medicate to get through it. Finally, even meds wouldn't dull the pain enough to allow me to focus without thought of the dull ache.

I stopped shooting. It's been tough and sad, but I thought I would wait for things to heal.

The past couple days have felt good and I've been considering starting again. But last night, I had a gig and while carrying my instrument to and from my car, using my shooting arm, I couldn't believe the dull ache in my elbow and how stiff it was after I unloaded the case.

I'm 38, and I think it's all down-hill for me. Very sad. I miss relaxing each night, getting lost in the concentration and taking my mind off of my worries. Maybe, someday, if my elbow recovers, maybe I can shoot at a much lower intensity. I don't think that 500 pellets and 150ish dryfire's per week is that aggressive.

Oz

David Levene · Post by **David Levene** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 1:10 am

I know the feeling Oz; I've been there.

What convinced me that I had to stop was dropping a cup of coffee in a restaurant.

It was a few years before I could lift a pistol without the pain.

In only a few months I went from training or competing 5-6 days a week to no shooting at all. It was a total culture shock.

Good luck.

Spencer · Post by **Spencer** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:13 am

welcome to the 'circuit'...
- acupuncture
- medication
- massage

While raked grips have a reputation for promoting tennis elbow, my latest dose followed a session with an upright grip on a Hammerli 9mm - fortunately in the off-hand arm.

Some have had a LH (for a right-handed shooter) grip made.

Spencer

JamesH · Post by **JamesH** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:43 am

Having shoulder problems, so now concentrating on less shooting and more physical exercise.

David Levene · Post by **David Levene** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:01 am

Anyone else going to join us in the "old crocks" club? ;-)

ciscovt · Post by **ciscovt** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:13 am

I had a bout with "tennis elbow" that lasted a couple of years. Icing and megadoses of Ibuprofin helped but it was always there. Of course I didn't stop shooting and I understand that choice extended the problem. I finally took the advice given to me by Ed Masaki the gunsmith God of Hawaii and sought out a Shiatsu massage practicioner. He actually did a combination of Shiatsu and Acupuncture and I left his office with much less pain. The most invaluable thing he did for me was to show me how to do the Shiatsu on myself. Over the next week or so the pain was totally eliminated. This was about two years ago. Since then if I start feeling a twinge of the "tennis elbow" returning, I do the pressure point massage morning and night for a few days and it is gone. your experience may vary, but it took a somewhat desperate skeptic (me)and and made him into a very happy, shooting, camper!

Cisco

Misny · Post by **Misny** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:14 am

For occassional elbow pain, the "tennis elbow straps" help a lot. With me it has been shoulder and arm problems. I am allergic to all aspirin, ibuprofen and other anti-inflamatory medicines, so that's out for me, but if you aren't allergic, I'd start a regimine of them. I switched to left-hand pistol shooting. The left-hand shooting has been difficult for me to master, as well as, frustrating, but I've stuck with it. I started an exercise program at the "Y" which includes lap swimming. I also took up shooting air rifle and high power rifle. It seems that the year long lay-off of shooting pistol right-handed and the exercise (especially the swimming)helps a lot. The rifle shooting has kept me interested in the shooting sports and since I don't expect as much out of myself with it, I don't get frustrated. As the pain has subsided, I'll probably try to ease back into right-hand pistol shooting soon and see how it goes. I'm 61 and have been shooting pistol since 1971.

Mike M. · Post by **Mike M.** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:24 pm

You guys are depressing me. :-(

I've got twinges of tennis elbow myself. I dose with aspirin, and am starting to stretch my arm & wrist. And am keeping my round count down to 25-30 per day, taking 2-3 days/week off. I just hope it works.

Popeye · Post by **Popeye** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:20 pm

okay - enough is enough !

I had an opportunity to buy a Hammerli 162 free pistol a few years ago and was very tempted given the quality build and reputation. However, the extreme rake angle of the grip nearly strained my arm when trying it out, and I figured it would be easy to get tennis elbow or a strained wrist if I trained with it. Pity as the Hammerli 162 is a fine old free pistol.

I think it's important to pace it with training, and use sensible and standard grips. I use an after-market Morini grip on a Toz35 and it works well.

Popeye

LeLongCarabine · Post by **LeLongCarabine** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:11 am

anyone thought of using a TENS machine the electric pulse from these go deep into pain and do give relief i havent got to that stage yet but i am getting there i started to practice about four times a week shooting a hundred pellets each time and im feeling my elbow starting to ache a bit must be an age thing or im just holding on target too long occasionally i like to hold on target until i get the shakes just to tire my arm to see where the shots go on a ten shot card daft i know :-)

JamesH · Post by **JamesH** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:07 am

Everyone is shooting way too many rounds.
Do you think a hundred metre runner does 100 starts a day?
There's plenty of other stuff you can do besides shooting to improve your scores.

Misny · Post by **Misny** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:55 pm

Mike M. wrote:You guys are depressing me. :-(

I've got twinges of tennis elbow myself. I dose with aspirin, and am starting to stretch my arm & wrist. And am keeping my round count down to 25-30 per day, taking 2-3 days/week off. I just hope it works.

Mike M. brought out something that I've done for many years that I believe helps in the prevention aspect. I do hand, wrist, arm and shoulder stretches.

Rover · Post by **Rover** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:24 pm

OZ,
God is punishing you for your deviant behavior.

The only way to make things right again is to head down to your local Purveyor of All Things Good and Noble and begin a strict regime of 16oz. curls.

You'll be chipper in no time.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Benjamin Franklin

LeLongCarabine · Post by **LeLongCarabine** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:21 pm

Rover wrote:OZ,
God is punishing you for your deviant behavior.

The only way to make things right again is to head down to your local Purveyor of All Things Good and Noble and begin a strict regime of 16oz. curls.

You'll be chipper in no time.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Benjamin Franklin

keep taking the medication son you'll be OK

melchloboo · Post by **melchloboo** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:30 pm

Maybe this will help:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/2 ... nis-elbow/

I had a very minor bout with elbow after my first year of serious shooting. From then on I treat hand strength and health seriously. Even outside of shooting I never really appreciated the benefits of a strong grip until I started improving mine.

The dynaball sold by our host is great.

So are these:
http://www.captainsofcrushgrippers.com/
I'm close to closing a #2 ;-)

And use regular rubber brands wrapped around your fingers to strengthen extensors.

But most important, stop your practice session when the hand is fatigued. You are not improving your technique at that point anyway. The idea is that you can slowly build up endurance so that your hand feels fresh at shot number 60 like it did at shot number 1.

Isometric exercise in the form in the form of gripping a pistol is a source of injury for many people. So keep the hand healthy by doing dynamic exercises with grippers and rubber bands.

Mike Taylor · Post by **Mike Taylor** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:00 am

As an earlier poster suggested, switch to your other arm!
You might be surprised to find that after a few months training, your scores using your other arm and hand will be at the 'old' level.
You continue to shoot and you give your injured arm a rest - win, win!
My experience, of course YMMV.
M.T.

Steve Swartz as Guest · Fri Sep 18, 2009 7:55 pm

My whole wset of trials and tribulations have been posted before; don't want to bore you with the details.

Summary: F'd around with every single cure/physical therapy/holistic shaman/acupuncure etc. for a couple of years. Ice, ibuprofen, chiropractors, sonic fabnambulation, heat, chemicals, DMSO, horse liniment, swinging dead cats at midnight on full moon, etc. etc. etc.

I am assuming you have already had an MRI read by a radiologist and consulted with an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine?

The only thing that helped me was actual fixing the source of the problem.

Futzing around with the symptoms was a waste of time, effort, and energy.

Good Luck!

Russ · Post by **Russ** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:41 pm

Richard H · Post by **Richard H** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:29 am

The best advice to take from a forum with regards to health care (or legal matters) is go see an expert. Find a good doctor that has a background in sports medicine. They should make sure that you get the proper tests and properly diagnose your injury and see that you get proper treatment ie surgery, physio, accupuncture, massage, or drugs.

What ever you do if you have pain that persists, stop, you are likely only doing more damage and the more damage you do the longer and less certain a positive outcome will be. There is no award for toughing it out and living with pain.

luftskytter · Post by **luftskytter** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:25 pm

My elbows have mostly been OK, but I had to teach myself to use the PC mouse lefthanded many years ago to "save" my right hand........
20 years ago my right hand shoulder was just about worn out and useless due to heavy usage in work and play. Couldn't sleep on my right hand side and hardly lift a glass to drink. It is still "always there", I can feel a dull ache all the time, but it's not really pain, and doesn't bother me much today: I enjoy whitewater kayaking and can do 100+ shots of AP in a night without problems. In the last couple of years it's even stopped going "click" when I lift my arm! No doctors, just many years of care and excercise. Same with my troublesome back: I feel I've got it under control. I believe there's always hope for abused joints as long as they are basically sound and not due to disease. It takes time and patience, but it's definetely worth it!

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