TargetTalk

Both my wife and I have problems shooting free pistol because of elbow pain. It seems to be aggravated by the excessive forward rotation of the hand required by the common grip designs.

I have a Morini CM84E. A long time ago I crushed the sinovial membrane that cushions the elbow joint, and when it got inflamed it would pinch the nerves in my arm. I went through a couple of years of cortisone shots & not being able to shoot even air pistol. It's much better now, but free pistol seems to annoy it the most Some days it isn't an issue, some days it's a minor annoyance, and some times the last 10 shots of a match send a shock up my arm like somebody hammering on my funny bone. It seems like it gets better the more I shoot, and I've learned to live with it.

My wife also has similar elbow problems, although hers never got as bad as mine did. After 6 months of physical therapy, she can shoot most pistols without a problem. She has an old Pardini PGP75 free pistol, and the steep grip angle definitely makes things worse. She's going to shoot her Pardini SP (which doesn't bother her at all) for now because the free pistol just hurts too much.

One approach is to try to deal with the elbow itself. Does anyone really understand what is going on in the elbow with the grip geometry? Are there exercises or treatments that can help the elbow be less sensitive to this?

The other option is to modify or replace her pistol. Getting a new custom grip for the Pardini may be tricky because it is so old. I could also get her a Morini with the mechanical trigger because the grip is more adjustable, but I don't know if the angle can be changed enough to solve the problem.

Does anyone know where I can get custom grips for an old PGP75? Does anyone know how much angular adjustment one can get out of a Morini mechanical trigger grip?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

G:

First of all, I'm not a doctor (well not the kind that helps anyone actually) but I recently went through some significant elbow surgery to rearrange some stuff inside the joint capsule- after limping along since 1998 with some serious "tendonitis" issues.

All I can say is this- not knowing anything whatsoever about your condition (obviously) or even what you have been told (a more subtle point, but just as important).

1. How many sports medicine ortho specialists have you consulted with? Probably ZERO (wrong answer). You need at least TWO consults with SPECIALISTS dealing specifically with SPORTS MEDICINE.

I'm not kidding on that one. Do you have any professional sports teams in your nearest metropolitan area? Who is the sports doc for your nearest professional basketball team?

I'm not kidding.

2. Who has done the workup on both your MRI and CAT scans? Haven't had both yet? Only had one or the other? Un-Freaking-Satisfactory. Yoiu need both- and someone who can compare the two and read both. No, not a "radiologist" but an "ARM SPECIALIST."

P.S. an ortho specialist doesn't cut it. An upper torso specialist doesn't cut it. An arm specialist doesn't cut it. You need an ELBOW doc who specializes in SPORTS MEDICINE.

Trust me on this one.

How much is the proper functioning of your shooting arm worth?

As the country/western song goes . . . "Don't Ask Me How I Know."

I experienced similar problems and the problem for me was that I was locking my elbow. Once I quit locking my elbows the problem went away. It still took a year for the abused elbow to heal, but I haven't had a problem since I quit locking my elbow.

The problem is also linked to your elbow position: the "head" of your elbow should face the side, not toward the ground.

jipe wrote:The problem is also linked to your elbow position: the "head" of your elbow should face the side, not toward the ground.

Depends on your own anatomy. I just tried your suggestion and found it puts a large twist in both my shoulder and my forearm if I am to keep my sights horizontal. My natural point for the 'head' of my elbow is about 45 deg.

Fred Mannis wrote:

jipe wrote:The problem is also linked to your elbow position: the "head" of your elbow should face the side, not toward the ground.

Depends on your own anatomy. I just tried your suggestion and found it puts a large twist in both my shoulder and my forearm if I am to keep my sights horizontal. My natural point for the 'head' of my elbow is about 45 deg.

Yes, it is less comfortable for your shoulder and forearm but is better for your elbow = less risk on tendinitis.

Guest1 wrote:... I was locking my elbow. Once I quit locking my elbows the problem went away. ....

Do most people not lock their elbow when shooting?

I suspect there is elbow pain and there is elbow pain. I had the classic tennis elbow, pain where the muscles of the hand and forearm attach at the elbow joint. My impression is that almost all the muscles in the forearm and hand attach at two points at the elbow. On the one side of the elbow, you develop tennis elbow, the inflation of the lateral attachment. Or you can develop golfers elbow, inflation of the medial tendon (or something like that). I would guess that the more extreme grip angle could place more stress on the attachment.

The approach taken by the physical therapists I worked with was to use medication delivered via a patch worn for four hours to reduce inflation (basically a cortisone steroid). Then an intense exercise program to strengthen the other muscles in my arm to help support my arm.

Now I never took the pistol in with me, but we did discuss the exact process of shooting, arm position and such. Treatment was probably pretty typical for tennis elbow, but they were quite interested in my activities.

I concur with Mr. Swartz and his comments about finding the correct therapists. I would add that if the problems took time to develop and have existed for a while, you will need time to correct them. Consider a good physical training program as part of your shooting training regime. I continue to do the physical training with a therapists, and probably for more intense than is really required for shooting but I am pain free. I also take ice packs to the range for when I am finished per my physical therapists recommendation.

Whilst I share my experience, only a professional can really figure out how to correct what ever YOUR issues really are.

I forgot to say that I totally agree with Steve and now Pete: you need to find a medicine sport doctor specialized in elbow problems to cure your problem.

Other doctors will in the best case give you a lot of useless treatments and in the worse case advise to stop shooting: for a normal doctor, when you say that doing this or that causes you problems, their immediate reaction is to advise to stop doing those unusual things !