"Tennis" elbow?
 

So it seems I have this in my right arm, never mind that I haven't picked up a tennis racket in more than 40 years lol. Last year it hurt a bunch, but over the winter seemed to get much better. But now that I'm riding more, it's back. I've never dealt with anything like it, was wondering if others here have, and if so did you find a good course of action? Discussed it with my Dr. but we didn't come up with much but I hadn't linked it to riding, was thinking more it was golf or an injury related to that.

I get it periodically and have not been able to associate it with any action. Last time it was discussed with the doc, he offered cortisol shots. I declined. It went away and so far has stayed away. Boss had it and required surgery to reroute the nerves or tendons (I forget which).

Good luck. It sucks when you can't grab something without some pain.

I came down with it last year. Not from tennis, but repetitive motion from sailboat racing (grinding on winches, etc.). Wearing a compression band helped a lot. Rest (and ice) helped too. Seems pretty good now.

Had it many years ago after using a screwdriver over a weekend fixing stuff. Put up with it for a while, but then had the shot. Never looked back!

Rest and ice was also what my doctor recommended. It took a while to clear up. I'd never felt anything like it before. Doc was certain it was caused by me jogging with hand weights.

Stretch your wrist and get a tennis elbow strap, or you can tape it. You need to do some strengthening on it too. Ice it for 20 minutes on, then at least 40 minutes off. When I get it I usually have to get a shot and it goes away. Technical term for it is lateral epicondylitis.

Compression band worked for me.

This worked for me:
https://www.therabandcyprus.com/how-...is-elbow-pain/

I worked at a software company with a retired physical therapist.
He recommended a very simple exercise using a rubber band.
Wrap it around the fingers and push all five fingers with an outward movement.
I started with thin, pliable bands, gradually increasing resistance with stiffer ones.
My tennis elbow cleared up months later, but it never forced me to curtail activities.
Mine likely occurred from regular yardwork, like trimming or heaving garden tools.
He said the only other solution involved complete rest - and that ain't happenin' with me!

I don’t play tennis either, but got it from swinging implements (overhand) clearing some brush on our property. Most recent bout with it seems to take forever to heal. Lots of icing, and self-massage.

Dan

Thanks for the input everyone. I have a strap, which hopefully will help better now that I also read up on correct application of it. Will definitely try ice too. Heat helped with the pain before, so maybe a combination.

As with most internet medical or quasi-medical discussions of symptoms, all I have to offer is a guess.

Could you be locking your elbows as you ride? If you'll lean forward just a tiny bit, will you be riding with bent elbows?

Funny you say that as I have been thinking I do lock my arms, leading to several comfort issues. And I wouldn't doubt that contributes to this. I added some clip on aero bars because I always liked them for comfort and a few more hand positions as well But with this set I found I have to kinda reach around them when I'm on the hoods, which forces me to unlock since I need to bend the arms. I was not conscious of even not having a bend before, but it does seem to help.

I've had some recurring problems with tennis elbow, the last bout was exacerbated by helping both of my kids move within a month or two of each other and then helping them with a bunch of home improvement stuff in a pretty short period of time. Found that it became more painful when riding. I bought this back in 2020 while still in pain, and did the stretching/strengthing excercises until the pain subsided (probably for a month or more), haven't had any pain since.

Looking for a proven solution for your Tennis Elbow (aka Lateral Epicodylitis)?

In my experience, this helped more than any compression band or rest/ice did.

Several years ago - actually, around 8 years ago (I'm 68 now) - I was getting a lot of discomfort in my left elbow. It was a year where I had increased my mileage and difficulty level. I also was starting to experience some knee discomfort. I ended up getting a bike fit at my LBS. One of the things he did was to swap out the handlebars - replacing with a narrower one - idea being there was less pressure on the elbow from long rides and road chatter. I was fortunate in that that did the trick with no need for any medical attention and I haven't had a problem since (knee discomfort resolved, too, thankfully).

Pdlamb hits it square. It got bad enough that it hurt to pull a bottle out of the holder or reach into my pockets. It took much focus of attention to break the locked elbow habit but now it is quite natural. I check periodically because that tennis elbow thing took years to ever so gradually disapate. It probably would have healed faster if I stopped riding but that wasn't gonna happen.

I used to get it in one of my elbows during the winter months years ago. At the time, my winter commuter bike (which was ridden daily) was the only flat bar setup in my stable. The ride and positioning of the setup was comfortable, but for some reason I suffered with tennis elbow on one side during the months I would ride that bike every year. My fit was good, with a comfortable slight bend in the elbows, and I always felt good on the bike.
After I sold that bike, all of my riding was done on drop bars, including on my newly setup winter commuter. I never experienced tennis elbow again. I guess for me, maybe the different arm positioning of riding with grips on a flat bar was aggravating to my elbow. Might be worth looking at maybe different hand positioning on your cockpit if possible.

I like to play squash, and in the winter I play 5 days a week. I got a fairly painful case a few months ago, largely because I was getting into hitting the ball hard. I backed off a little, and reduced my play by 10 minutes per day, the pain diminished, and eventually went away. I was formerly a medic in the Army, and a large part of my work was dealing with injuries and soreness caused by training and PT (which was intense in my unit), most of my treatment consisted of prescribing Motrin and telling soldiers to take it easy, and more than 90% of that time that was all they needed.

Thanks for the input everyone, figured I'd follow-up. The ice helps a bunch, though I did a stupid when applying it. Got a nifty inflatable brace/icepack combo that let's me put pressure as well as the ice. Which worked like a charm. BUT I failed to put something between the ice pack and my skin, and wound up with an ice burn, I guess you'd call it LOL so I had to take a break from that while it healed.

However, I did try something else that helped and wanted to add it in. I noticed that my road bike hurt way more than my gravel bike, and started measuring things. To my surprise, the reach on the gravel bike is longer than the road bike, and the bars are way narrower. So I ordered a set of bars the same width as the GB has, and so far they feel much better.
Have been considering going to the "Kitchen Sink" bars, for the flare and the sweep, but haven't yet.

OP, good to hear your getting some relief. Riding with locked arms can create shoulder joint issues as well. A lesson I learned after I first started riding and my reach was way too long.

My worst case of tennis elbow was from painting every room inside our house. I used a roller in every room and that repetitive motion triggered it. Mine went away but took a few weeks.