Elbow Tendinitis (Golfers Elbow) – Any suggestions?

I've been having physio for the last 7 weeks on my left elbow as I developed a pain in the inside of my elbow, right where the funny bone is. Throughout most of the treatment my physio has allowed me to continue to do Judo and lift weights but as it got not better he told me two weeks ago to cease all excercise.

I just wondered if any of you guys have experianced golfers elbow before and how your treatment went.
Any tips would be appreciated with regards to quickining up the healing process

JudoStu wrote:I've been having physio for the last 7 weeks on my left elbow as I developed a pain in the inside of my elbow, right where the funny bone is. Throughout most of the treatment my physio has allowed me to continue to do Judo and lift weights but as it got not better he told me two weeks ago to cease all excercise.

I just wondered if any of you guys have experianced golfers elbow before and how your treatment went.
Any tips would be appreciated with regards to quickining up the healing process

There exists an extensive scholarly article on precisely this problem in jûdôka. The reference is: The elbow joint of the judoist: The treatment of persistent tendinitis. Geneeskd. Sport. (Hol.) 27, 3: 78 86, 1994. The journal's ISSN number is: 0016-6448. Unfortunately it is not written in English, but in Dutch although it does have an English translation. There exist various other articles which are easier to find and in English but --to the best of my knowledge-- none that were specifically written about the problem in jûdôka. Also, many of the articles are not really written for the individual, but for researchers or physicians and deal with hypothesis about the mechanisms involved or epidemiological data. As you may recall from some of my posts on the old forum, if you are living in the US you might get frustrated by the articles, since for obscure reasons many of the drugs (especially ointments) are not on the market in the US.

I was injured years ago with a poor kotegaeshi / shiho nage throw that resulted in tennis elbow and golfers elbow.  It took about six months to come right, after a course of cortisone. I'm not sure what was worse; the technique which caused the injury, an arm twist in a grading three weeks later which re-aggravated the injury, or the long needle they slipped between the bones of the elbow joint to deliver the cortisone!!!

BTW, injured ligaments on the inside elbow is tennis elbow (think stress caused during a forehand swing). Try an elbow support during training for a while but be careful not to let it become a crutch. Try gentle training without the support every now and again.

Good luck with the recovery.

Maybe someone saved or has a link to the posts I wrote on this problem on the old JF. Because they were rather extensive I feel very little motivation to write it out all again. Hope you will forgive me, no hard feelings.

DougNZ wrote:I was injured years ago with a poor kotegaeshi / shiho nage throw that resulted in tennis elbow and golfers elbow.  It took about six months to come right, after a course of cortisone. I'm not sure what was worse; the technique which caused the injury, an arm twist in a grading three weeks later which re-aggravated the injury, or the long needle they slipped between the bones of the elbow joint to deliver the cortisone!!!

BTW, injured ligaments on the inside elbow is tennis elbow (think stress caused during a forehand swing).  Try an elbow support during training for a while but be careful not to let it become a crutch.  Try gentle training without the support every now and again.

Good luck with the recovery.

Hi, thanks for your reply. Was there any particular stretching or excercises that you thought made a difference or was it only the cortisone that did the trick?

BTW Tennis elbow is on the outside http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_elbow
Golfers Elbow is inside http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golfer's_elbow
Not that what we call it makes any difference

Of course there's the golf joke about the guy who goes for treatment of his elbow only to find out his physician had been replaced by a machine ...

"and if you don't stop, that elbow's never gonna heal."

BillC wrote:Of course there's the golf joke about the guy who goes for treatment of his elbow only to find out his physician had been replaced by a machine ...

"and if you don't stop, that elbow's never gonna heal."

The physio thinks it might actually be a trapped nerve between my neck and my hand that is refering the pain to my elbow??
Anyway, I have been given some stretches to do 3 times a day and was told to resume excercise, providing it doesnt cause me any discomfort.

JudoStu wrote:

The physio thinks it might actually be a trapped nerve between my neck and my hand that is refering the pain to my elbow??
Anyway, I have been given some stretches to do 3 times a day and was told to resume excercise, providing it doesnt cause me any discomfort.

Take care of that neck, amigo. A size 18 shirt is what judo men are made of, also our weakest link.