tendonitis, muscle inbalance

what Sally said!

plus rest - like for more than just a few days. Get an ergonomic keyboard if you use a computer lots- they make a difference.

Stretching will also help if you have a bad back - yoga is good for all round flexibility.

What part of your arm is affected? wrist? elbow?

hey man,

i'd thoroughly recommend two things - first would be to pick up a copy of "one move too many" (http://en.petzl.com/petzl/SportProduits?Produit=478). i think it was sally who i saw recommending it on this board, so i picked up a copy from bivouac in wellington. great book, loads of info, written by physios / doctors who are climbers. deals with all the common climber overuse injuries and gives what i at least hope is useful advice on dealing with them. rest, stretching, and building up the opposing muscles seems to be the gist (though whether the opposing muscle imbalance thing is a myth may be up for debate?).

assuming it does have some effect, reverse wrist curls (holding a dumbell palm down across your lap with the hand hanging over your knee, and doing wrist curls up from there) and stretching an elastic band over your fingers and opening them (reverse of sqeezing a ball) seem to be the main exercises. lots of stretching of both wrist flexors and extensors too.

the second recommendation is to get yerself to a physiotherapist if at all possible, preferably one that knows something about climbing. identifying the problem properly is a good start to fixing it.

best of luck - i've had a simlar problem for a while and am slowly dealing with it. in my limited experience the worst thing to do is not take it seriously.

steve

latest research recommends the use of slow eccentric exercise for elbow tendonopathy as well as static stretching. Accupuncture is also good as well!

eccentric = unloading phase. "negatives" in gym speak .
elbow tendonopathy = elbow tendon dysfunction/disease @ elbow.
slow = well, you seem to have that one covered, craig ;-)

hmm, i actually had a similar recommendation recently for forearm tendosynovitis (sp? i.e. inflamation of sheath that tendons run through). initially a lot of ice and rest. then massage before use and ice after. and then palm-down backwards wrist curls with a focus on slow, controlled lowering

but myxomatosis - go see a physio. don't wait for someone on here to tell you what you want to hear, or what worked for them and their own injury.

call around and see if you can a physio who knows what climbing involves. you might get lucky. for a different injury years ago, i had one immediately caution me on too much crimping on plastic. and he gave me some great stretches that really helped.

From the location of the pain you have indicated in your elbow it might be worth thinking about Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome (or cubital tunnel). Does the pain lead to lack of grip strength and numbness or tingling in your ring finger and pinky?

This can get worse and I have heard of people who have had to get surgery to remove the Ulnar nerve from the cubital tunnel in the elbow to fix it, so keep a close eye on it. You wouldn't want that to be the last resort.

I've also heard that there has been some good results with trigger point therapy on the Latissimus Dorsi (your lats) and and the medial head of the triceps brachii so it's worth a thought.

I'd just re-emphasize what many other post have said though and try to see a good physio,

Good luck.