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Jay Cunningham
05-11-10, 19:33
My right elbow is all kinds of sore, and it has to be from shooting. I experienced this in my left arm last year for a little bit. Is this basically tennis elbow from gunhandling?

Can I fix it?

Robb Jensen
05-11-10, 19:37
My right elbow is all kinds of sore, and it has to be from shooting. I experienced this in my left arm last year for a little bit. Is this basically tennis elbow from gunhandling?

Can I fix it?

It's essentially 'tennis elbow'. Like carpal tunnel syndrome tennis elbow is a repetitive stress injury. NSAIDs help as does stretching. I found that I had to drastically reduce my amount of shooting and use a brace just below my elbows until the symptoms subsided. I also started shooting much lighter guns and do a lot of stretching before shooting to reduce the stress to the connective tissues.

infidelprodigy
05-11-10, 22:09
I experienced the same thing last year from copious amounts of pistol work. Swings with a 35lb kettlebell cleared it up in short order.

Titleist
05-11-10, 22:17
I developed this real bad this summer. Its now finally going away but it felt like a degeneration of my elbow. Guess I'll just go essay on the heavy calibers for awhile.

Oh who am I kidding. Hah.

Abraxas
05-11-10, 22:18
Swings with a 35lb kettlebell cleared it up in short order.

These things seem to have gotten oftely popular here of late. Are they that great?

Heavy Metal
05-11-10, 22:49
A B-Complex vitamin can work wonders for people prone to Carpal Tunnel.

I started taking one for my Heart and found it cured my Migranes 100%.

Fish Oil is also an anti-inflammitory. I take these for my heart and to lessen the side-effects of exercise. Fis Oil does wonders for the joints too. My knees are 1000% better than they were 15 years ago.

I take several natural anti-inflammitory suppliments per day and I never notice any repetitive motion problems. I was getting a bit sore in my right hand and wrist a few years ago from playing First Person Shooters.

I play much less and take proper suppliments.

Avoid the NSAID's if you can. That is treating the sympton plus they can be hard on your Kidneys.

Jay Cunningham
05-11-10, 22:53
I had been taking glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM complex along with flax seed oil to help with my knees and running... then I slacked off. I statrted taking it again recently - maybe it will help??

CoryCop25
05-11-10, 23:04
I have this problem really bad right now. The most pain is at the top of my forearm just below my elbow. It's so bad right now that I can not squeeze the gas pump when pumping gas. I have found that straightening out your arm and bending your wrist down as far as you can and then bending your wrist to the left and right stretches that muscle and drastically reduces the pain. Also as GotM4 said a wrap just below the elbow works great too. I am not one to take any medicine so I can't speak for the pain relievers.

Heavy Metal
05-11-10, 23:08
I had been taking glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM complex along with flax seed oil to help with my knees and running... then I slacked off. I statrted taking it again recently - maybe it will help??

Sure should. But try the Omega 3 too.

All men need to take Omega 3 for the cardio protective effects anyway.

Curare
05-23-10, 08:48
I had been taking glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM complex along with flax seed oil to help with my knees and running... then I slacked off. I statrted taking it again recently - maybe it will help??

Some studies on glucosamine and chondroitin have shown benefit, others have not. I recommend a one month trial to my patients with osteoarthritis. If it works I advise them to keep using it, if not, go ahead and stop. More often than not it does not work. Remember how powerful the placebo effect is.

Katar, your symptoms may be due to any one of three different issues: olecranon bursitis, medial or lateral epicondylitis. If you flex your elbow slightly with your palm toward your face, you will feel the pointy part of your elbow--that's the olecranon. A fluid filled sac called a bursa overlies that. It's typically tender if involved. The medial and later epicondyles are also easily palpated in this position. Tendons connected to the medial epicondyle will be felt tightening as you flex your wrist and rotate your palms inward, the lateral epicondyle when you reverse those motions.

Solutions involve mixing up your normal routine to avoid the same repetive stresses that resulted in the injury. Try working on weak handed only shooting positions for the next two weeks while taking 1-2 Aleve twice daily with food. Or work on your cardio during the next two weeks on activities that put little stress on your upper extremities--recumbent exercise bike, walking, jogging.

Good luck.

RogerinTPA
05-23-10, 18:11
Not tennis elbow per se, but my right forearm used to ache like hell after shooting 2-300 rounds of 9mm in a 30 min interval. I had to use a tennis ball or one of those jell hand exercisers for 10 to 20 mins, just to not have it ache in the morning. For some reason, after shooting around 700 rounds, mostly at a very fast and timed pace on TD 1 of the VTAC 1.5 Pistol on Friday, my arm felt just fine in the morning and for the rest of the course. It may very well have been the Aleve self medicating prior to each day, that helped out.

Rob Haught
05-23-10, 18:41
As a long time shooter I had the same problems. One of the tricks that helped was to take a rubber band and put around the end of my fingers and open my hand flexing against the band. It strengthens the muscles that open the hand and in short order my pain lessened then went away. We are naturally disporportionately stronger in clenching the fist than in opening it, like a gators mouth. Anytime I start to feel it coming back I do a few days of this exercise and it really helps.

Robb Jensen
05-23-10, 18:49
Thanks RobH I'll try your method myself after getting a .40 Glock I've felt the symptoms return mostly because I have shot much live fire this year. Most of my gun handling has been dryfire and dry practice I need to work on my draw but I'm a lazy bastard. I've been working on my reloads and get them consistently under 1 sec.

Jay Cunningham
05-23-10, 22:11
My elbow feels a lot better now, but I'll keep the suggestions here in mind for the future.

WillBrink
05-24-10, 09:15
Plenty of good advice her worth trying that may fix/delay the issue. Some of the most experienced shooters I know have switched to 9mm as the many years -and tens of thousands of rnds of .45ACP - cause them issues now. I have small hands and very small wrists, and will turn 45 end of this month. Last IDPA match I shot with my 1911, my wrists and hands were sore for a few days due to 230g full loads.

VMI-MO
05-24-10, 09:44
Will,

This is kinda an off shoot, but can a person use joint mobility drills to decrease the soreness?

If a shooter starts a regular regime of joint mobility drills when he is younger can he prevent "shooting elbow" and other potential joint problems?

Thanks
PJ

WillBrink
05-24-10, 10:26
Will,

This is kinda an off shoot, but can a person use joint mobility drills to decrease the soreness?

If a shooter starts a regular regime of joint mobility drills when he is younger can he prevent "shooting elbow" and other potential joint problems?

Thanks
PJ

I have no doubts that a program of stretching, strengthening, etc could help avoid the issue, or greatly prolong 'till it happens, as with any activity that is repetitive in nature. So the answer is "yes" I believe :cool:

For me, it's trying to balance off the training in the gym, grip work (a more recent addition), conditioning stuff, typing all day, and shooting. It's causing some over training/repetitive stress in my lower arms/wrists.

tpd223
05-25-10, 15:30
Both of my elbows are angry most of the time now, my right (right handed I am) has almost no cartridge left at all.
Although martial arts and heavy bag work have likely been partially to blame, and likely working at moving crazy amounts of weight at the gym, I'm dead sure that shooting lots and lots of big rounds over the past 30+ years has been a great deal of my problem.

Back when we carried revolvers at work I shot tons of full house .357mag ammo, then later lots of .45 ammo. I also never passed up an opportunity to shoot .44mags, .45 revolvers, .454s, etc, and other stupid stuff like J frame .357s with full house ammo and 37mm pistols with bean bag and gas rounds.

If I had known then what I know now I would have done some things differently and tried to head off my issues.

Fish oil and the glucosimine+whatever type stuff helps, as does doing my rehab exercises, but between the arthritis, carpal tunnel and other issues I have now pain is something that never goes completely away.

Word to the wise, if you haven't gotten old yet it will happen, and you can head off these issues early if you don't do stupid stuff.

WillBrink
05-25-10, 16:59
Word to the wise, if you haven't gotten old yet it will happen, and you can head off these issues early if you don't do stupid stuff.

Young = stupid. :eek:

You thought you were indestructible too. :D

I had some serious health issues fairly young, so that vale of indestructible was removed for me at a young age, which is how I ended up in the health/fitness/longevity/bbing industry.

An advantage to know early one is not indestructible? I'm not sure as I don't have a reference point really. Even knowing what I know/knew, I still got aches and pains, so if you gonna play, you gonna pay, but (and this is an important but...) as you say, not doing stupid stuff and taking measures of prevention can go a long way to reducing rates of injury, improving performance, and reducing long term issues.