Bad elbow

I hurt my right elbow back at the end of Oct when I had my 4 wheeler wreck. Hyperextended it in some manner, been bit painful trying to straighten my arm out, but has slowly been getting better.

Then last Sunday while slinging my bag in the overhead on the plane, I felt something pop in it, burning pain and its been pretty much unusable since. Can't even get enough grip to twist off the cap on a water bottle. Cant hold a simple canned goods to put them in the cabinet. Just no grip strength at all. Straightening it is out.

Picked up an adjustable elbow brace, one of those stretchy kinds. It seems to help keep things together, but does anyone have any idea what could have popped loose? Been reading up on it some, seems like "tennis elbow" is what it is. Rest and doing nothing with it is pretty much all that can be done. I ain't feeling spending another couple hundred for a Iranian doctor to tell me the same. Any ideas?

ICE it a lot. I had the same issue, rest it and ice the holy hell out of it.

Yup, ice on and off for 15 minutes at a time and an anti-inflammatory.

I broke down and went to the dr. Wasn't getting any better at all. Couple x-rays later, does it hurt when I bend it this way, poke it that way and jab it like that later he decides on a cortisone shot right in the tendon. Sonicgram guided the needle in and its done....it was the most painless part of all of it.

Got to give it a couple weeks, if no improvement, then an MRI. Getting old is painful.

pup wrote:

Getting old is painful.

You got that right!!

Getting old just plain sucks. I had knee surgery in October (my third) and my knee is as bad as ever. I can see a replacement in the next year or so. To top it off, I have been running a gym class for 3 days this week. It's not the class, it's standing most of the time to make sure the kids are not killing each other. Dodge ball all yesterday, soccer bowling today and tomorrow.

I don't know why, but every time I get a cortisone shot I get an intense headache for the next few hours. Be careful how you use your elbow, it may feel better after the shot, but you can be doing damage if something is wrong and you think it is better.

I stayed up most of the night with it. Never could get comfortable. It ached like a bitch. Oddly enough, I had a hell of a headache too.

Finally fell asleep around 4am. Woke up at 6am for work and it was better than it's been in a month. But I'm not pushing it. Doc said to not really do anything with it for 2 weeks and see then. I've spent the last month barely having enough grip to zip my pants. Not to mention trying to open beers left handed. I'm just going to sit back and let this thing heal.

I have a neoprene elbow brace that I use when my elbow aches like that. I had the problem for years and only when I work it too hard does it hurt. But once if flairs up, it can hurt for a few months. I used to get injections from my father in law, but the drive to NY and the headaches were not worth it.
About 25 years ago when I did concrete work on the side, I was helping a guy from the judo club install a driveway. When we were done, we went to a local bar for lunch and a few beers. Unfortunately for me, I was sitting next to an older man that was listening to our conservation on judo techniques that worked for me when the old guy says he was a marine in WWII and wanted to show me a joint lock. My friend must have said at least 3 times not to let the old guy touch me. Well, like a fool I didn't listen and the old guy did a joint lock on my elbow then used his free hand to roll my arm and I have paid the price ever since.

pup wrote:

barely having enough grip to zip my pants.

Life sucks when you can't zip your own pants. "Hey buddy can you give me a hand here?" LOL!

joemac wrote:

pup wrote:

barely having enough grip to zip my pants.

Life sucks when you can't zip your own pants.  "Hey buddy can you give me a hand here?"  LOL!

I think I would say "Hey sweetheart, could you help me out here?