Shooter's elbow. Any "cures"?

[Philadelphia]

A couple weeks ago I was doing an awful lot of shooting over the course of many consecutive days.

Now I've got the classic tennis elbow/golfers elbow (pain on outer side of right elbow, inner side of left elbow) every time I grip a gun.

I've babied things a little for a couple of weeks but I can't say there's been tremendous improvement. For those who have been through this, should I continue taking it easy or just push through?

Not shooting or even dry firing is getting pretty boring. The pain doesn't really bother me, but I don't want to just make things worse if ignoring it is not the right thing to do.

[Hawk]

A couple weeks ago I was doing an awful lot of shooting over the course of many consecutive days.

Now I've got the classic tennis elbow/golfers elbow (pain on outer side of right elbow, inner side of left elbow) every time I grip a gun.

I've babied things a little for a couple of weeks but I can't say there's been tremendous improvement. For those who have been through this, should I continue taking it easy or just push through?

Not shooting or even dry firing is getting pretty boring. The pain doesn't really bother me, but I don't want to just make things worse if ignoring it is not the right thing to do.

I'm not a doctor or a PT but I had elbow area pain due to a wrist injury. I suffered for month's until I ran into a Myotherapist who showed me what the cause of my pain was. The muscles that control your fingers are in your forearm, When these muscles get overworked/injured they contract/shrink and pull on the ligaments that are attached at your elbow which causes the pain. The muscles have to be manipulated to get them to release back to their normal length. He showed me how to find the trigger points in the forearm muscles to relieve the strain, in 2 minutes I had no more pain and it lasted for an hour to two, I continued manipulating the trigger points for relief with each session lasting longer and longer and finally the pain went away permanently in about a week. I can't show you how to do this but I can explain it. Lay your arm palm down on a flat firm surface, take your thumb supported by your index finger on your free hand and start to probe the fattest part of your forearm muscle. You'll need to probe with some pressure to hit the correct trigger points. You'll know when you found them because it will hurt, once you hit the point, keep constant pressure for about 60 seconds, sometimes circling the thumb on the spot will help. When you find a certain trigger point you will feel it in your elbow (the area of the pain you have). If you do this right, your pain will be gone and you'll have full use of your fingers. Let me know how it goes.

[bloomautomatic]

First, I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV. These are my personal experiences and are NOT a substitute for professional medical advice.


I had tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) in my left elbow, which was also my shooting hand for pistol. Couldn't hold the gun up for nothing. Switched to shooting right handed for competition. I'm not a real serious competitor, so I wasn't worried about scores, and I figured it'd be neat to be able to shoot as well with either hand. Scores are pretty much back to where they were before. Next trick is to use two guns to get my rapid fire targets done faster. I don't think that's allowed thought.

The pain on the outside of the elbow sounds like tennis elbow, not sure about the pain on the inside of the elbow.

First, I would suggest you see a doctor about it. I went to my chiropractor, who also does sports medicine, and he got me back on track. When it was really bad, he would knead the muscle to help with the pain. Massage therapist worked on it also. All of it helped. Anyone who needs a good chiropractor in SW PA (washington county), let me know and I'll give you his info.

The way it was explained to me, it's inflammation from the tendon rubbing over the bone in your elbow. If you try to push through it, it's not going to get better. It needs to be rested so it can heal. There are tennis elbow braces that can help. Anti-inflammatories, such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen can help, as well as icing it - no more than 20 minutes at a time. Tylenol/acetaminophen does nothing for muscle inflammation.

Stretching helped it also. Put your arm straight out, with your palm up. Pull back on your fingers. One of the best activities I found that made it feel better was bowling. I figured that would be terrible on it, but the motion of throwing the ball stretches the right muscles. At least on me it did.

Bad news is, it took almost a year before mine was gone enough for me to stop using the brace when I lifted anything. Even now, over 18 months later, I'll still feel it if I lift something too heavy the wrong way.

Vince

[xd40_jim]

I had the same problem from year s of playing lacrosse and bass guitar, a therapist told me to try massaging the area, the top of your forearm just above the elbow you will feel a grove in the muscles between you radius and ulna, (your forearm bones), she said to massage deep in there. It's gonna take some pressure to get it, but it does help. after a few days you will notice there pain start to go away. Also, my personal recommendation, get one of those elbow braces that they have for tennis elbow. I wear if when I do any activities and it helps. Good luck.

[SSCUSTER]

I had the same problem last fall. A few weeks of PT solved the problem. I continue to do the excercises so it does not return.

[Lycanthrope]

OK, I took a LOT of ribbing at the group shoots for my "shooters elbow" and how it came to be, but I can say it hurt to shoot for about a year. A couple months I really couldn't shoot at all.

Rest, stretching and using pressure points helped over time, but only the brace saved me when I shot. Get a good one. I have one made by Ace bought at the local pharmacy.

Lycanitwasthedrawstrokethrope