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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| I'm 54, been playing since 5th grade... this is the first time I'm experiencing elbow pain.
It's on the outside surface as opposed to inside. I can straighten out my arm, no problem, but it's just something starting to get my attention now. Used to only have it when I woke up in the morning. Now, it's almost all the time.
Anybody have any topical treatment they can recommend? Anything herbal maybe.. (I ain't gonna start eatin' aspirin or tylenol, etc)
Thanks for your help.
steve |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | cortazone |
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December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Steve,
Go see a doc now before it gets worse. And chances are it will. Earlier any treatment, the better off you'll be later.
It could be a temporary twinge or the beginnings of something chronic.
Good luck! |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Try Arnica (topical). I've used it with good results. |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Originally posted by (Mauvais) Beal:
cortazone Yes... don't wait. I put off seeing a doctor for over 2 weeks thinking it would just get better. Should have went in right away.
It did WONDERS for my "trigger thumb" within 24 hours.
Do it. |
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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| I'll check out the Arnica. (I'm not ready for a needle stuck in my elbow...) The pain is on the outside. There's no pain inside the joint. If I stopped playing for a while it would probably lighten up. I've been playing more scales and intervals lately. Funny thing, it doesn't hurt when I'm playing, just later on... go figure. |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | See what a doctor says. |
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Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | I have had something similar off and on for years. When it flares up, I can only bend it about halfway. I notice it particularly at night when I try to sleep in the classic "sleep position" with my hand under my head. Like yours, the pain is only on the outside. All I do is wait, and in a week or two it goes away. Of course, I am VERY doctor-phobic. (I blame both my father's and grandmother's deaths on so-called doctors.) Not to say we have the same thing, or that YOU shouldn't see a doctor, but maybe you should just give it some time. Like I said, I've had this flare up two or three times a year over the last ten or twelve years, and it hasn't gotten any worse or more frequent, and it always goes away. I just chalk it up to age. (I am also 54.) |
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Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | +1 on the talk to a doctor. But, it could also be early signs of arthritis and all us old farts should be taking glucosomine tablets every day to ward this off (except for those allergic to shellfish). |
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Posts: 1900
| I've never had it until recently. I know my mom had a problem with her elbow, although she doesn't play guitar. She had a few cortizone shots, and said they were quite painful. I can straighten my arm out, no problem, it's just sore. So, I'll research more of the topical treatments, see what I can find...
Never used glucosamine, maybe that's an idea as well... |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | they say the outside pain is golfers elbow, inside pain is tennis elbow
I had tennis elbow but from golf (go figure) on both sides, separately, over a 6-7 year period. Had the shots and it went away. Used to have to waer one of those shock absorber little air pillows when I played golf. After about a year I gave that up. Hasn't bothered my in a few years.
I took glucosamine for years but recently let it slide, notice no difference.
Find out what it is and then you can decide what to not do about it. |
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Posts: 74
Location: Agawam MA | Steve,
Definitely see a Dr. Is it happening on your strumming or fingering elbow? It could be a bursitis. A bursa is a small baggy like structure that acts as alubricating device where muscles or tendons pass over each other or over bones. These usually work flawlessly. but if they become inflamed (often by repetitive use) they can stop being effective lubricants and be very painful. One of the most common is tennis elbow. This sort of sounds like what may be ailing you. If so, there are several treatments including a special brace and physical therapy that would not require any needles. But first, go see your doctor so you can get an accurate diagnosis and then talk about possible therapuetic options.
God bless,
Steve |
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Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | You could have tendinitis; there's an outside tendon that can get inflamed, too. (Knowledge gained from personal experience.) :rolleyes: There's a strap that you can wear just below the elbow joint that basically causes the tendon to "attach" to the bone lower than the area of inflammation. (You'll notice these on both elbows and knees at all different kinds of sporting events.) It may help, but you're better off having it properly diagnosed.
A topical application of something like arnica may do some good, but because it's a repetative motion injury, usually rest is the best thing for it. (My athletic trainer daughter and I had a chat yesterday along these very lines.......)
--Karen |
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Location: NJ | make sure it is not an infection.
I almost went to the big carbon fiber -8 cloud in the sky
SEE A DOCTOR |
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Posts: 1900
| An infection?
Uh oh, I've probably got carbonfiberitis.. ;)
Seriously, you had a muscle infection that threatened your life?...
I guess I could get a blood test to see if there's something there that ain't supposed to be there.. |
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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| Karen, yes, I've seen carpenters wearing those straps on their arms. Never saw 'em on guitar players though..
I'll have to at least try some glucosamine and arnica.. |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | lots of brandy helps too. Taken internally of course. |
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Posts: 1900
| I gave that up a long time ago, Bill... :) |
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Location: NJ | well, THERE's yer PROBlem! . . . |
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Posts: 1900
| ..what? the lack of alcohol in my bloodstream?... :)
i think i'd prefer to maintain my current amount of brain cells... ;) |
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Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by Steve:
current amount of brain cells I'm risking one of mine at the moment... 
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Play left handed until the pain shows up in your right elbow, then switch back. |
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Posts: 1900
| ..all the comedians out of work.. :rolleyes: |
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Posts: 4413
| I have a problem with my right elbow. Tuinah (Chinese) massage makes it good for a couple of weeks at a time. Word of warning - it's the most painful thing you will ever experience. But it's worked for me and it's drug free, but you have to find a properly trained practitioner, not some idiot who read a book from the library and set up business the next day.
If that is too expensive/painful/time consuming then go with the arnica for a while.
But you really should see a doc for a consult - it makes sense. |
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Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Originally posted by Steve:
The pain is on the outside. There's no pain inside the joint. Where you feel the pain is not necessarily the cause of the problem. A physiotherapist friend of mine told me about it - called 'referred pain'.
See a doctor. Or, if you're alternatively inclined, see a recommended Homeopath or even an iridologist. Don't ask me how they do it, but it seems to work. |
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Posts: 3618
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | I've been dealing with the same type of pain for the last 4 years. I went to a neurosurgeon who diagnosed it as "golfer's elbow" and told me to give it a break and stop doing pull-ups. Well I did all that and it is still there. It sometimes feels like someone wacked my funny bone with a ballpin hammer. The only thing that has worked for the pain is narcotics (the legal ones) but then I can't function, so now I'm just living with it. |
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March 2007
Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Have you changed anything e.g the guitar(s) you play? Having got a 12-string I find everything feels different in the fret hand/arm and it could get sore if I played too long. I need to develop a new playing position. |
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August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Try Hot/Cold water immersions.
First: soak your elbow in as hot water that you can stand.
Second: after a couple minutes, plunge it into ICE water, then repeat several times.
Finish with a cold soak and then a loose wool wrapping to keep warm. |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Let's find the lowest common denominator and go from there.
Ya got two choices...
A) See a doctor
B) Continue to solicite medical advice from a guitar fan-club site.
Choose wisely grasshopper.
p.s.---- I'll tell you from personal experience that the temporary and minor discomfort of a cortizone injection was well worth it. |
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August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Ya know Brad,
The only "quackieness" I've ever experienced is from a plugged-in Taylor. Ovations never have "quackiness"....so, what's yer point? :rolleyes: |
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June 2005
Posts: 1320
Location: Round Rock, TX | First - I AM NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE.
Sorry 'bout that - long story...
Now, I had the same thing, very severe, couldn't pick up anything with my left arm. It spread to my left wrist. Then my right arm (which I had been using exclusively, to compensate) started to hurt. Cortisone would knock it back temporarily, sometimes, but it always came back, quicker each time. Then I went on a low carb diet and it went away. That Christmas the family and I went to visit my parents. We happily declared their house a "diet free zone" and merrily [over] indulged in fudge, pies, eggnog, etc., etc. and the pain came roaring back. I went ahead and cut the carbs back out, while still in the DFZ (much to my tongue's dismay) and the pain subsided. I stayed low-carb for several months after that.
Now this was all years ago and I am certainly no longer eating low carb as a lifestyle. BUT - whenever I start getting a twinge, I cut the carbs 'til it goes away - usually 2 days to a week - YMMV. I would say that in the last 5 years, I've had to do the low carb thing 3 times. |
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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| Tim and Wilblee, thanks for the advice. I've had a bad cold for two days so I haven't played and it's not as sore. Hot shower and rest has helped.
Sycamore, I've been working on a series of
4-finger intervals and scales that have been substantially more difficult than basic chord progressions. So, maybe I'm pushing the envelope these days.. |
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Left elbow pain..