Laser Elbow??

P

PlaneSailing

Member
Hi All,

Just wondered if any one can help with a pain I've started getting just below inside elbow esp. when beating upwind. Grip, exercises? Still hurts a bit even when not sailing. Might be tennis elbow?? Laser elbow - har, har?? Ouch, that hurt ....

Thanks
 
PlaneSailing said:
Hi All,

Just wondered if any one can help with a pain I've started getting just below inside elbow esp. when beating upwind. Grip, exercises? Still hurts a bit even when not sailing. Might be tennis elbow?? Laser elbow - har, har?? Ouch, that hurt ....

Thanks
Click to expand...

Press around on the area and see if there's a knot in the muscle. I get that alot. If there is a knot, putting hard pressure on it with your fingers for a couple of minutes should get it to relax. Yes, putting pressure on a knot is agonizing, but it fixes it.

If you don't have a knot, then go to Plan B.
 
If it is a muscle cramp, usual cause is overuse leading to lactic acid buildup - remedies are the massage mentioned above, stretching the affecting area (even letting the arm hang and shaking the forearm to get the blood flow back into the muscle to flush the lactic acid), hydration (water). While sailing, learn to relax the area or shift the grip to allow blood to flow back into the muscle.

Long term prevention on the cramp in the first place is part diet, part exercise. For sailing specifically, single arm rows on a rowing machine to simulate sheeting and pumping work well - start with 2 minutes each arm, and go from there. Work up to 20-30 minutes, alternating arms every couple of minutes. There are also forearm and grip exercises that can/should be done to help - search the 'net or talk to any trainer at a gym...


Of course, if it's not a muscle issue, forget all the above
smirk.gif


Occasionally, I have run into tendon soreness (inflamation) as well - use anti-infammatory meds and you can also support the area with a wrap such as an ace bandage. Search the net for more info...
 
Hey, thanks everyone, there are some good sounding ideas there. I have just done the painful squeezey bit - ouch, ouch, ouch still hurts - even worse, must be something there!
Next stop, the gym.
 
I suffered from Tennis Elbow for several years. Basically, it started when I over-did the plastering lime on the outside walls and stayed bad as, when it was bad I rested, and as it was getting better I decided it was Ok, started using it as normal and it was bad again.


It was quite bad when I took up Laser sailing earlier this year. However, I got myself one of those special pressure straps (cost about 25€ from a local chemist) and I made sure I used it whenever sailing. A month or so later and despite sailing it was better.


Now. I am not a doctor and would never try and diagnose nor advise what may or may not be the problem and would not suggest how to treat this thing I cannot diagnose.. If you are unsure then get professional advice (and ignore mine). I guess the best way to get advice will depend on where in the world you are based. Certainly UK/France I would visit a pharmacy and see what they think.


If it is tennis elbow, it can take a long time to clear-up and whilst you have it there is a risk that the other arm will start to suffer (as it starts doing more of "the work"). Sounds stupid but try a Google on "Tennis Elbow" and you should find some decent descriptions.


Ian​
 
PlaneSailing said:
Hey, thanks everyone, there are some good sounding ideas there. I have just done the painful squeezey bit - ouch, ouch, ouch still hurts - even worse, must be something there!
Next stop, the gym.
Click to expand...

If you found a hard knot and pressed it for a while, did the knot soften up and the pain diminish? If so, keep at it. If not, Plan B.
 
I actually wouldn't go to the gym and try to 'work it out' - if it is tennis elbow that is likely to make it worse.

I am suffering from that at the moment. I have been wearing a brace around my lower arm (just below the elbow) when I'm sailing which helps a great deal. I also had a fair bit of physio which was really beneficial.

First stop I think should be the doctor if it doesn't go away.

There are also exercises you can do:

Get a light weight (a bottle of water works well at first) and hold it in your hand. Rest your forearm on a table with your wrist over the edge. Raise and lower the weight ten times in each hand. Do this every day and gradually increase the weight.
 
Thnaks again. I will see someone if it persists, but so far I can still sail Ok - was out last week - just a bit of discomfort when fighting the tiller - good incentive to hike harder! Brace sounds worth trying. Much appreciate all the kind help.
 
When I had Tennis elbow for several years, I found it actually gets better very quickly, and then you do something and its back very quickly as well. Rest for a day or so and it seems fine and then you do something and its immediately back. A friend who saw their doctor about Tennis Elbow recently was told to rest it for 3 months (plus wear the arm strap thing).


Good luck
Ian​
 
I just read this discussion. I had the same problem with tennis elbow, for a long time and tried all sorts of remedies and exercises. I happen to find a product called Elbow Ease they are online and ship anywhere. Works great now have no pains and pulling lines perfectly....
 
For an explanation of why this is occurring, my physio a few years ago put it down to over gripping the tiller and potentially the mainsheet.
 
That's exactly what was happening, but I found that by strengthening my hand it helped a lot, just the occasional twinge now (could be natural aging !!).
 
strengthening your hands is also a good way to relieve stress throughout the day, there are lots of good ways
 
My wife is a physio. She finds that a large number of so called "carpal tunnel" cases as well as tennis elbow and tight shoulders are simply the locations where the pain displays itself. Most of muscular/skeletal pains we all feel are referred. Unless you have an obvious impact related injury the location of the pain is not the problem. However, you could have an inflamed bursa which really hurt.

Guys(myself included) get a variety of wrist, elbow, and should pain all because we over develop our pecks. Basically we make our chests too strong and backs too weak. If you pickup your right arm above your head and reach across your chest with your left hand and grab your right peck with your fingers in your armpit. Those muscles should be soft and flexible regardless if you are built like Arnold. Many guys have super tight pecks and armpit muscles that are painful to poke oand prod. That tightness leads to the arm elbow and wrist pains.

Related to the overdeveloped chest weak back is overall lack of flexibity. Because the pecks are so tight we lose all movement in our upper spines between our shoulder blades. One of the best stretches to regain movement there is jogging or running. The motion of swing ones arms during proper running forces your upper back to rotate. Men often rotate at the waist when walking because they have stiff upper backs. Having your Osteo, Chiro, Physio, or little Giesha girl whack and crack it won't help either.

Have a good sports masseuse or physio tear into your pecks and armpits. They will be supple again. Then run once a week to keep up the rotation in the upper back.

They sell some great topical ibuprofen pain killers now. Depending on your country. They work better on joints than oral tablets with no side effects. Voltaren gel is the most common.
 
During all my years of sailing back east in howling winds in my Laser and 470, holding the main sheet in my hand for hours and hours, I never experienced any "tennis elbow" or "tennis forearm".

But after a day sailing with my new Laser out here in California, I noticed soreness on my right forearm... just towards my hand from my elbow. I figured no big deal and went sailing a week later as the pain was going away.

But this aggravated the condition and made it very sore again. In the days afterwards, I would experience the most pain when bending my arm to past 90 degrees then squeezing my hand into a fist. This had never happened to me before while sailing.

After pondering how this all was a brand new experience I thought back to events of the day that it showed up. And I'm thinking it may be from when I set up the rig completely on the ground, with the boom attached as well and then carried it all vertically about 200 feet with the wind blowing and then stepping the mast in the boat tied to the dock.

Normally I do this with no boom... letting the sail flap in the breeze and then mount the boom after the mast is stepped. What I remember is REALLY having to apply a lot of force to my right arm, the one that developed the pain, to keep the mast past vertical... from the drag from the wind and the weight of the boom.

Plus, my arm was in the exact same position while carrying the mast, at a right angle and less than that to my bicep, as it is when pulling in the main sheet for small trimming adjustments as well as when you go from a run to pointing and you do the very fast sheeting in hand over hand while holding the tiller in one hand.

Could it be that we are initiating this "tennis elbow" from lifting and stepping the mast and then aggravating it by sheeting? Cause when I think about it, the most force I put on my forearm is when I'm keeping the mast upright... not sheeting.

And I'm right handed so all the lifting of the mast is done with my right arm, the arm where I got the "tennis elbow."

- Andy
 
49208 said:
If it is a muscle cramp, usual cause is overuse leading to lactic acid buildup - remedies are the massage mentioned above, stretching the affecting area (even letting the arm hang and shaking the forearm to get the blood flow back into the muscle to flush the lactic acid), hydration (water). While sailing, learn to relax the area or shift the grip to allow blood to flow back into the muscle.

Long term prevention on the cramp in the first place is part diet, part exercise. For sailing specifically, single arm rows on a rowing machine to simulate sheeting and pumping work well - start with 2 minutes each arm, and go from there. Work up to 20-30 minutes, alternating arms every couple of minutes. There are also forearm and grip exercises that can/should be done to help - search the 'net or talk to any trainer at a gym...


Of course, if it's not a muscle issue, forget all the above
smirk.gif


Occasionally, I have run into tendon soreness (inflamation) as well - use anti-infammatory meds and you can also support the area with a wrap such as an ace bandage. Search the net for more info...
Click to expand...


Thank you. I had a swellbow and didnt know why I had so much pain after the swelling went down. I must have hit the muscle in a way that it caused a lactic acid buildup do you think?




bubblegumcasting
 
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