Tennis elbow from shooting

[Oldjarhead]

I have had a number of tennis elbow injuries, over the years. It seems it happens when shooting a lot of handgun rounds. Anyone else had this issue? The top of the elbow, to be more specific. What doctor/trainer advice, did you receive on preventing the reoccurring injury? Thanks.

 

[T. O'Heir]

What kind of handgun shooting? ISS Bullseye will have you holding the handgun, that can weigh a couple pounds(A Smith M41 weighs 46.4 ounces. Almost 3 pounds.), out on the end of your arm. Puts strain on the elbow joint.
Never had the issue when I was shooting bullseye, but I had a repetitive motion injury from working long ago. Lifting heavy parts repeatedly. Took a while but it went away by itself. Workman's Comp, of course, denied my claim.
I suspect an MD would tell you to stop shooting until you're healed. If you're repeatedly re-damaging yourself, I suspect you may need more serious medical treatment. There may be more damage than you think.

 

[NoSecondBest]

When you say "on top", do you mean the bony bump on the outside? If so, that's called the Lateral Epicondyle....tennis elbow. I developed it from shooting a LOT of sporting clays. When I say a lot, I mean 1500 rounds a month. I ended up having two cortisone injections in the elbow with minimal results. I wore an elbow brace for about a year. In the long run you have to quit shooting long enough for the multitude of micro tears to heal....if they do. Sometimes surgery is required. Now, all that being said, NEVER go to the internet for medical, legal, or financial advice. Half of it's not right, some of it's very wrong, and some does more harm than good. See a doctor for this before it gets worse or not repairable. Good luck with it.

 

[Colorado Redneck]

Long time ago, my wife developed "tennis elbow." After a few weeks she went to her physician and was given a device to wear that never helped. She followed a friend's advice and went for acupuncture. After the first treatment we were cooking supper that evening and she noticed a bit of improvement. She went for one more treatment and was over it. It's worth a try.

 

[rickyrick]

There’s a device called a TENS unit.... electrical stimulation of the affected area. It really relieves pain, helps break up the adhesions causing the pain.

As a mechanic in my earlier life I dealt with tendinitis often.
Stretching of the affected muscles helps prevent reoccurrence.

It can take months to recover.

Road marching carrying an M16 by the carry handle can cause this too lol

 

[URIT]

I've had it from shooting handguns. Once, it was caused by experimenting with rolling my elbows out as recommended by a popular video gunslinger.

I had to lay off shooting and started to rehab my forearms with a Luxon grip strengthener and VIVE balls in addition to my normal weekly trips to the fitness center for upper and lower body resistance training. The Luxon and VIVE worked well.

A word of caution about the Luxon is to start at the lowest setting for a couple of weeks before even considering moving it or you may end up hurting yourself even more... like I did. Lock your wrist and squeeze it until your hand stops shaking then release and do it again. Stop when you feel twinges of pain. Work both the strong and weak sides.

I learned that sugar in my diet can exacerbate inflammation for arthritis sufferers so I cut that drastically. It helped both issues.