Beth,
Every once in a while, my elbow starts to hurt from too much surfing. I’mnot sure if it’s due to paddling or pushing up to get to my feet. It usually happens when I go for 3 or 4 days in a row. It’s weird, it almost feelspuffy and swollen (but it doesn’t look like it). And it doesn’t hurt unless Imove it in a funny way (like pushing myself up from the couch or something similar).
I imagine it’s what tennis elbow or bursitis feels like. Thething is, I lift pretty seriously 3X’s a week, and am training for my firsttriathlon (sprint distance) in Sept., so its not like I’m out of shape or unused to paddling/using my arm muscles. It doesn’t bother me when I’m swimming lapsat all.
Any thoughts on what this could be, or how I can treat it?
Thanks in advance,
Dan P.
ANSWER:
Hey Dan,
Sounds to me like a bit of tendonitis (tennis elbow), but if it is constant and you have some events coming up, I would get a diagnosis. I think that first you need to get a diagnosis from a doctor to rule out anything else prior to going to PT. There are several good orthopods in the SF area. Once you’ve done that, the name of a good PT place is Presidio Sport and Medicine and their # is 415-674-9530.
If it were tendonitis, I would suggest a bit of icing and get yourself on some sort of anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen or Aleve) as long as you don’t have any tummy problems with it. It is important to take the allotted dosage for 4-5 days (i.e. 2 tablets every 4 hours for Advil) in order to get the anti-inflammatory in your system. After 4-5 days, take a break so your stomach doesn’t hate you.
Tendonitis is a pain in the ass because one of the first cures is rest and you sound about as active as me. Rest sucks! If this has been a chronic injury, I would also suggest having the PT or doctor let you know what is going on in your body that is creating this problem and figure out a way to fix it.
Best of luck to you. Enjoy your triathlon and keep me abreast on what happens with your elbow!
Hasta,
Beth(Posted 8-29-02)
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