Help with tennis elbow

[gronkus]

Hi all,

Started playing disc golf last summer and developed a bad case of tennis elbow. I went to a doctor and after months of first immobilization and then physical therapy, I still had a lot of weakness and pain.

My doctor decided to try and new procedure on me (new for him). I had an injection of something called AmnioFix which is made from amniotic fluid donated by mothers. Went right into the tendon and is filled with growth factors.

Can say that after a couple weeks, my elbow feels MUCH better and I should soon be able to start a workout program on it. For anyone suffering from tendonitis that isn't responding to traditional therapies, just wanted to mention my experience in case it might help out someone else.

I know there is also a therapy that uses your own blood plasma as well.

Good health!

 

[B3NDER]

Stem cells!

 

[gronkus]

Stem cells!

Technically not but I was thinking the same thing. At least this is from donated placentas from mothers who have C-Sections. So (at least for me) no morality issues to face as if it were fetus tissue. Amazing science!

 

[B3NDER]

Just razzing you a bit. At least it sounds as if it is working for you - and whatever gets you back on the course sounds like good news to me. :hfive:

 

[DiscFifty]

I was having awful elbow problems the first year of playing disc golf. Chalked it up to bad form and strong arming the disc. Now days I can literally throw as often as I want...assuming the knees allow me to. lol..

 

[lyleoross]

Tennis elbow IMO is due to over pulling, at least that's when I get it. If you break your throw into two parts, the load, and the unwind, over pulling into the load puts a huge strain on the elbow and shoulder. The answer is to realize that the load into the unwind is relaxed, you're more passive than active. Once the elbow is bent and the disc is in, the unwind is active and at full acceleration.

I'd never let any western doctor inject anything in me for something like this, but that's just my opinion. I admit, what Amniofix claims to do is what you want to do for this type of injury, but given that you're putting a foreign substance that is essentially amniotic and placental material into your joint, not so much. Keep in mind that MiMedx, the producer is still in dutch with the FDA, are still in a law suit with their stock holders, and have not subjected Amniofix to large scale medical testing to see if it is really efficacious. There isn't even a defined pathway for how it "brings down swelling, eliminates scar tissue, and increases healing."

There is a treadmill of sales agents through your doctor's office, by and far, most doctors are still male, and most of the sales agents are young and female, and they work that so that doctors are pushing their products. This method of sales is effective, studies show it is, but it isn't necessarily good for you. Congress has looked into this and they are considering legislation that will make doctors register what sales reps come into their offices and what quid pro quo occurs. Wanna bet it never passes?

What happens in this type of sports injury is that you have inflammation of the tendons in the joint, and possibly some of the soft tissue. It doesn't heal because the inflammation essentially becomes permanent and blood, along with other body made healing agents, can't get in there to do their job. The way to get it to heal is with the right kind of therapy, but it is hard work. It means getting the swelling down, treating the soft tissue and tendons with sometimes painful deep massages to break down the tightened tissues so that blood flow is increased, and doing the right kind of exercises. You have to be religious about it, doing the treatment day in and day out. I've gone through this with bursitis, and it works.

I know that it didn't work for gronkus, but I'd still go to that methodology first, before I'd try anything like this.

 

[MikeK]

I got a case of the tennis elbow not from throwing, but yanking sheet rock off of walls after Hurricane Katrina down here in New Orleans...happy Mardi Gras by the way.

I guess I was lucky that it healed up eventually, but I did have to stop playing disc golf for almost a year. It did help that Katrina wiped out our only course at the time and so there wasn't even a place to play for nearly a year.

I do get occasional flare-ups, in fact I have one right now. The only thing that I have tried that really helps (other than months of rest) is a compression sleeve. I was very skeptical before I tried it but it sure seems to heal my tennis elbow pretty fast. Other things that help slightly are NSAIDs, ice, and elevation of the arm.

 

[Pbmercil]

I'm glad your doctor found a treatment for you that seems to be working well.

As you get back into throwing make sure you a) take it easy and don't push yourself to hard to fast

B) work on your form and try to find what caused the injury in the first place. Throwing discs should be pretty low to non impact. If disc golf is causing you injury then you need to fix whatever mechanical flaw caused the injury in the first place,or you will keep getting hurt.

 

[MikeM]

Strengthen up them muscles before yanking on a disc. Pushups, pull ups, curls. Take the strain away from the tendons and put it on the muscles.

 

[sidewinder22]

Tennis elbow IMO is due to over pulling, at least that's when I get it. If you break your throw into two parts, the load, and the unwind, over pulling into the load puts a huge strain on the elbow and shoulder. The answer is to realize that the load into the unwind is relaxed, you're more passive than active. Once the elbow is bent and the disc is in, the unwind is active and at full acceleration.

I'd never let any western doctor inject anything in me for something like this, but that's just my opinion. I admit, what Amniofix claims to do is what you want to do for this type of injury, but given that you're putting a foreign substance that is essentially amniotic and placental material into your joint, not so much. Keep in mind that MiMedx, the producer is still in dutch with the FDA, are still in a law suit with their stock holders, and have not subjected Amniofix to large scale medical testing to see if it is really efficacious. There isn't even a defined pathway for how it "brings down swelling, eliminates scar tissue, and increases healing."

There is a treadmill of sales agents through your doctor's office, by and far, most doctors are still male, and most of the sales agents are young and female, and they work that so that doctors are pushing their products. This method of sales is effective, studies show it is, but it isn't necessarily good for you. Congress has looked into this and they are considering legislation that will make doctors register what sales reps come into their offices and what quid pro quo occurs. Wanna bet it never passes?

What happens in this type of sports injury is that you have inflammation of the tendons in the joint, and possibly some of the soft tissue. It doesn't heal because the inflammation essentially becomes permanent and blood, along with other body made healing agents, can't get in there to do their job. The way to get it to heal is with the right kind of therapy, but it is hard work. It means getting the swelling down, treating the soft tissue and tendons with sometimes painful deep massages to break down the tightened tissues so that blood flow is increased, and doing the right kind of exercises. You have to be religious about it, doing the treatment day in and day out. I've gone through this with bursitis, and it works.

I know that it didn't work for gronkus, but I'd still go to that methodology first, before I'd try anything like this.

Yeah I agree with all the above, often starting the throw with a curled wrist or over curling, and then over extending can be the culprit. Also gripping too hard for for too long.

 

[mattw]

Yeah I agree with all the above, often starting the throw with a curled wrist or over curling, and then over extending can be the culprit. Also gripping too hard for for too long.

I also had issues when gripping the wider rimmed drivers. Anything with a rim the size of a Wraith or larger would cause pain in my elbow and sometimes numbness and tingling in my hands. Once I went down to drivers like the Valk I rarely have issues unless I overextend on drives.

 

[gronkus]

I would absolutely agree with:

1) don't resort to anything like this without going thru the more conservative route of physical therapy, etc...

I did that for quite a while and it was the doctor who suggested this treatment. He offered this free for me as a test patient and (for me) I am glad I accepted the offer. I was adamant about not wanting cortisone. But my PT used graston treatments to break down scar tissue, etc... and I did all my exercises every day at home.

2) the initial pain was certainly due to bad form.

Never playing disc golf. Close to 50 in age. Still thinking I am 25 as far as trying to throw the cr*p out of the plastic. No concept of proper form. Hopefully what I've read and seen on the forums will give me a *chance* to try and work out a form that doesn't lead me back to the doctor.


The treatment itself - the rep said the treatment might hurt a bit for the first couple days. Hah! I didn't feel the needle and it didn't hurt until the stuff was injected. That first night!! Most painful thing I've ever had. Like a charlie-horse in the tendons that won't stop. No pain med touched it. But supposedly it is all the growth factors that activate like when you get a cut to cause blood and inflamation and all to rush to the area to heal that is the culprit. By second day I was off the meds and I would say by day 5 I was feeling better than I had at my best before the procedure.

I was just really feeling down thinking that despite all my work at resting and rehabbing I would not be able to throw this season. Now I feel confident that I can try to get out there again and play this addictive game. Hopefully when weather gets better I'll be able to post a video too so you folks can help me avoid another injury!

Best!

 

[metalmaxx]

glad your getting better ,,,,,hello , i am a personal trainer, and i would recommend a Tommy Copper elbow sleeve , or some sort of magnetic sleeve ,,,,,, they do help with the healing and relief from some pain ,,,,,, just ask bret farve lol ,,,, seriously ,,, they do help ,,, therapy will introduce you to elastic bands , learn them , use them and get stronger ,,, and most certainly watch youtube videos , these pros are generous and will show you proper form ,,,,,,, i learned more by watching youtube than all 15 years of practice and play plus i gained 25 yards on my drive by watching Dave Feldbergs drive ,,,, good luck and happy flipping

 

[DG_Before_Breakfast]

Had similar issues. I was practicing my drive at home a lot, with a disc in my hand, but not releasing it. I think that gave me Tennis Elbow. I recovered by going lefty for a while, using a brace and some physical therapy style exercises to strengthen the area.

Then I damaged my left elbow while picking up my bag on the course. That was a lot worse. Ended up trying acupuncture, and that helped a lot, and not just for my elbow, generally energy level and health improved as well. I've been doing Yoga too - which has helped me not get back strains and such - stretching for the win. Ya, I know it's new-agey, holistic stuff, but I tend to prefer things like that to Western medicine - at least until the crap really hits the fan. I'll use whatever works for me.

 

[Stable]

I used to get this from putting. Had to change my putting style in order to stop using my arm so much. I think the best way to avoid this kind of injury is to learn to throw with your core (legs, hips, chest, shoulder) more than your arm.

 

[da Crippler]

My tendonitis is from pounding railroad spikes for 35 years. I haven't had a problem since I retired until recently, when I changed my grip and started curling my wrist more trying for more snap and distance. I now throw with a two finger grip, which allows me to get more snap without having to cock my wrist. I wouldn't necessarily recommend a 2 finger grip, but it worked for me and reduced the pain. If I throw too many forehands, it will also aggravate the tendonitis.

 

[Consult20]

Hi all,

Started playing disc golf last summer and developed a bad case of tennis elbow. I went to a doctor and after months of first immobilization and then physical therapy, I still had a lot of weakness and pain.

My doctor decided to try and new procedure on me (new for him). I had an injection of something called AmnioFix which is made from amniotic fluid donated by mothers. Went right into the tendon and is filled with growth factors.

Can say that after a couple weeks, my elbow feels MUCH better and I should soon be able to start a workout program on it. For anyone suffering from tendonitis that isn't responding to traditional therapies, just wanted to mention my experience in case it might help out someone else.

I know there is also a therapy that uses your own blood plasma as well.

Good health!

gronkus, did you injure your elbow throwing forehand or backhand?

 

[gronkus]

gronkus, did you injure your elbow throwing forehand or backhand?

Backhand. I really haven't learned how to throw forehand (or rather let me say I don't *try* to throw too many forehands - can't say I've learned a backhand either :\)

 

[JedV]

I got my tennis elbow from stubbornly throwing all my discs as hard as I could in fieldwork... Like 200 full power drives in 20 minutes kind of stupidity, several times a week for most of a month. I was also squeezing the crap out of the disc and strong arming.

I consider it a combination of repetitive strain and prolonged squeezing. If your grip is tight loosen up except for the "hit". Technique gurus can explain if you need it.

 

[ilmcgee]

I've got tennis elbow, curious to hear some of the pt exercises people are doing.