wow do I feel old. Doc says I have tennis elbow from mucking! ugh…anyone want to comisserate? Anyone have good tips, ideas on good straps- so far everyone I have tried feels big and bulky and awkward!
Awesome, I’ve been thinking about posting a thread about my elbow pain. What does tennis elbow feel like?
I’m doing something mucking where I’m really irritating my ulnar nerve through my elbow. Voltaren Gel has helped A LOT. Might be worth a try for you, too?
It feels like pain, tightness. When Doc pressed on outside right below elbow it was unbearable. If its on the inside its golfers elbow, outside is tennis elobow. I’ve had luck with the ben gay freeze stuff that comes in a bottle like deodorant. On 800 MG of motrin every 8 hours, which does help…
I call this “water bucket elbow”. when it gets cold enough the hoses freeze, and I have to carry water buckets.
I hope you feel better! I now use a Back on Trak elbow brace it seems to help me.
I found a strap that was not too bulky at the pharmacy. Sorry … it’s been a few years and I don’t remember the brand.
I’ve also used the grab strap off my saddle and a bandanna. You just need something to support the muscles while you use them. I also mucked with my left arm half the time.
I have tendinitis in BOTH elbows from mucking. Tennis elbow in one and golfer elbow in the other (essentially, the outside of one joint and inside of theother).
Replacing the handle of my manure fork with something longer has helped, as does an MSM supplement and generous applications of Voltaren Emulgel. The MSM has really helped though. I started it to help my trashed ankle ligaments and found it reduced the frequency and severity of tendinitis flareups as well so yay!
Oh man. Yeah, mucking, currying. I used to get it from moving jumps/poles to rake and drag the ring. Ouch.
If you can take ibuprophen, do so.
already super helpful…I will definitely get the MSM. And Voltaren Emulgel–never heard of it, but sounds like something I will have to try. thanks!
Start doing the correct exercises to strengthen your muscles, you MIGHT be able to put this problem behind you in time. You can get the right exercises from your Orthopedic Dr. or maybe place they do Therapy. Orthopedic Dr. might be able to give you a shot in the elbow, to ease the pain a bit, then you get going with the exercises for strength.
I got the Golfer’s Elbow when overworking the arm during tree trimming and brush cutting. 6 hours cutting and hauling brush is TOO MUCH and I paid for it. Exercises help a LOT, just down to a tiny twinge while cleaning stalls now. You can’t let off the exercises. but worth doing to keep the pain away!! Strap is not really helping my arm much, but I do wear it. Plain adhesive taping to hold muscles in place, worked well for husband before he had elbow surgery, his was torn loose from daily wear and tear of his job.
I had it. It’s under control now, but it will occasionally flare up. I ended up having cortisone shots in the elbow, which were painful, to say the least. I got a TENS unit and that honestly made the most improvement. I ended up having to hire someone to do my stalls for a year. After that year I stopped lifting the muck buckets of manure into the dumpster, and use my tractor to move the manure and dump it.
I only have two horses at home now, and generally have three. Any more than that and the pain will return.
Good luck. It’s miserable.
I lost my job and career and the use of my right arm.
The first thing I noticed was it hurt to roll a bandage up. Then it hurt to write a long letter.
A chiro dug into my arm twice a day with her fingers to ‘get rid of scar tissue’ and I think that is what did me in. The only thing that took the pain away was a tens machine and before that I visited a house with a fire and moved the next day as I found out that cold was also painful.
Fast forward several decades and one day I went to a chiropractor for pain in my lower back. All I did was walk in the front door and up to him and his comment was, “All you horse riders - you have all landed on your head. You have hurt your arm.”
He fixed me in two sessions. On the first session he asked me to put my thumb and little finger together. Yes I could do it. No I didn’t want to do it and No I couldn’t hold them together if he went to take them apart with two of his fingers.
He ‘shot’ a gun around and around my wrist and did some stuff and now I can hold my thumb and little pinky together as long as you would like.
In the next session he asked me to hold my arm straight out in front of me. He then went to push it down. Now I was strong and there was no way in **** that I was going to let him push my arm down. His comment was that I was very strong. He then asked me to extend my arm, which extended my shoulder as well and he pushed my arm down as easy as anything with his two fingers.
He then got in with his fingers underneath and just below my armpit and I can tell you that it hurt like merry ****. I had to fight my body to not move away. It was extremely painful and he told me I was a masochist if i had enjoyed that so he knew it was going to hurt me and he did it anyway .
I can now hold my arm up when somebody tries to push it down even if i have it extended as far as I can go.
He fixed my arm decades after I had been to Doctors, Chiros, Physios and Acupuncture who only worked on my arm and made it worse and this guy - I never told him I had a bad arm and he fixed me in 2 sessions and I am guessing that was about a decade ago now.
Proofreading this only makes me feel old!!!
It might be worth investigating whether you have tennis elbow or radial tunnel syndrome. I was initially diagnosed with tennis elbow, but actually had radial tunnel syndrome. I had to do a couple of months of physical therapy and medical massage. Recovery was painful, but my arm already hurt and I couldn’t use it. It has been 4 years since I was injured and I still do my therapy excercises when I feel my arm get tight. Just my $0.02 having been there and wasted time with an incorrect dx.
No advice really, but I have such better luck with old-school forks with wooden handles vs. the ergonomic forks with fiberglass handles. The ergonomic ones kill my elbows! 
[QUOTE=SuzieQNutter;7932091]
I can now hold my arm up when somebody tries to push it down even if i have it extended as far as I can go.
He fixed my arm decades after I had been to Doctors, Chiros, Physios and Acupuncture who only worked on my arm and made it worse and this guy - I never told him I had a bad arm and he fixed me in 2 sessions and I am guessing that was about a decade ago now[/QUOTE]
Not sure if you are including Orthopedic Surgeons in your collection of folks who worked on your arm. My Orthopedic Surgeon uses the extended arm out to your side, as a test. If you have trouble lifting straight-out arm above shoulder, If she can push straight-out arm down by using her first finger on your hand, it usually means you have Rotor Cuff issues, probably need surgery to repair it. I have seen her do this half-dozen times, on various family and friends having “arm issues”.
If you don’t have the surgery, you may cause MUCH greater injury, by not being examined, getting an MRI for finding out if other issues are involved, like a torn bicep muscle. Waiting, trying to “let things heal themselves” in shoulder areas, can cause muscle to degrade, tendons to be cut with sharpened bone edges, beyond being repairable. Have seen that happen a couple times and you don’t get that arm use back!!
Just did this with my brother, Doc found MUCH in that shoulder area to fix and he should get full use of everything back. Bicep muscle had torn loose and was wasting away. Sharpened clavicle bone cutting tendon over shoulder, torn Rotor Cuff, Arthritus spines inside the shoulder joint cutting into bone surfaces needed to be removed. He was a MESS!! But we caught things in time, so he won’t lose bicep muscle use/strength, use of arm like if tendon had been rubbed in half. A friend put off his surgery, has been over 6 months rehabbing, probably will be limited in arm usage because he waited too long.
While I have nothing against Alternative Methods and have seen them help at times. Sometimes a Surgeon needs to look at what is going on inside the joints and fix the true issues, instead of just “making things better for a short time”.
Can you muck with your left arm when your right is bothering you ? It feels weird at first but you get used to it. That’s what I do if the right one is bothering me.
I could do anything with my arm. Straight up over my head. Up behind my back. Circles, aeroplanes everything. The doctors asked me to do all that and said there was nothing wrong with me.
The first chiro gave me a handle and said pull it.
I pulled it and she remarked on how strong I was.
She reset it and toId me to pull it again. It went half to what I had pulled seconds before and she said that was not good.
She reset it and said pull it again. It went 1/4.
She reset it and said pull it again and I couldn’t move it.
The first indication to me other than above was walking into Shops. The shopkeeper would ask what was wrong with my arm? I would say nothing why? I figured out my arm wasn’t swinging as I walked. I manually had to swing it so as people didn’t notice.
I was instructing. Mucking out stables and paddocks. Feeding and rugging 20 horses and riding up to 8 dressage horses a day.
[QUOTE=gloriginger;7931996]
And Voltaren Emulgel–never heard of it, but sounds like something I will have to try. thanks![/QUOTE]
Voltaren is diclofenac – same ingredient as Surpass. While you need a prescription to obtain it in the USA, you can get it through feelbest.com out of Canada. A huge tube for not a lot of money.
http://www.feelbest.com/collections/pain-releif/products/voltaren-emulgel
And my .02 is that you could try the Shake’n Fork from Equi-Tee manufacturing. It is an expensive initial outlay, but when you consider your copayments for doctor and physical therapy visits, it pays for itself in no time. I used to have elbow and shoulder issues, but none since switching over to this piece of equipment when I clean stalls.
Yup. I get it from time to time. When it flares I wear the the Back On Track elbow brace to bed for a few days and that usually fixes it. When I initially got it I had a very good massage therapist who helped a lot too. He has sadly moved away FYI if you are in the US you can’t get Voltaren Emulgel.
Had tennis elbow in both elbows many years ago… most likely cause was stall cleaning.
Straps helped for a while.
Cortisone shots helped for a while. Had them twice and left elbow was good after that. It occasionally acts up, but If I use a strap for a few days, it’s fine again.
Finally had surgery on the right elbow to repair the tendon on the elbow and it has never come back.
I am in Ontario and have used Voltaren for lots of stuff. Awesome!
I didn’t know you couldn’t get it in the US…
[QUOTE=Mozart;7932226]
FYI if you are in the US you can’t get Voltaren Emulgel.[/QUOTE]
Sure you can. You can either get a script for it from your doctor, or you can order it from feelbest.com.
