Pulled a tendon in my forearm awhile back. The first time it healed in about 3 weeks – but I guess it didn’t completely heal, ‘tho, because it happened again, same place. Its been about two months now, and its still painful as heck. And my right hand can only do about 20% what it used to, because of the pain in that elbow every time I use it.
So is this going to heal? Any insights from those who have been through this? Time to start looking at some other options for making a living? Just curious.
“he…never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it, too” – Mark Twain
Replies
Depends on what the injury truly is. Given your history, and what you do for a living, if I were seeing you in my office I'd probably send you to an orthopedist straight away. If it were me, I wouldn't waste time/money seeing a family doc or internist (me).
That said, I'd also guess that you're going to be basically without the use of your right hand for months--while it heals. And, there's an outside chance that surgery may be needed.
HTH
Thon
What's the difference between a family doc and an internist? What exactly does an internest do?
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Internist's only treat adults--unless you're Hugh Laurie (House). <G> Complicated or mystery patients typically are sent to internists for care/diagnosis. Because they didn't spend all that time learning to take care of children and pregnant women they're 'supposed' to know more about adults than family practioners or general practitioners. Doesn't always work out that way. Number one graduate in my class became a FP!HTHThon
Thanks , thats a good idea. I need to see one anyway over my knees.
Tim
Is that the same thing as "Internal Medicine" -- which is what it says on my doctor's diploma?
A far more important question: Is it possible to build muscle strength and endurance so as to be able to do construction work without pulling or straining things? If so, are there books we can read to find out how? I've been reading a Covert Bailey book, lots of interesting detail on the Krebs cycle, aerobic vs. anaerobic exercise, glycogen and fat and all that. What I need are specific exercises to do to make sure that I don't find those seldom-used muscles the hard way, by hurting them. "No muscle left behind" is the idea.
Another idea is to design the exercise to build precision and eye-muscle coordination at the same time as building strength and endurance.
-- J.S.
John - There was an article on this very subject in FHB a couple (?) of years ago. About stretching and exercise for carpenters.
...just searched and I think it was the article "an arguement for exercise" july, 2003.
Try an archive search, there are some others too...Buic
God you guys are a mess!!
What the hell have you been doing for a living? I sure hope it's paid well!!;)[email protected]
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
God you guys are a mess!!
What the hell have you been doing for a living? I sure hope it's paid well!!;)
LOL .
Well Ill tell you my ticket . I dont know any thing else and at my age and my involvement in rentals , I cant see trying to change. besides after 36 years I still dig this crap. <G> Nother reason I hang around here . If ya get to thinkin bout it , thats bad enough to question in my mind and I seem to miss it the most. My mind nothin else.
Tim
besides after 36 years I still dig this crap.
I gotta love you Tim!
Thanks for being here, you are an asset for sure.
Eric[email protected]
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
There probably are books on the subject, but if you have a specific painful muscle or joint area, it's my opinion that you'd do best to consult with a sports medicine doc or even better a physical therapist.
Physical therapists are used to doing a lot of teaching exercises to patients and, IMHO, tend to spend more time with you to make sure you're doing it right. I'm not bad mouthing the docs, it's just that they often don't have that kind of time due to managed care, or insurance reimbursement or whatever.
Lastly, and this is the most important thing, all the exercises, books, videos, consultations in the world won't help if you don't stick with the program. Patient compliance is singularly the biggest predictor of success or failure when it comes to an exercise or physical therapy program. Sometimes it takes months or even years with a program to keep pain at bay.
Good luck. Stay healthy.
Internist equals Internal Medicine.<Is it possible to build muscle strength and endurance so as to be able to do construction work without pulling or straining things? >I doubt it. Look at professional athletes who strain things all the time--and have the most expensive trainers and therapists around. I think you ARE likely to decrease the chance of strains/sprains, though. (There is some recent literature that says even this is hogwash.)Huck, lots of good advice given to you, and some not so great, IMO. If you've got the $'s, or insurance, I'd see a doc first, and let him refer you to a therapist. He 'should' have the best idea of who's good and who's not. (A lay-person can choose a good builder about as well as a carpenter can choose a good therapist.) The therapist should be able to give you all the info/exercises you need, which in general you can do on your own just as well as in their expensive office. Remember, no one else has exactly the same injury you do, and no one else has the same body. We all heal at different rates. So, how fast someone else got over a similar injury may be interesting but may also be totally irrelevant. It's an "It takes as long as it takes" game.Thon
Wow, thanks for all the great advice! Like others here, I gotta keep on keepin' on, pain or no pain. But I've been taking more time off, and trying to "baby" it when I am at work. Like someone else said, drag stuff over then pick it up, no more reach and grab. I do need to look into that physical therapy stuff. Like the rest here, I know I should do something else, but I'm hooked. They say misery loves company... and you better believe it's true!
"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a house in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat, and a gun." - Raymond Chandler"he...never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it, too" - Mark Twain
I think that flexibility exercises, which emphasize building up many of the small, specialized muscles (eg, wrist twist) can help a bit.But it's not really understood that well what causes tendonitis, so there's no real clear way to prevent it.
If ignorance is bliss why aren't more people
happy?
Ive got a simalar thing but its in the elbow. I figgure its 20 percent also.
I went to a doctor and got a shot that helped it till I pulled on a chain saw . Been living with it and I figgure its been close to a year . Ive got used to it and the times I didnt are a memory. There are things I dont even try to do any more such as reaching for a 16 penny nailer side arm with the left arm. I either pick it up with the right or drag it over to me to be picked up by the right .
Not using the left arm for heavy tasks makes the pain go away . I used to have to try to sleep with it . Finally got smarter . <G> The doctor called it tennis elbow but I think the next time we will take some xrays. Id like another shot as well.
Tim
Had the same thing in my elbow. I used a cream with MSM (methyl sulfonylmethane) in it and it cleared up in about a week. It had been hurting for weeks. My dog and I take glucosamine and msm daily as prescribed by the vet , ok the vet didnt actually prescribe it for me. Docs will sometimes give a steroid shot for this but it wears off. What have you got to lose by trying this, I know debilitating it is, not being able to use one arm and trying to build.
It's been 27 months for me, with a gradual improvement and return to normal strength, but still a bit of pain in certain situations. It took about a year to get to about 90% strength and pain that could easily be ignored. It helped to run my left hand through maximum range of motions exercises while driving to work in the morning.
I go to a massage therpist every two weeks for a 1/2 hour for my forearms.
Both my forearms were in excruciating pain.
While I lost little strength, it was very painful to do much.
Now I can function at about 90-95% (in my current job) with mild discomfort. Unless I change careers it will always be that way.
So for 60 a month I get relief.
You should consider it as well.
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WWPD
Actually, it may best to see a "sports medicine" doc. Or an orthopedist. They may route you to a neuro if the ulnar nerve is maybe somehow involved.
But basically you're going to have to avoid anything that stresses the tendon for several months. If it hurts, don't do it. A moderate amount of general soreness after several hours working is OK, but avoid any activity that causes that electric feeling you've become familiar with. Especially avoid any sort of sudden stress on the arm -- jerking, hammering, etc.
Various braces and wraps may help. NSAIDs will reduce pain and speed healing slightly.
happy?
I can relate. I have had the tendonits ( as my chiro calls it, the worse he has seen), he is also a sports PT Dr.) for 8 or so months...he zapps it with a little electric jack hammer type doo dad and tells me to ice it down.
I roof, mostly copper, lotsa tin snips and hammering...not much chance of "resting" it. Funny thing is, the pain was enough to wake me up at night, couldn't lift a glass of water off the night stand. THen, I tore up my ankle, REALLY tore it up, ligaments, tendons ( both anterior and posterior, and bilaterals) the ER docs gave me a script for Motrin @ 800 mgs, 4x a day..that was a month ago..the ankle still is ugly, but the elbow feels a LOT better.
So, I'd see a sports rehab DR, and eat Motrin. It works.
Oh, I am still 'on roof' but I know I am reinjuring the ankle daily, but I gotta eat..next life, I be buying disability ins.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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I've had a pain in my left leg for about 3 mos. About three weeks ago I slipped on a pile of floor tile and really ripped it up. I had a pain that shot down my whole leg.
It sounds like a pinched nerve to alot of people i've spoken with. I tried to goto the doctor but the clinic was packed (who has the time). It comes and goes and I actually felt better today (only took two minutes to put my shoes on today).
I dont know what a doctor can do since it doesnt always hurt, but I know I dont have time to sit home and let it heal.
Maybe we need a new forum header dedicated to injuries. Any docs out there willing to be an administrator?
Tendonitis, as it applies to the elbow is kind of a catch-all name, depending witch (sp?)muscle or ligament is actually injured. Not always but common to us older guys who don't stretch or warm up enough before strenuous exercise and our tight muscles tear a bit. Muscle fibers overlap kind of like when you interlock your fingers but the tear heals in kind of a tangled knot with a certain amount of inflamation and pain. Because the muscle fibers are not aligned they cannot stretch as they shoud and next time you try to do that certain task, more tear, inflamation, and pain.
There are stretching and strength building exercises you can do along with using ice to reduce inflamation. However, some of the exercises are muscle specific and you should really get a diagnosis first and then find an athletic or sports medicine therapist (my first choice) or a physical therapist.
Some health plans cover this kind of therapy, or you may qualify for workmans comp.(in Canada anyway)
In a few months you can be healed and as good as ever or without treatment you can go on in pain for years. As somebody mentioned earlier, if you do get on some kind of a program, compliance is a must if you really want to get better.
I'm not any kind of a therapist, just an older guy working on getting my arm healed so I can go on day to day without pain.
Paul
You have to heal that tendon. Everyday you reinjure it. As such you should rethink how you do some tasks. Gently stretch every morning and after any inactivity. Low weight high rep exercises (slow at first) will help promote strength and rebuilding of the tissues. Don't ignore your nutrition, you need to feed the healing tissues as well. Drink lots of water, more water than you think if you also drink beer (like , who doesn't). Be careful of pain relievers. Use just enough to take the edge off, let the pain tell you when you're doing something wrong and should stop. The Chinese have developed some interesting herbal topical salves that seem to work on an anecdotal basis. Zheng gu shui and Tiger Balm have helped me in the past but only in conjunction with the full regimen (so their individual effectiveness may be suspect but I heve found them to be helpful). If your body is your income then you need to treat it like the ultimate investment. See an ortho, see an occupational therapist, the nutritionist, the sports medicine specialist. Listen to your body.
You're not going to like this, but definitely listen to the guys and go find a good doc that will set you up with a plan to rest and rehab what you've got left.
Unfortunately, in our industry, resting injuries doesn't pay all that well.
I have a muscle issue in my right arm when swinging a hammer regularly and have had to learn to do many things with the left. When I was in the most pain I swore to get decent at swinging a hammer with either arm, but it was so hard that I've never been any more than half speed as a lefty. However, it's amazing how much switching arms can help. A little practice each day and you'll be a lefty before you know it.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Pain in the elbow/forearm area can be referred pain due to muscle spasams in the trapezius/shoulder area. I had a condition similar to what you described, and it only cleared up after doing stretching/posture improvement for the neck/traps/shoulder. My DW is a physical therapist and finally diagnosed me when I threatened to go to a doctor after 6 months of pain.
My advice: Go to a physical therapist with your symptoms, history of "injury", work practices ... and they should be able to figure it out and give you a treatment plan.
I blew that tendon back in the early eighties (in an arm wrestling competition) and I'm sad to report that 25 years later it's still an issue. some days and even years are better than others, but I advise just taking it easy when you can, and sucking it up when you have to. sorry.
Huck,
Is it on the top of your elbow?
What i had was Tennis Elbow/Framers Elbow/Jiu-Jitsu Elbow and it was the worse. It was like someone was sticking a hot ice pick threw the top of my elbow. Get it looked at as fast as you can and don't accept the quartazone shots because there only temporary and to many are not good for elbow.
I went for therapy using electric stimuli and it work a little but the problem with me was I WAITED to long like a jerk and i had to have surgery on both elbows.
Her's a link to what I had.
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow/
Here's a shot of one of my elbows and the scar. Hopefully if your pain is in the same spot as mine your not where I was at because then I have to come over there and give you a dose of my mew elbows........;-)
Joe Carola
Edited 2/9/2006 6:59 am ET by Framer
I have an elastic and velcro arm wrap with a small crescent moon shaped piece of silicone rubber with a raised rib that applies pressure to my tendon as it corsses my elbow. Using this everyday keeps me from pain on all but the most strenuous days.I will be following up on the links Joe provided.Kirk