How to Deal with Elbow Injuries (for climbers) | Lattice Training

The second episode in Ollie Torr's injury series, here he guides us through how to train around elbow injuries. In this video Ollie covers 3 main topics; how to continue to train finger strength, how to keep climbing without aggravating your elbows and how to make the most of your strength and conditioning.

Remember, this advice is not for rehabbing the injured area itself - for this you should always seek the advice of a medical professional.

Intro: (0:00)
Monitoring the injury: (1:00)
Finger strength training: (1:31)
Climbing: (6:30)
Conditioning: (10:00)
Outro: (14:47)

Look out for more from this series, as we will also cover training around; shoulder injuries and knee injuries in future episodes.

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[davekerr]

Fantastic video as always! I've been suffering with medial epicondylitis for 14 weeks so far, initially stopped all activity for four weeks, then moved onto rehab exercises, then started gentle climbing, focusing on keeping the arm straight, but these suggestions in this video are great. Will definitely look at the isometric lock-offs and using an edge on a pinch block to start to work the fingers more rather than the hangboard. Thanks for the effort in making the video - it's demotivating when you get injured and it feels like it takes ages so it's always good to be re-assured that it happens and it will pass if you are careful with it!

[stitch]

Cheers, Ollie. This was very useful for my particular situation. Really appreciate these types of videos.

[hamiltonprowrestling]

Great video! Thank you! If you could, we would love one about "how to deal with shoulder injuries for climbers"

[hughoreillyy]

I didn't watch this video last week when it was uploaded, and as such the climbing gods have smited me with an elbow injury (I think its tennis elbow). Now I know not to skip a video ever again...

[fylipeweickert]

Great content guys, always learning so much with the vids, the website and all the knowledge that is provided.
I would like to ask a video, maybe follow along, on post training stretching, after hard upperbody workout or strong climbing, to aim chest, shoulders, core and other muscles involved.
Thank you again.

[KombiLife]

So useful, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[gregoirepainchaud]

Thank god for this episode, I've had tennis elbow problems in both arms (I'm a musician, piano tuner and I enjoy climbing): now I at least know what's going on! For sure I have tightness in the shoulder/upper body. Yes I've had many physiotherapy sessions but, not really fixed the problem at the source... I will try those exercises for sure! 👍❤️

[chaosengine]

I personally found that one of the worst movements for my elbow was mantling. However, the last lockdown kind of helped in recovery. Thanks for those interesting insights!

[simongreenthumb]

Super helpful.
Tight biceps mentioned but how does one stretch biceps with Dupytrens when one cannot flat palm on the floor!!! A tricky challenge🤔

[rockclimbinghacks]

I have had triceps tendinitis for almost my entire time climbing. Using an open grip definitely helps, I think I must train this way for good.

[andreiverdeanu]

Great content as always!

Without going into much detail, as a climber, I never imagined I will be faced with tennis elbow myself (reading that sounds so naive), but here I am, after 3 months of gradual worsening and at least one acute episode, things have gotten pretty chronic and grim. I went for an ultrasound check yesterday and found out that I have partial tears in the tendon of both the affected arm (>30% of the cross-area of the tendon), as well as the healthy one (~20%). I tried eccentrics before going for the ultrasound for around 2-3 weeks, with mixed results, but felt like it was always worse after them and a bit better without them. My question is, knowing now that I actually do have tearing (or micro lesions) in such a percentage, is it still advisable to keep the eccentrics in the rehab process, or allow for some time to recover and then start them over gradually?

Would greatly appreciate any input! Thanks, Andrei

[nsvuifnei]

Thanks a lot for this extremely motivating video. Dealing with Golfer's elbow since a few weeks now and started some easy climbing again.
You're saying to make sure not to climb with bent arms all the time. I noticed that for the eight years I'm climbing now I always tended to have my arms rather too straight as in probably overbending my elbow. And now I feel like having a slight bend, just like the one you mentioned for finger training, feels the safest.

[lobtyu]

I bought some Versa Grips and they seem to help with my golfer's elbow during conditioning work. They take the load off my hands and therefore the forearm muscles that connect to the elbow. I know weightlifters do this, but I haven't heard of any climbers using straps.

[larryseibold]

Hi Ollie, My tendinosis has returned after being gone for 4-5 years. It is medial in my right arm and lateral in my left. I have been trying to get rid of it for the last 3 months by trying everything that i know. I sometimes get a few days that i think i am on a road to recovery, but then i seem to slip to the trend of getting worse every week. I don't know what to do more of and what to do less of. I believe that to heal tendons you have to load them, but how much is the big mystery (5 sets of one or two reps of heavy weight, each set separated by minutes not seconds, once a day or days of rest in between, or sets of 15 with light weight with short rest). Maybe i should stop climbing for 8 or more weeks and only use weights etc. boring, and not guaranteed to work?

I have avoided cortisone like the plague, but perhaps it is time to try it with a plan of heavy focused exercise at the exact window. Six years ago, i got a single treatment of platelet rich plasma in the injury site (prolotherapy), but that was like $800 out of pocket. Perhaps that is the only thing that will work? I haven't seen virtually anyone discussion either of these two options lately so i am hesitant and fundamentally cheep at heart.

I would love to hear further discussions on this very annoying injury recovery path, and would love to read any postings that you might provide.

[fedebori]

hi! any additional information for tennis elbow recovery, exercises/guidelines? would super appreciate any, thank you as always!

[alvincredible]

Thanks for this! I'm not able to fully straighten my right arm at the moment, is the first exercise with a weighted edge block still safe to perform? I've noticed that my shoulders & neck are aggravated and when I first got the injury, I felt numbness in my pinky and ring fingers. Are these exercises still recommended during the recovery? Thanks!

[srenmllerjepsen]

What is the name of the tool you are using for fingerstrength? :)

[sharpetrossian]

Hi guys! Any thoughts on wearing a compression band or anything to aid while climbing or training with golfer's elbow?

[FelixSalomon]

Thanks for the great video! I've been dealing with tennis elbows on both arms for a few weeks now and had to keep off training and climbing since Easter. While my right arm is slowly getting better, my left arm has actually gotten worse. I've been experiencing sudden stinging pain across the entire joint every now and then, and a decreased range of motion when rotating my forearm. Usually that pain is gone after a few minutes. It almost feels like something is moving freely in the joint, getting stuck (causing the pain) and then once it's "out if the way", I can move the arm painlessly.
Any ideas on what that could be?