Aching elbows...

[milkman21]

I got back in the pool for the first time today after a month off. I swam a moderate workout, nothing too intense, but my elbows started aching and I had to stop early as a precaution. Now, I've swum competitively for 16 years (though not too frequently in the last year), so I'm certain that the swimming isn't causing the pain. I get the feeling that it was simply revealing it.

I would describe the pain as a dull ache, pretty local to the elbows and the surrounding soft tissue. It hurts slightly more when I flex my biceps and forearms, but it's still a rather dull pain.

If I had to guess what the cause is, I have narrowed it down to 4 possibilities (in order of my perception of their importance):

1) BB Hang Snatch. I can't drop the weights after I perform the lift (no bumpers), so I'm forced to drop/catch them myself while still holding on. I'm not using a ton of weight (no more than 115-135 lbs), but now that I'm feeling the pain I'm betting this hasn't been helping.

2) Plyo Pull-Ups. I've only started doing these in the last couple of weeks, and now that I'm experiencing some joint pain I guess it's reasonable to assume these are contributing.

3) DB Snatch. After completing the lift, I drop the weight down to my shoulder, then ease it back down to the ground. Still, though, this could be causing some pain.

4) Deadlifts. Again, with no bumpers, the impact (though not severe) with the ground might be causing some of this pain, or at least it seams plausible to me. I put this possibility last, though, because DLs have never caused me pain in the past 18 months (the time I've been training them).


At any rate, there you have it. My elbows have a dull aching pain that scared me enough to cut my swim short today.

Any advice?

[UConnJulie]

It's bilateral? The general rule is that if something is symmetrical and/or bilateral, then look centrally. How's your neck? Were you swimming freestyle? Do you breathe on both sides?

[milkman21]

Thanks for responding Julie.

Both elbows hurt equally. I breathe bilaterally on freestyle... but again, I want to emphasize that I seriously doubt this is the cause of the pain. I have never had any sort of problem like this from swimming in the past, and I know that my technique was good today (since I was focusing on it).

Besides, the pain was there for most of the workout. Initially, I assumed it was a little bit of tightness from requiring different flexibility than my weight routine demands. Since it built as the workout went on, though, my best guess would be that I've accumulated some sort of stress-induced injury (tendonitis, maybe) that was merely exacerbated by the swimming. (I don't think the swimming is the root cause)

My neck feels absolutely fine, by the way.

Any other info I could provide?