@#$%# Tennis Elbow from shooting... Advice?

[Tim Hancock]

About 3 weeks ago I started shooting and dry firing every night at home in preparation for an upcoming Michigan State IDPA shooting competition. As time went by, I started developing pain in the elbow of my support hand when firmly gripping the gun. As the State match approached, my grip ability to grip the gun firmly diminished to the point that I had to completely abandon my normal shooting index/grip and I shot poorly in the State Meet (23 out of 40 in my class).

I am pretty well convinced I have developed "tennis elbow". I have read many articles that tell how to rehab with stretching and exercise, but it seems that will only work after resting the arm a considerable amount of time. I have 2 more months of matches ahead of me and I am trying to decide whether I should continue occasional practice loaded up on Ibuprofen or whether I should simply stop shooting. I am really torn as I want to continue shooting until the season ends this fall.

Any advice from docs here on diet or rehab to help me finish out the season?

I shoot with a thumbs forward, wrist rotated, thumbs forward firm squeeze which now causes pain with the slightest hint of squeeze pressure from my fingers.

My support hand grip (no pain until I squeeze with my fingers)




Picking up any large object even if it is very light in this position causes significant pain the instant I start applying grip pressure with my fingers.

[David McLaughlin]

Go to CVS or Walmart and buy tennis elbow support band. Wear it everyday no mater what you are doing. Even clicking a mouse or lifting minor thing irritate the problem.

I used this one: Buy Futuro Sport Tennis Elbow Support Adjust To Fit online at CVS.com

It has a pad that puts pressure right on the painful area that for some reason makes the pain much less and I guess triggers the muscle further down the arm. I wore this for 6-8 weeks and the pain is now gone. 800mg ibuprofen helped a bit too.

[Danimal16]

Use the alternating ice treatment. It will pump fresh blood in and out of the damage tissue. I have had great luck with this. Also use advil or even buffered aspirin to assist.

[red-beard]

The docs will give you a better explanation, but I developed "Tennis Elbow" from over use of the computer mouse with an unsupported arm (playing Doom!). It comes from a tight grip, at a distance, while holding something. Mine was muscle spasms in the forearm and I had to be treated with physical therapy and cortizone put into the muscles with electric current.

During my healing, I had to left hand the mouse. And I learned that using the "Clit" was helpful, on my laptop.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by David McLaughlin

Go to CVS or Walmart and buy tennis elbow support band. Wear it everyday no mater what you are doing. Even clicking a mouse or lifting minor thing irritate the problem.

I used this one: Buy Futuro Sport Tennis Elbow Support Adjust To Fit online at CVS.com

It has a pad that puts pressure right on the painful area that for some reason makes the pain much less and I guess triggers the muscle further down the arm. I wore this for 6-8 weeks and the pain is now gone. 800mg ibuprofen helped a bit too.

I will buy one on the way home. I had "simulated" one with an ace bandage and felt no difference no matter where I applied pressure, but maybe overall it will help as it did for you.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Danimal16

Use the alternating ice treatment. It will pump fresh blood in and out of the damage tissue. I have had great luck with this. Also use advil or even buffered aspirin to assist.

Maybe I will try the ice tonight after practice and again after a match I am shooting tomorrow.

[Tobra]

Ice pack and heating pad. Ice for 3-4 min, heat on LOW for a min, ice 3-4 min. Start and finish with cold, total of 20 minutes. Do this very hour or two while awake. Ibuprofen, 800 mg three times daily with food, drinking plenty of fluids.

Compression or strap help to keep biceps tendon from snapping over the bone and will be helpful.

[Jim Bremner]

Use a 1911 instead of a Glock?

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Ice pack and heating pad. Ice for 3-4 min, heat on LOW for a min, ice 3-4 min. Start and finish with cold, total of 20 minutes. Do this very hour or two while awake. Ibuprofen, 800 mg three times daily with food, drinking plenty of fluids.

Compression or strap help to keep biceps tendon from snapping over the bone and will be helpful.

Will this be helpful in "healing" the injury even while I continue shooting, or is this simply to mitigate pain?

[Tobra]

Both, the cold/heat thing forces the blood vessels to constrict and dialate, helps to flush out all the inflammatory juices. Ice will make it feel good, ibuprofen can bother your tummy, and gets out through your kidneys so you want pleny of fluid to keep from bagging on your kidneys.


Oh yeah, you need to quit masturbating with that hand.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Jim Bremner

Use a 1911 instead of a Glock?

Good thing Sniper left or he would be all over that one.

[ODDJOB UNO]

Originally Posted by Jim Bremner

Use a 1911 instead of a Glock?

well now the dreaded "glock-en ge-feeken". as mentioned throw that damn thing away and buy something ERGO NOMIC!


i will bet you try any thing with some NICE GRIPS and this problemo will go away. dont tell me that 9mm is causing "carpel tunnel".


if so im giving up the sport. hell .380's(9mmkurz) SNAP more than a 9mm.


the other thing you can do is look at pachmayer and hogue and find one of their handalls that slip over the glock OEM grip cuz as we both know yer not going to listen to any of us in the know and yer gonna keep that damn glock just to spite us.


i have shot .44 mags/.357's/.45's/.41 mags a hell of alot during sessions and have yet to feel any pain anywhere unless i held it limp dicked and they caught me.


now as i have mentioned before here using real hot rounds or magnums or even .45's a lot over time can lead to carpel tunnel. and thats verified by gun writers in their 70's now who shot the hell out of them more than anyof us ever will in a lifetime.


now mr springfield rob leatham when asked by me why he shoots 9mm, his reply was when you shoot on a contract for a company 90,000+ rounds a year...........the 45's WILL mess with yer wrist/arm.


my opinion is you really do need to find a heavier framed gun cuz plastic guns evidenced by their snap in comparison to metal frames is considerable.


hell my micro compact springfield snaps a hell of alot more than my full size 1911's.



i think you should get a pry bar to yer wallet.............and buy the porsche twin turbo of the shooting world...........the HK P9S .45 like me. and then you will understand what a fixed barrel .45 accuracy is all about.


last check on used one was around $1400-$1700 bucks for the 1st plastic gun EVER MFG'D. glock despite everyjuans erroneous info WAS NOT the 1st mfg. to use plastic.


thats my story and humble opinion.


now im dying to know how many rounds ya shot before der "glocken ge-feeken" occurred?"

[azasadny]

Aleve (Naproxen) 220mg once every 12 hours, works for my gout.

[Rikao4]

all the stuff mentioned will help..
you've reached the point ..
it hurts when I do this..
so rest and don't do that for a while..
is about it..
while you may feel some relief popping pills...
and straps..
the stress will continue..
changing how you shoot may help..

Rika

[Tim Hancock]

OJU, I can assure you that my tendonitis in my elbow is not from recoil or from the angle of my "Glocks" grip. It is from over working my tendons by squeezing very tightly with my weak hand while my elbow is locked and with my wrist rotated forward as far as it will rotate. I get the exact same pain now whether gripping my Glock or any of my other handguns. My problem is not caused by recoil.

My grip style (thumbs forward, rotated wrist) is the same grip that nearly all of the top shooters in IDPA type shooting use to keep the sights (no matter what caliber or brand/type of semi-auto one is shooting) from lifting as little as possible to get quicker split time between shots in timed shooting events against others shooting the same caliber. The very top shooters have unbelievable grip strength developed. Unlike bullseye shooting where one does not need to worry about what the gun does "after" the trigger is squeezed, controlling recoil is a huge factor in improving ones time whether one is competing against other 9mm shooters or whether one is shooting in the .45 class. Every 1/10 of a second counts as one moves into higher classifications.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Rikao4

all the stuff mentioned will help..
you've reached the point ..
it hurts when I do this..
so rest and don't do that for a while..
is about it..
while you may feel some relief popping pills...
and straps..
the stress will continue..
changing how you shoot may help..

Rika

I thought about shooting the rest of my matches this season strong hand (rt hand) only which would help me later on the rare stages that "strong hand only" is called for by the COF, but my competitive urge will probably not allow me to stick to this plan.

[Tim Hancock]

Just noticed this thread has a one star rating. I do not see why it would warrant any rating, but it warms my heart to know that someone finds discussion of an injury from "shooting" so distasteful.

[Danimal16]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Ice pack and heating pad. Ice for 3-4 min, heat on LOW for a min, ice 3-4 min. Start and finish with cold, total of 20 minutes. Do this very hour or two while awake. Ibuprofen, 800 mg three times daily with food, drinking plenty of fluids.

Compression or strap help to keep biceps tendon from snapping over the bone and will be helpful.

Do the ice until it goes numb that is usually 10 to 20 minutes. This is what really helped me accelerate numerous injuries like this. It does work.

[gtc]

I think a stickier grip would help prevent this next time. Possibly thicker also, if you have large hands. White-knuckling the gun does not control recoil. Just look at EVERY OTHER SPORT where you grip something. They all use gloves / pine tar / sticky grips / etc...

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by gtc

I think a stickier grip would help prevent this next time. Possibly thicker also, if you have large hands. White-knuckling the gun does not control recoil. Just look at EVERY OTHER SPORT where you grip something. They all use gloves / pine tar / sticky grips / etc...

I use Pro Grip on the inside of my support hand and on the back of the fingers of my strong hand. I have very aggressive grip tape on my actual gun grip. http://www.jerrybarnhart.com/progrip/index.html

My tendonitis is in my support hand which is used to squeeze firmly around my trigger hand. Prior to this bout of tennis elbow I had a fairly good grip developed that I was coached on by Robert Vogel (several time IDPA National champ) in a private lesson.

As you can see in this pic Bob grips the gun very firmly which means his split times between shots are very fast yet very accurate.




Bob's grip is somewhat explained here.