Elbow Pain
Please remember the advice we give is general and not meant to be used as a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you want specific advice then please seek help from your doctor or local physio.
The purpose of this guide is to help you overcome any issues you have related to your elbow.
What to do about elbow pain
There can be lots of different causes of elbow pain. However, the majority of cases do not require any specific diagnoses or specific treatment to overcome. Most musculoskeletal pain gets better with time.
Whatever the cause of your elbow pain, it is important to find ways to keep being physically active. Continuing with the program is likely helpful.
In order to continue with the program, modify the exercises to make them tolerable. There is no right and wrong here, it will be personal for each individual.
How to make the program exercises tolerable
The goal is to modify the exercises in order to make the tolerable, so that you can continue. The use of the word tolerable here is intentional. This doesn't mean the exercises have to be completely pain-free. Some pain with exercise is ok. It just has to be tolerable for you.
There are 3 general rules to follow when modifying exercises:
- Reduce the weight that you are using
- Reduce the range of movement
- Vary the movement or find a similar alternative
Often, the push-up type exercises are the most problematic when it comes to elbow pain. So check out this article to to learn how to modify push-up movements: How to modify push up movements
If none of these modifications are working for you, and you find certain exercises are just too painful, then it’s okay to just skip those exercises for a while. Keep going with all the other exercises in the workouts as best you can. Then try to gradually reintroduce the exercise that was previously too painful, starting with the easiest possible version and slowly progressing.
Tennis elbow
The most common cause of elbow pain is lateral epicondylalgia, colloquially referred to as "tennis elbow". The hallmark signs of lateral epicondylalgia are:
- Pain and tenderness on the outside of the elbow - typically when using the hand for gripping tasks
- Weakness of grip strength
If you do have lateral epicondylalgia, the same general rules as for elbow pain apply; continuing with general strength and fitness exercises (such as the Be Mobile Online Program) is beneficial, and all exercises are safe to do, they may just require modification to make them tolerable.
In addition to general exercise, elbow-specific exercises can be a useful for many people. Click here to read our tennis elbow blog (which includes a video link to those specific exercises). Try them out for a few weeks to see if they work for you, and if you find they are helping your symptoms, continue doing them.
Unfortunately, lateral epicondylalgia can often last months or even years. So finding ways to keep up exercise for your overall strength and fitness throughout this period is crucial. Make sure to keep up as much of your general exercise program as you can!
Summary
We hope you have found this guide helpful for overcoming your elbow issues and giving you the confidence and know-how to continue with exercise.