Tennis Elbow

[domino]

I think it should be called 'carpenters elbow'  'cause it seems to affect carpenters from swinging hammers more than the tennis crowd.  Tennis is cool though.

Anyway; looks like i've got a gym floor installation coming up directly and my mallet elbow is hurtin' bad.  i need my right arm to make a living.  i don't know of any medicine or method that can help but i am open to suggestions.

[Indra]

thats a tough one.  such a painful, debilitating experience the tennis/mallet elbow is.  the only thing that i have learned about this is to strengthen the forearm, and to not exercise it while its hurting.

good luck.  maybe you could buy some sort of fancy hammer, made from space age polymers, more to better coushin the elbow.

[visionarybear]

my boss has carpenters elbow, he says that as long as there is no sideways movement its ok.
ive seen hammers with inbuilt shock absorbers
other than thati guess u could have elbow reconstructive surgery or makesure you strap it really well, c what helps

[Stonehenge]

For joint problems the best thing I've seen is a combo of glucosamine and chondroitin. This works very well for garden variety arthritis too. It takes a while to work, it won't give results the same day. You also have to take the right amount. Taking 1/2 the right amount gives very little relief and even 3/4 the amount only helps a little. Take it every day for a month and see what it does for you. If no results, increace the dose and keep taking it. I wasn't sure for a long time if it was doing anything until I quit using it and man what a difference it made.

I find the triple strength tabs are the best value. Just get the cheapest, the brand doesn't matter. Look for it at costco, sams or anyplace like that. You must take it every day for it to work. Skipping one day will mean you lose benefits for a few days.

Stoney

[X. Torris]

Stonehenge speaks the truth.  My mother swears by it.  In fact, it reduced pain and improved mobility in her knee so much that she asked our vet about it when she noticed the family dog was moving slower and seemed a little stiff.  The vet so no harm in at least trying it, so she gives the dog a small dose daily (much smaller than a human-sized dose).  I must say, he's the most spry 14 year old dog I've ever seen, so it seems to work.

[JRL]

I have moderate to severe tendinitis, from guitar playing. Glucosamine isn't really indicated for it, because it is not a joint problem.

I was getting some relief from Vioxx, but I stopped when I heard the news about heart attack and stroke. I can't take aspirin/motrin becaaause of stomache problems.

One thing that helps the acute flair-ups is iceing it down. I also wear one of those tennis elbow braces from time to time.

My body is seriously impacted from 40 years of my job, seems like all I do is chase the pain around.

[domino]

i'll try the glucosamine/ chondroiton combo.  Thank you for the advice.

[Stonehenge]

JRL, if I were you I'd give the gl/ch a try. It's really good stuff and I know the theory is that is rebuilds joints which would not impact on your situation perhaps but I suspect it does more than we realise. Try it for a month and see if you notice anything. Try a pretty good sized dose, a so called "single" dose once a day won't do anything unless it's on an animal. Try one or two triple strength per day for a month. If you notice any benefits at all, try it for another month even if you aren't sure it's helping. If it seems to help a little, take a little more. It may help a lot and if it doesn't, you are only out maybe 10 or 20 bucks at the most. How much would it be worth to you to get significant benefits to your wrists? It's worth a few thousand I'm sure if you could afford it. Doctors charge that much and often don't help at all. This could help and even if there is one chance in ten it'll work, it's well worth looking into.

Stoney