My elbow is Killing Me!

[Jeff Harman]

I'm re-learning the sport after a 10 year hiatus and on top of my old injuries (knees, shoulder, pride) I've got a new one. I'm told it's referred to as "fencer's elbow". My P.T. says I need more excercise and stretching while my M.D. wants to give me a Cortizone shot. How do YOU spell relief??

[space_cadet]

Someone had a similar problem awhile ago. You can wear a tennis elbow strap to see if that lessens the pain.

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Cadet à Space

[Mergs]

Both. Get the shot first, you big wuss (coming from one who would rather sleep with his ex-wife than deal with needles!). Then start doing wrist curls with weights.

[Jeff Harman]

My tennis elbow strap is the only thing that lets me continue, even with it, a bind is difficult to complete without a wince. I've got a high pain threshold but this is getting cumbersome... I'll try more curls. thanks.

[HilandDoug]

I am just now getting rid of fencer's elbow I developed in August. Rest and mild exercise worked the best for me. Strengthening my forearm has done wonders to keep the pain away.

[Jeff Harman]

Doug - 8 months huh? What a drag. "rest" sounds like "not fencing" to me! Say it isn't so!

[Stryder]

"Fencers elbow", much like "tennis elbow" is caused by snapping your arm straight without control. I get it sometimes when I switch from a day of Epee to a foil. The weapon is so light that I throw it out there and when there is less resistance, Snap!

I would advise that you eat a sensible meal, get a good night's sleep, drink plenty of fluids, and practice some control tomorrow at fencing practice.

Your muscles should stop the momentum of your extension/flick/whatever you are doing when you hurt your arm. Not your elbow.

[HilandDoug]

Jeff,

That is correct. Other than light foil work in my beginner and advanced classes, I didn't fence a bout for 6 or 7 months. Yes, it blew like the north wind.

Stryder, you hit the nail on the head. Improper technique caused the problem, and fixing the problem has helped it go away.

I still feel a little twinge once in a while, but no lasting pain. Can't throw a baseball or football yet, and beat attacks can be uncomfortable to receive, but it's getting better.

[Gajuith]

I am developing it as well. But it is probably from my karate training where we punch the air repeatedly. you are supposed to stop it before full extension, but it is easy to screw up after doing hundreds of repetitions.

[Jeff Harman]

Thanks for your concern. It was mentioned that switching from foil to epee (lighter weapon, less control) might contribute to the problem of bad technique, but for me it was just the opposite. I "injured" myself while showing some students the epee. It was the first time I'd picked one up in years. So, I hyperextened it somehow and the healing is slow. Interestingly enough, I have been changing grips for the last few weeks and it seems to help. I'm also stretching and excercising my elbow more. I havn't done the cortizone (yet) and hope to avoid it. I'll keep you posted of improvement or setbacks.

[thebigriddle]

Well, after giving lessons I started to elbow pain. So I went to the sports trainer at the school I work for and ask them. They told me to ice it and keep taking motrin. I stretch , but I guess there is no magical cure, except for rest.

[sabreur]

I've posted this before, but will remise.

Get one of those little stupid palmsized foam toys--I've got pumpkins and a light bulb. Put it on your desk at work. At random times during the day, pick it up and do fifty squeezes.

The toy doesn't have to be real stiff--in fact, if you've got a bad case of tennis elbow (I got mine from swinging a bokken too vigorously), a really soft one is a good place to start.

Took me about two weeks of the regime above to get rid of the problem--I do the squeezes religiously now to keep it from coming back.

Regards, Mark Ray

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Why sabre? Because you don't take heads with the point.

[Peach]

My doctor put me in a sling, which was a useless thing to do, and I tried fencing left-handed, which was hilarious. Instead, I went for the tennis elbow strap which I wore religiously for about three years, ice, and ibuprofen, and fencing better. That worked. I don't have the problem any more.

My "fencer's elbow" was caused by improper technique, but not by sticking my arm out straight. In my case, it was caused by putting torque on the elbow, either by pushing my parries & "wrestling" or by binding, or by using seconde (that's the only time I still get twinges, though it's a useful parry in sabre) or prime.

[Foil Girl]

Ugh, I just accidnetally erased my very huge bit on fencer's elbow, so I guess I'll boil it down. Last Christmas I got fencer's elbow and screwed up my wrist so that I couldn't sleep without having my upper arm propped straight up (If I didn't, my wrist would throb. It may not have help my elbow, but the wrist was worse), which presented a huge problem. I finally figured out that what the problem was was that I was holding my grip too tightly, and straining everything. Once I fixed that an my form it went away right away (though every once in a while it comes back minorly, for a few minutes). While I had fencing elbow, I stretched it out my arm, and turning it upside down, and by holding on to my hand, and pulling it back, so the top of my hand would be pulled towards the top of my forearm. Anyhoo, that's my two cents.

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-Foil Girl
"If you don't have fun, you've already lost"

[Jeff Harman]

Well, it's been a month and a half since I started this topic and I thought I would give you the latest. I tryed most of the suggestions offered (except the cortizone..) and am very pleased to announce that you were all correct. Bad form caused it, changing form helped, wirst curls helped (I have a small dumbell on my desk instead of the squeezy things) and I still wear the tennis elbow strap. The pain level has dropped from an 8 to a 3 (scale of 10) and I'm able to bind, croise and infight much better now. Thanks to all for your input. Going to tourny in 2 weeks! Wish me luck!!!

[HilandDoug]

Good Luck, Jeff. And wish me luck at Chris Umbs' AHF Italian Dueling Sabre in June! I'll need it.

[ledgerto]

You should work your elbow out be for you fence. Streach thm with weights and medicin balls