Medial epicondylitis (a k a golfer's elbow)

Not sure if this will help or not, but both lateral and medial epicondylitis are examples of tendonosis, not tendinitis--i.e., there is no evidence of inflammation in the elbow. Quite the opposite, actually. The current thinking seems to be that these and other poorly vascularized tendons (like the Achilles heel, the Rotator Cuffs, various knee tendons, etc.) would actually benefit from a bit of inflammation, which tends to increase blood supply and bring healing factors to the micro tears of the affected tissues. Leslie's nitroglycerine patches are an attempt to do this. Other investigational modalities include shock waves and injections of irritants, like talc or saline, into the joint, poking around a bit with needle while the doctor's in there, all in an attempt to provoke a little more damage that causes the body to wake up and take notice. Interestingly, too, there is a theory that the pain may be caused by abnormal blood vessels and nerves that form post-injury. Some doctors are reporting success by injecting sclerosing agents into the area, which choke down these aberrant vessels. The nerves, in turn, no longer get blood supply and die off, and the pain goes away. Alleve and cortisone shots are both antiinflammatory drugs (albeit a very mild one and a much more potent one)--but since there is no inflammation there to "anti", the benefits of either approach are most likely analgesia (for the Alleve) and the poking around with the needle, causing "healing trauma" for the cortisone injections. Eccentric muscle loading (i.e., the part of the biceps curl where you lower the weight back down) may help by triggering tenocyte production... I suspect weight lifting is the cause of your problem--not all weight lifting, but certain moves you might not realize are hurting at the time of the lifts. Thanks for the input, Jim. I am familiar with the tendinosis vs. tendinitis debate. In my case, the symptoms arose acutely, which to me (hey, I'm no doctor) implies an inflammatory process that should respond to anti-inflammatory medications and ice. I believe it is probably an overuse injury which occurred when I returned to the pool after a one week lay off and resumed daily training. I actually have not lifted weights in a couple of weeks (and before my vacation I was only lifting once a week anyway). The eccentric rehab exercises are a great idea. I ordered my Thera-band flexbars today. Not sure that I want anyone to inject anything yet. I try to avoid doctors as much as I can.

Not sure if this will help or not, but both lateral and medial epicondylitis are examples of tendonosis, not tendinitis--i.e., there is no evidence of inflammation in the elbow. Quite the opposite, actually. The current thinking seems to be that these and other poorly vascularized tendons (like the Achilles heel, the Rotator Cuffs, various knee tendons, etc.) would actually benefit from a bit of inflammation, which tends to increase blood supply and bring healing factors to the micro tears of the affected tissues. Leslie's nitroglycerine patches are an attempt to do this. Other investigational modalities include shock waves and injections of irritants, like talc or saline, into the joint, poking around a bit with needle while the doctor's in there, all in an attempt to provoke a little more damage that causes the body to wake up and take notice. Interestingly, too, there is a theory that the pain may be caused by abnormal blood vessels and nerves that form post-injury. Some doctors are reporting success by injecting sclerosing agents into the area, which choke down these aberrant vessels. The nerves, in turn, no longer get blood supply and die off, and the pain goes away. Alleve and cortisone shots are both antiinflammatory drugs (albeit a very mild one and a much more potent one)--but since there is no inflammation there to "anti", the benefits of either approach are most likely analgesia (for the Alleve) and the poking around with the needle, causing "healing trauma" for the cortisone injections. Eccentric muscle loading (i.e., the part of the biceps curl where you lower the weight back down) may help by triggering tenocyte production... I suspect weight lifting is the cause of your problem--not all weight lifting, but certain moves you might not realize are hurting at the time of the lifts. Thanks for the input, Jim. I am familiar with the tendinosis vs. tendinitis debate. In my case, the symptoms arose acutely, which to me (hey, I'm no doctor) implies an inflammatory process that should respond to anti-inflammatory medications and ice. I believe it is probably an overuse injury which occurred when I returned to the pool after a one week lay off and resumed daily training. I actually have not lifted weights in a couple of weeks (and before my vacation I was only lifting once a week anyway). The eccentric rehab exercises are a great idea. I ordered my Thera-band flexbars today. Not sure that I want anyone to inject anything yet. I try to avoid doctors as much as I can.