Tips for dealing with Climber’s Elbow

What is climber’s elbow?

The medical term for “Climber’s Elbow” is either lateral epicondylitis or medical epicondylitis, known more commonly as tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow (respectively).

As climbers, we are prone to these diagnoses because of the way we load our upper extremities repetitively.

Can we prevent this?

Sometimes! Warming up before climbing and keeping the tendons in our forearms stretched out are the best ways to do this.

“Sometimes”? When can’t we? When the load and repetitiveness are greater than our bodies can handle. Examples of this would be projecting.

What do we do once we suspect we have it?

While there is more to it, once we have one of these diagnoses, Emily recommends (in order):

1.     Reducing inflammation and repetitive strain

2.     Elongating our extensor or flexor tendons overtime

3.     Strengthening compromised muscle groups as we initiate return to function

4.     Adopting these exercises as part of our warm up to avoid these diagnoses from reoccurring in the future

Step 1: Reducing inflammation and repetitive strain

1. Rest

2. Digit Extension in Rice Bucket

3. Contrast Baths

Step 2: Elongating our extensor or flexor tendons over time

PDF: Conservative L.E. Phase II

Buy putty here

Step 3: Strengthening while protecting our injury

Check out our video on how to perform the Tyler Twist on our instagram. Order a Band- It (™) here.

Next post: Why the Band-It™ can help us during the above protocol