Dr. Hive....Elbow pain

[ProudGrandma]

About 3-4 weeks ago I smacked my elbow against a door frame.  It never turned colors or became swollen.  I figured I just bruised it badly.  So I just waited for it to get better.   It still hurts.  Motrin doesn't help the pain. 

Symptoms: tender to touch, hurts to move it when I keep it still for too long,  lifting certain things causes pain,  reaching behind me also hurts. It doesn't hurt just sitting here.  Sometimes the pain radiates to my hand. 

A friend thinks a chipped bone,  but my symptoms don't match what I find on an internet search. 

What do you guys think?

[East Coast Sue]

I’ve done something similar and experienced pain, especially when turning a door knob or lifting/carrying anything. Thankfully, it got better on its own but it took more than 6 weeks. Maybe it was closer to 12 weeks before the pain improved significantly. 

Edited May 31, 2022 by East Coast Sue

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm nursing a sore elbow at the moment too. I don't remember doing anything to cause it, but my symptoms sound similar to yours. I have pain with any leverage (eg lifting a frying pan or even just a coffee mug) or any rotation (eg jar lids, door knobs) or lifting.

It's also tender to touch.

My symptoms match tennis elbow (a type of tendonitis, I think).

I've found three things are helping.

Firstly, avoiding the actions that hurt it.

Secondly, a compression bandage just below the elbow, but not over it.

Thirdly, propping that arm on a pillow overnight, so that it doesn't  hang and drag on the injury. This really seems to make a significant difference.

I hope you feel better soon 🌻

[mlktwins]

22 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

I'm nursing a sore elbow at the moment too. I don't remember doing anything to cause it, but my symptoms sound similar to yours. I have pain with any leverage (eg lifting a frying pan or even just a coffee mug) or any rotation (eg jar lids, door knobs) or lifting.

It's also tender to touch.

My symptoms match tennis elbow (a type of tendonitis, I think).

I've found three things are helping.

Firstly, avoiding the actions that hurt it.

Secondly, a compression bandage just below the elbow, but not over it.

Thirdly, propping that arm on a pillow overnight, so that it doesn't  hang and drag on the injury. This really seems to make a significant difference.

I hope you feel better soon 🌻

I think I have this too.  I bought one compression sleeve but it pushed on the area that is hurting me.  Which one are you using?

 

[ProudGrandma]

I don't think it's tennis elbow, I have had that before and this is not that...I don't think.

Trying to decide if I should see a doctor or not. 

[Harriet Vane]

It's called lateral epicondalitis. When you smacked your elbow, you likely bruised/damaged the connection of the tendon at the elbow. You may find that straightening it causes more pain, as well as jiggling or dangling (like the loose motion that naturally happens when walking over a period of time). 

Conventional wisdom is 2-4 weeks on NSAIDS, plus a brace. Many doctors would treat with a cortizone shot.

In my opinion, the cortizone shot doesn't really help. In my case and that of folks I know, the pain tends to come back. 

My advice, having struggled with this a few times:

Ice 2-4 times per day. This is the game changer in my opinion.

Consider NSAIDS to reduce inflammation as well. 

Avoid using that arm but use it sometimes--tendons and ligaments need synovial fluid to heal, and joints produce that fluid when they move. 

Some also like diclofenac cream topically applied for bony joints. It works well in elbows, wrists, hands, and not so well over large muscles.

[gardenmom5]

Could be a nerve - could be a bone.
You won't know if it's a bone or not without an x-ray.  I'd go get checked - they may or may not be able to see something even if you did do something.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

21 hours ago, mlktwins said:

I think I have this too.  I bought one compression sleeve but it pushed on the area that is hurting me.  Which one are you using?

 

I use a tubular compression bandage. It's like a stretchy tight sleeve. It came in a roll about a metre long, and I just cut a length that suits me.

I started by putting it actually over the bony part of my elbow, but that didn't help at all. Then I did a bit of research and found out it should go a few centimetres below the elbow. So mine sits on the upper half of my forearm, a bit below the elbow. And I double the tube over, for extra snugness. 

Apparently it helps to disperse the load across that muscle. It feels a bit odd to have the bandage not on the actual injury, but it really definitely helps me.

 

@kfeusse Maybe try the things I do and see if you get any relief? If not, get it checked out by the Dr. I hope it improves soon.

 

 

[ProudGrandma]

UPDATE:

I went to see my doctor.  She says it's nerve pain and suggested a cortisone shot, but she said it won't last but several months and I would have to get more.  I didn't want to do that....so she suggested first trying Aleve.   She said that the only permanent way to fix it was surgery.  

I guess I will see what the Aleve does....hoping it helps.   thanks everybody for your help. 

[Grace Hopper]

On 5/30/2022 at 9:00 PM, chocolate-chip chooky said:

I'm nursing a sore elbow at the moment too. I don't remember doing anything to cause it, but my symptoms sound similar to yours. I have pain with any leverage (eg lifting a frying pan or even just a coffee mug) or any rotation (eg jar lids, door knobs) or lifting.

It's also tender to touch.

My symptoms match tennis elbow (a type of tendonitis, I think).

I've found three things are helping.

Firstly, avoiding the actions that hurt it.

Secondly, a compression bandage just below the elbow, but not over it.

Thirdly, propping that arm on a pillow overnight, so that it doesn't  hang and drag on the injury. This really seems to make a significant difference.

I hope you feel better soon 🌻

All this plus icing it and an anti inflammatory such as ibuprofen. It takes time to heal. The compression bands are easy to find at the drugstore, Walmart and Amazon. 

[ProudGrandma]

2 minutes ago, Grace Hopper said:

All this plus icing it and an anti inflammatory such as ibuprofen. It takes time to heal. The compression bands are easy to find at the drugstore, Walmart and Amazon. 

I tried ice tonight and it actually made it hurt worse... it almost felt like it amplified the pain.  Where it never hurt just resting it,  but with an ice pack on it, I was in pain.  I lasted about 7 minutes and I needed to remove it.  

[Grace Hopper]

1 hour ago, kfeusse said:

UPDATE:

I went to see my doctor.  She says it's nerve pain and suggested a cortisone shot, but she said it won't last but several months and I would have to get more.  I didn't want to do that....so she suggested first trying Aleve.   She said that the only permanent way to fix it was surgery.  

I guess I will see what the Aleve does....hoping it helps.   thanks everybody for your help. 

I see Harriet cane already answered before I did wrt ice and anti inflammatory meds. 
 

Did the doc say why she diagnosed nerve pain (as opposed to a tendinitis)? Was it a general practitioner or an orthopedic doc?

Mine eventually went away, no cortisone shot required, but I am careful to avoid the activity (an awkward repetitive pulling on a something with weight) that first caused the pain. 

[ProudGrandma]

My doctor was just a general practitioner.... and she said nerve pain because the pain sometimes radiates arm.  Would tendinitis be caused by me hitting my elbow against a door frame? I thought that was caused by over use or wrong use of a joint or limb. But maybe I am wrong.

[Grace Hopper]

7 hours ago, kfeusse said:

My doctor was just a general practitioner.... and she said nerve pain because the pain sometimes radiates arm.  Would tendinitis be caused by me hitting my elbow against a door frame? I thought that was caused by over use or wrong use of a joint or limb. But maybe I am wrong.

I was just curious what a scan or x-ray may have shown. I believe tendinitis is def from overuse or strain from improper use; not sure if a hard bump would cause it, unless it was due to a sudden improper strain on your elbow. Again, just curious. Hope it settles down fairly quick for you. 

[Harriet Vane]

10 hours ago, kfeusse said:

My doctor was just a general practitioner.... and she said nerve pain because the pain sometimes radiates arm.  Would tendinitis be caused by me hitting my elbow against a door frame? I thought that was caused by over use or wrong use of a joint or limb. But maybe I am wrong.

Tendinitis can be caused by overuse or by injury.

I would strongly suggest an orthopedic doctor rather than a GP.

My first diagnosis of lateral epicondalitis was when I hit my elbow on a corner when I was rushing through the house carrying a heavy laundry basket. It was a heavy, hard hit, and I went from fine/normal to ongoing pain with any motion and all usage. At that time I had two cortizone shots separated by 8 or 9 months. The pain returned within 3 or 4 months both times. I had a friend at the time who experienced the same diagnosis, had a cortizone shot, and had the same result. Pain returned a couple months later.

I had lateral epicondalitis on the other side (my left side) a couple years ago from doing pushups. At that time, I simply curtailed usage on that side and iced it daily. It cleared up after about 7 months.

I have lateral epicondalitis right now on the left side. It started creeping in over a couple months in the early fall. I lift weights twice a week and exercise frequently, so I assumed it was overuse related to weightlifting. Then in late October I fell in a dark parking lot during a heavy, torrential rain, and landed on that elbow, which exacerbated the condition in a big way.

Nerve pain can radiate, yes, but other things radiate too. I never had nerve pain from epicondalitis. My pain each time has radiated through the arm. It is normal for tendinitis in the elbow to result in stiffness through the center of the joint with tender points (usually on the joint's bony edges) (tender points meaning spots that hurt to touch). I would say that the amount of muscle contracture and stiffness is what I feel as pain from the tendinitis throughout my arm, and that is different from the tender points of pain that I can touch an the tip of the bone. I have had tons of nerve pain that radiates from my spine, because I have bone spurs on several vertebrae. Most of the time I do not feel any pain, but I do get painful flare-ups from those bone spurs. Because I am so attuned to the behavior of my bone spurs, it's easy for me to differentiate nerve pain from the other contributors to pain (muscle tension, inflammation, injury).

When I was injured the first time, when my son was just a baby, the standard MO was ice, NSAIDS, rest, cortizone, bracing. I was told to never use that joint. It took about two years to heal.

The protocol has changed since that time, though many doctors are not up-to-date on our new understanding. While it is important for broken or cracked bones to stay perfectly still, soft tissue heals differently. That's why they now say to avoid heavy usage but to keep the joint moving gently to keep up the lubrication of synovial fluid. We now know that cortizone is actually quite damaging of connective tissue and that it will not heal it at all. It does reduce inflammation, which is why most doctors advocate 1-2 shots. I do not think cortizone is a good idea at all.