drummers elbow

[deseipel]

Anyone ever experience a dull ache in their elbows? I've read a bunch of stuff on tennis elbow; but I'm not sure it fits what I'm experiencing. I'd go to a doc, but my insurance doesn't cover it. I've laid off playing for a week now and it's still present, which concerns me.

If anyone knows or thinks they know what it might be, let me know. I'm curious when I can get back to playing/practicing. I've been icing it down about daily and I did some stretching and minimal weight therapy today. 5lb tricep reps...

[Jim Richman]

It would be best to video yourself so we can see what is going on.

[Randy Walker]

basically you have a torn Tendon, cashiers get this too. I had Tommy John's surgery for mine a few years back, no problems now. It's from repetitive motion, drummers, cashiers, baseball players.
its caused from a series of micro tears in the tendon, laying off the drums will help repair itself. best to be away for at least 2 to 3 weeks tho

[deseipel]

thanks guys.

looks like I can work on my feet for a few weeks. My next gig is a couple weeks out, so I should be ok.

I wonder about my technique (as all of us probably do at some points), but I don't think its a technique problem. It could be, but I don't think so. I would guess it's from pushing too hard during some practice sessions or something else.

[YamahaPlayer]

basically you have a torn Tendon, cashiers get this too....

You're referring to 'Tennis Elbow' often incorrectly attributed to an inflammation of the tendon sheath, the elbow is a ridiculously complex joint and can have many things get bothered in it.
As someone who has actually torn tendons, rest assured your tendon is not torn. You would be in incredible pain and be unable to use the (whatever). It would require surgery to fix, often requiring they graft pieces from another tendon in your body. Major tendon and ligament injuries take months to fully recover from.
Tearing tendons in both elbows simultaneously would be akin to hitting the lotto for sports injuries.

You'd be experiencing acute pain, which you aren't reporting - that's good. The soreness is a good indicator of an inflammation based RSI. Sharp pain is a really bad sign.

This is good information on the condition(s) and has some various exercises shown to better pinpoint the condition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_elbow
MayoClinic also is a great resource.

I think it may be rash to jump to the conclusion it's drumming causing the issue. Most players do not use their arms equally on the kit, which is why if you are experiencing equal pain in both joints, I would be hesitant to think it's drumming. Also because you have stated no remission despite not playing drums.

Do you use a computer daily, such as for work? What other daily activities do you use your arms for? Sports? Weight Lifting? Etc?

Are you experiencing numbness in any fingers, is the pain only in a particular direction or heightened from particular movements?

See if you can pinpoint the soreness to a particular movement. Lay off the weight training, that's about the worst thing you could do, particularly motions that put torque through the elbow joint, until you know the cause and issue specifically.

Might want to start an anti-inflammatory regimen, Ibuprofen in the morning and night + warm soaks. (That's most likely what a doctor will initially recommend you.)

[deseipel]

right, the soreness is dull and not sharp.

I use a computer at my job for 8 hrs a day, for the past 5 yrs, and probably intermittently in the evenings.

The other activity that I can pinpoint revolves around my last gig. I recently purchased a new stand bag and it's quite heavy. It's plausible that I pulled something when lifting it initially.

no numbness or tingling. I don't lift weights and don't use my arms specifically for any other hobby. Having a desk job really takes a slow toll.

The soreness is difficult to pinpoint, but it's basically any general excertion of that muscle around the elbow (mopping for instance, or holding my kids -25 lbs) any manual labor task in which the muscle is utilized for longer than a few minutes.

It seems more like an inflammatory thing, I agree. I took 2 ibuprofens this morning. I've tried a heated massage, but that seems to aggravate it. Icing it down seems to not aggravate it; thoughts?

The other thing that's crossed my mind is that during weather changes, my body reacts oddly sometimes. My knees sometimes ache for no good reason. I suspect I have arthritis and this could be a contributing factor as well.

Getting old sucks bad.

[YamahaPlayer]

I use a computer at my job for 8 hrs a day, for the past 5 yrs, and probably intermittently in the evenings.

The other thing that's crossed my mind is that during weather changes, my body reacts oddly sometimes. My knees sometimes ache for no good reason. I suspect I have arthritis and this could be a contributing factor as well.

Getting old sucks bad.

Bingo. 8+hours of 5 days a week, year after year computer use. Welcome to the club that includes a few million other people. That would be the most likely cause for what you describe. It is an incredibly common issue with heavy computer use. My dad got it, I know many people who have who work in cubes. Take a look at your office setup and all that fun goodness.

Are you taking anything like Glucosamine or MSM?

I can feel pressure changes in my bad knee, and sometimes other joints that have had surgery/injury it's a fairly common thing I think.

There's a lot of really good stuff for arthritis, though that's a diagnosis a doctor would need to establish, etc

Good luck with it though, being hurt sucks and not being able to play drums sucks even more.

[Rhythmatist]

About 2 years ago I developed a dull pain in my right elbow. I know it was drumming related but found I was agravating the condition at work. Typically, when I experience any kind of discomfort from playing I will try to narrow it down to either a technical or set-up issue. In this case I found that I was extending my arm too much when playing the crash above and to the right of my ride. By moving the cymbal closer by just a couple inches it made a huge difference but the damage was already done. It took close to 4 months before I felt I was back to 100%.

I noticed after it happened that the elbow was being affected by my computer use at work, mainly while doing heavy work with the mouse. A couple things that helped dramatically...I got an ergonomic mouse pad with a wrist rest; raised the right arm rest of my office chair to be able to rest my whole forearm and I set my Windows preferences to open files with single instead of double clicks. I also rescheduled my daily tasks to break up the research and analysis and report generation that required mouse-intensive activity.

Since doing all of these I haven't experienced any similar discomfort. For any pain that persists without signs of getting better within a reasonable amount of time it's probably a good idea to get it looked at. Yes, I agree, getting old does suck!

[Brad Schlueter]

I've had some of that from too much practicing/playing. I found massage (it hurt) and wearing an elbow velcro brace (sort of like a Capo for your arm) helped and I avoided practicing for awhile.

[cjbdrm]

Take this with a grain of salt, but IMO it's not "drummer's elbow", it's anger. "When the mind suffers, the body cries out..."

Something's pissing you off, or stressing you out...could be day job, boss, lack of music gigs, family stuff, who knows....(well, actually, you do)

Your brain (unconscious mind)produces a physical symptom to distract you from the negative emotions (fear, anger, sadness, etc.) in the form of back pain, or neck pain, or dizziness/vertigo, migraines, tendonitis, carpal tunnel, RSI, even tinnitus, and a whole host of others. Medically, it's a result of decreased blood flow or oxygen. This isn't new age BS, it's real and researched, and documented. Some call it psychosomatic, but it's not "in your head", it's real pain, but just rooted in negative emotions.

It's working isn't it? When you're thinking about your elbow pain you're not thinking about anything else are you?

What's the cure? Awareness. Understand what's happening. Once you acknowledge what's going on and why, the pain will subside. Does any of this make sense to you? You've been working your day job for years maybe, playing for years, all of a sudden there's a problem? A heavy stand? I don't think so, but again, it's my opinion- I'm not a Dr....but I have experienced this stuff for most of my adult life.

I suggest reading any of Dr. John Sarno's books to understand the mind-body connection. It's real medicine, scientifically researched and explained.