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Tennis (casting) elbow

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Mr T

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I was in Tampa a couple weeks back and over the weekend fished all day both days, including a day paddling a kayak.

 

my casting arm was sore when I got home, so did an acupuncture session that helped a little. Figured it was going to be fine, well I was wrong.   Last night I went out for a sundowner and after twenty minutes, it was unbearable.   Outside of the elbow, hurts to grip, really hurts to try and lift line off the water.

 

ibuprofen and ice are on the menu, but I may be done for the rest of this week.

 

any suggestions?  

Edited by Mr T
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 Tennis elbow is a tear of your ulner collateral ligament. There's all kinds of tears, and different people heal different injuries different ways. I injured mine in 2014, haven't touched my 11wt since.

"Talent does what it can, genius does what it has to"
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Heat, ice, rest and keep it moving. Gently flexing your arm will prevent more stiffness later. As bfd said wear a compression brace too. I have Tommy Copper sleeve ( cant' say it's better than others ) and started wearing it two three years ago at the onset of elbow pain. Helped a lot. Especially when I still wanted to fish. Haven't had any problems since. But 8wts or smaller are 98% of my fly casting. I'm 64 and in that club.

 

If it persist...see a doctor.

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Thanks for the suggestions (well played p b and j).

 

I work in service so the arm and hand are required for the job, no way around that.

 

guess it’s rest and a possible trip to the doc when I get back.  Hope there isn’t a  tear and it’s just strained.    I did go get a small spinning rig last night, if the rain let’s up I’ll “think” about trying it but not keen to aggravate things further.

 

its funny, been casting for a number of years using sinking lines and deep retrieves for years.   Four days of a floating line setup (same 8 wt btw), did me in....

 

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I use sinking lines 100% of the time because 1 false cast and shoot, vs many false casts with a floater.  If I was a better caster then the ratio of casts would be better.  For the TE, I bet rest and you will be fine, keep trying to use it, then permanent injury may result.

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Had the same thing in 1996. Physical therapy and four cortisone shots later, I had surgery. Turned out it was not tennis elbow. I had actually torn a tendon and it reattached in the wrong place. Six weeks of cabin fever and it has been great since.  There are some stretches you can do to help it.  Check with a PT or ortho.  Ice and ibuprofen are your friends. Hope it’s a simple strain and not a separation. 

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VeeRay is right:  If you have coverage, see and ortho who will likely prescribe PT and an appropriate med.  Also, try using a shooting head to keep the false casting down to a minimum.

 

This discussion reminds me of the story about a guy who seems to have your problem with his elbow.  So he goes to his friend, who happens to be a physician, who tells him to come back in a week with a urine sample since he will have a new machine that will diagnose all his problems from that sample.  Now, the day before he goes to see his doc he has his wife urinate in the container, and his daughter, and his cat along with his sample and, for good measure, he mixes it all up with his car's dip stick.

 

He goes to the doc who takes up some of the sample in a syringe, slips the sample into this big device with all kinds of lights and meters and beeps and after 2 minutes out comes a print out.  As the doc puzzles over the readout, the guy asks him, with a smirk, "So doc, what does it show"?

 

 "Well", the doc says, "It seems your wife has the clap, your daughter is pregnant, you cat is in heat, your car needs an oil change, and if you don't stop JO, you'll never get rid of that tennis elbow.

 

Now, why did I think of THAT story!  :howdy:

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Commonly happens usually with fast action rods or a lines too light to load the rod.  When I first started practice in the mid 90s I started out  treating a lot of fly fishers with tennis elbow.  Typically the rest pain is from spasm in the wrist extensor muscles as a result of micro-tears where the muscle originates at the bone.  If not treated properly it can persist for a looooooong time.  Proper casting mechanics are important.  Think newspaper under your armpit.

 

If any of you have old issues of fly fishing in saltwaters or saltwater flyfishing circa 1998 or so, I wrote an article on casting mechanics.  I don't remember which mag or issue because I misplaced my copies a looooong time ago.  I think these magazines are long out of publish due to the internet.

Edited by DrBob
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+10 for the Theraband.  Google "eccentric exercise for tennis elbow".  You'll find some pretty authoritative sources.  I had it bad bilaterally for two years and this technique brought me home.  Now I work the Theraband for a week or two while watching TV in the evenings before an important trip.  Never had a problem since.

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All good info and thanks to everyone for the advice.    Sat in the hotel last night and watched  moonshiners w ice.   Much better today but it’s started up again after an hour or so at work.

 

ill be looking around for a therabar tonight to get started with that, 

 

leaving friday night, back in a couple weeks- I’m hopeful I can settle it down enough to fish, if not the fly then a spinning rig. 

 

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