Hey John,
I’ve been following CFBB for about 9 months with amazing results, but I have been struggling with an injury to my elbow which I first noticed a few months after I was hit by a car riding my mountain bike. Its a dull, aching nerve pain lateral to the olecranon of my left elbow. It only happens when our workouts have movements such as snatch, dips, jerk, and to a lesser extent, bench. It can happen just when I’m warming up to do an exercise, the weight doesnt seem to be the issue. It feels like I’ve been kicked in the balls, but on my elbow, the pain makes it impossible to finish the workout, and it lasts for over an hour before receding.
MY QUESTION IS: Who should I go to get this checked out? A chiropractor? Physical therapist? I live in San Diego, not too far from your area. While I am merely a college student, I’d be willing to go up there to see someone you recommend.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, and thank you for the awesome programming. I’m 28/5’7″ 165lbs and just hit a 405 5RM on my deadlift a few weeks ago!
-David Velez
David – I have two solutions, and I recommend you check out one or both of the guys I go to when I have anything wrong. One is Dr. Kelly Starrett and the other is Travis Conley. If you have spent anytime in the CrossFit community you know Kelly as owner of San Francisco CrossFit, Doctor of Physical Therapy, presenter of the Mobility and Recovery Seminar for CF and I hear his tears can cure the sick. His full time job as my Emotional Life Coach is not so well publicized. When I injured my knee in 08, Kelly and Travis’ hard work got me back to training. Travis is based out of Newport Beach and works side by side with the crew at SoCal SC to keep our patients and athletes healthy. He is a Doctor of Sports Chiropractic and Master Level of Active Release Technique, also known as ART. I have worked with Travis for years and he works wonders on many of the injuries I have sustained through my years of NFL work. I used ART through my NFL career starting in Philadelphia and in KC and New England. For a job full of high impacts it is a must for staying healthy. Regeneration is a big part of training and you need to become proactive with recovery. Massage, ART, ice baths, foam rollers and stretching are a must if you train with intensity and plan on surviving the volume needed to be successful.
Here is some information on ART if you are unfamiliar. And an article on Critical Bench about ART and Strength Athletes.
He forwarded this information…
I need answers to quite a few questions. I cannot diagnose through email, nor prescribe care unless I have physically seen the patient, but we can start here.
Here are the questions I could like to know:
1. When hit, what did he land on?
2. Where did the car hit him?
3. Was there bruising, bleeding, loss of consciousness, cuts or loss of motion within the neck, shoulder, elbow or wrist?
4. How long after the injury did the symptoms arise? (How long ago was the accident?)
5. What was he doing when they arose?
6. Is there numbness, pins and needles, weakness, or a feeling of weakness with the neck, shoulder, elbow or wrist?
7. Is there anything he does to relieve the pain or just rest?
8. How long into the workout does it begin or is it random or movement based?
He can find me at my website http://www.drtconley.com. If he wants to make a drive up to SoCal Strength & Conditioning in Newport Beach, CA have him shoot me an email to make an appointment.
Hope your guy feels better and can get in for some work.
Thanks,
Travis Conley
drtconley@yahoo.com
O.K., so this is totally off topic, but the grammar of this sentence in the question is AWESOME:
“I have been struggling with an injury to my elbow which I first noticed a few months after I was hit by a car riding my mountain bike.”
There are at least 2 dangling modifiers, which lead to the following question:
Why didn’t you notice your elbow until a few months after you were struck by a bicycle-riding automobile? It seems to me a fundamental body awareness issue. I suspect you’ve had that elbow since birth. Also, that’s one heck of a car that can ride a bicycle.
Cameron – Awesome. I was a rhetoric major at Cal, similar to an english major and I worked as writing tutor in grad school. Pretty funny but oddly enough I make proof reading errors quite often. Usually, I have people like Eric shoot me an email if I make a mistake. Next time I should proof read the submissions. Talk To Me Johnnie…where we try to figure out what is best in life and make fun of your grammar. Keep it up!
Nice!!!! Keeping this entire site Spic and Span clean of rhetorical, grammatical and syntaxical inadequecies… John and his followers are managing to combine the best of conditioning, the iron game, paleo nutrition AND correct writing: what fun 🙂
Kurt Vonnegut rocks!!!!!
@Cameron
Ya, that was some pretty bad grammar, a few commas, a tense change, and the words “while I” would’ve helped a lot. I guess thats what happens when I type while in pain. I didn’t notice the pain for almost 2 months because I had spiral non-displacement fractures of the 3rd and 4th metacarpals of my left hand. I was unable to use that hand to scratch my own ass for 6 weeks.
@John
Thank you sooooooo much for the info my friend. I’ll contact Dr. Conley right away.