Elbow Pain

[Harksaw 0]

I've found on several occasions when I pack more than 15 or so rigs a day, I get some nasty pain in my elbows, especially my right elbow. I usually take some aspirin and keep going without problem. Packing a lot for two days or more amplifies the problem. Does this happen to anyone else? Any suggestions?

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I started skydiving for the money and the chicks. Oh, wait.

[baa75 0]

My BF has been complaining of the same thing. He's a FT packer and his right elbow has been hurting too. He rarely takes anything for it. (mostly just whines and complains which must make it feel better because he does a lot of it! )

I guess its something like tennis elbow? You are using your arm to do the same repetitive thing all day. What do people do to relieve that? Sorry, I suck at tennis (& packing) so I wouldn’t know.

BettyAnn

Getting married? Check out my website!

[catfishhunter 2]

Tendonitis...... Only thing that will help is rest.. well you could get a cortozone shot but I highly suggest not doing that. Makes things worse in the long run..

Ok thats all the playing doctor I am going to do today. if it gets worse go see someone in the Sports Medicine Feild..

MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT
Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose.

[Douva 0]

Quote

Tendonitis...... Only thing that will help is rest.. well you could get a cortozone shot but I highly suggest not doing that. Makes things worse in the long run..

Ok thats all the playing doctor I am going to do today. if it gets worse go see someone in the Sports Medicine Feild..

I developed some nasty tendonitis in my left elbow when I was training for the AFF certification course. After a while, it got so that the pain after a couple of jumps was too unbearable to jump anymore. I already had so much time and money invested in the course that I went to a sports medicine specialist hoping for a cortisone shot, but he wouldn't give me one. Instead, he put me on an analgesic cream and some prescription anti-inflammatory pills. The cream and pills, combined with a large but safe amount of Advil and icing the elbow after every jump (followed by a heat pack before the next jump to loosen up those cold muscles and tendons) got me through the course. After that, I took a couple of weeks off from strenuous activity, and the tendonitis cleared up, for the most part. In the last couple of weeks, it's tried to flare up a little, but I'm trying to limit my activity to keep it under control. Be forewarned before starting any treatment that after the AFF course, I had a nasty allergic reaction to the treatment I was taking, and my left arm swelled up to nearly twice its normal size. Another doctor had to put me on Prednisone to get the swelling down. For those of you into semi-gross pictures, I've attached a picture of the swolen arm, taken about a day before it reached its peak.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[mattjw916 2]

holy crap... it is swollen so much it looks like a compund fracture with massive internal hemorrhaging

I'm glad you figured out what the problem was before it "popped"

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[pccoder 0]

Rest and Exercise. I think many muscle related pains can be related to over working muscles which aren't built up enough. The repetitve actions of packing are probably just too much work on muscles which are not strong enough to handle it over long periods of time. Maybe some exercises to build up your arms, forarms, etc. would help matters.

PcCoder.net

[riggerrob 643]

Sounds like the repetitive strain injury I have in my right elbow. It seems to be where one end of a hand-clenching muscle attaches to a fore arm bone.
Any ways, I found a couple of solutions
The first solution was to buy a Velcro arm strap to relieve some of the tension on the end of the muscle/tendon. YOu can buy them at any of the better drug/sports medicine stores.
Icing the sore tendon helped in the evenings, but I have never found a drug that made much difference.

My second solution was to use tools - instead of muscle - to close tight reserves.
I developed a shoulder strap - with a B-12 snap - to tension reserve pull-up cords while closing tight reserves.
Along the same logic, I use a Pack-Boy tool when closing mains. I allows me to put plenty of shoulder muscle into closing tight main containers without worrying about grip strength.