Topic: Golfer's Elbow

[Rob "Robulus" Hoover]

Date of Injury : Spring 2008
Your DOB and age : May 11, 1973 - 35 yrs old
name : Robert Hoover
City, State : Dale City, VA
# years practicing Parkour / Freerunning : 7 months
Hours of training per week : 4-6 hours

Other exercise / fitness experience:
weight training, softball, volleyball, pole vault, soccer, roller hockey - good general health and fitness level

Location where injury occurred : various
Conditions of location : dry

What you were doing / trying to do when injury occurred? various, most likely wall climbs, elbow levers, muscle-ups

Where any other people involved? no
Part of body  - description of injury, rating of severity 1-10 : left elbow, inside, ~5
Did you see a doctor for diagnosis? no
Did you get X-rays or MRI's? no
Picture of the injury: NA

Could you / how could you have avoided the injury?
hopefully injury will be avoided by allowing proper healing with rest and proper warmup/stretching in future

Date / type / severity of your last injury?
first parkour-related injury, third major injury ever
previous injuries - pulled left hamstring on softball field 2006, missed landing mat from 12' during polevault 1990

Notes on the experience?
There seemed to be a subtle increase in pain over 2 months until the pain level prevented wall climbs and resulted in loss of strength in left arm during pull-ups/muscle-ups. I suppose I should have recognized it sooner as soft tissue damage.

[Rob "Robulus" Hoover]

Here's a followup... between Beast Coast Jam (Memorial Day 08) and the "Washingtonian Jam" (Nov 9, 2008) I have been working primarily on the ground... precision jumps, pistols, anything emphasizing the lower body as hanging from my hands (bar work, walls, etc) increased pain in the left elbow and forearm. I have worn a "tennis/golfer's elbow brace" (~$15 at CVS) on my left arm, cinched up good and tight just below the elbow, during every workout. I have worked to strengthen the left forearm by doing all my QMs as fingertip exercises. I stopped doing pushups due to increased pain in my left elbow. I also stopped all cat balance efforts on handrails/swingsets as the gripping of the poles caused pain in my left arm, smaller diameter bars caused more pain than larger diameter bars. I also saw a massage therapist every other week for 6 weeks to work out the kinks in the muscle and let it heal. Three sessions ($80 per session) resolved the muscle pain completely. She recommended cold laser treatment (as did my chiropractor) but I never got to do it.

On Nov 9, I jammed with several of the DC Metro guys and gals. I jammed with my elbow brace tight and saw NO lack of strength or stamina on wall climbs, hand over hand hanging wall traversals, and cat leaps. It was a VERY encouraging day. I continue to feel occasional pain in the elbow area and intend to continue training with the brace in the foreseeable future. My last attempt a month ago at an underbar without the brace had caused the familiar pain in the elbow. That was a warning.

All in all, this summer has been very productive. My precision jumps have improved greatly, as have my landings and rolls. My forearm flexibility is vastly improved (through consistent stretching) and my elbow is on the mend. My advice to all is "be patient" as was said to me many many times. If your injury allows you to work on some skills without pain, concentrate on those skills. Your time will be well spent.

[Spark710]

Date of Injury : November 1st, 2008
Your DOB and age : July 1st 1993, 15
name : Ben Spark
City, State : New Bedfrod, MA
# years practicing Parkour / Freerunning : 11 months
Hours of training per week : 4-6 hours

Other exercise / fitness experience:
swimming (team), running (non competitive)

Location where injury occurred : right arm (elbow)
Conditions of location : dry and sensitive

What you were doing / trying to do when injury occurred?: Kong a fence on bleachers (top of fence=~10 feet above concrete).
I was konging the fence and my feet clipped the top.  I pitched headfirst onto concrete.

Where any other people involved? no
Part of body  - description of injury, rating of severity 1-10 : right elbow, inside/upper, ~6
Did you see a doctor for diagnosis? yes-probably not fractured
Did you get X-rays or MRI's? no
Picture of the injury: NA

Could you / how could you have avoided the injury?
If I was more confident in my roll, I would have concentrated more on my kong and not been looking down spotting my landing before I jumped.

Date / type / severity of your last injury?
Ongoing for several months/wrist/~3.5
Missed a cat jump, fell backwards, and slammed my wrists into concrete.  They've been sketchy ever since.

Notes on the experience?
At first it didn't really hurt.  Once the adrenaline left, I couldn't extend it or bend it all the way without it hurting.  Vaults were out of the question.  I had tried to stay off of it and not use it, but I had a meet the following weekend, so I popped some advils and toughed it out.  Big mistake.  It was more sore the morning after that than the day I hurt it.  Hasn't improved much since.


The way you described yours made it seem similar to mine.  Did my symptoms fit?  You said it would take time.  However, my season starts up in earnest in about two weeks.  What part of your mending (other than time) was most helpful?

[Charles Moreland]

Did you see a doctor for diagnosis? yes-probably not fractured

And I'm probably NOT pregnant...

Golfer's Elbow is an over-use tendon issue, not an issue regarding fractures. Are you sure this is what your doctor diagnosed you with?

[Spark710]

I went to my doctor.  He felt my arm, tested the strength, asked where it hurt if he rotated it one way or the other.  The basic procedure I guess.  He didn't think it was broken, but said if it kept hurting have an X-ray for a closer look.

However, I don't think its broken either.  From what I've heard, broken bones are extremely painful in an extremely specific area.  I have sudden pains, but they're in several different points in the elbow.  So either it's cracked in several different points (unlikely that this could be and I could still do push ups) or it's a different problem. 

I might be in the wrong thread though, because I don't think it's easy to get tendon problems from blunt force impacts.