[codyjorge]

I overdid it blind casting my 9wt all day for an entire week and ended up with a gnarly forearm strain. It's been a couple months since then and every time I think it's healed, I reaggravate it - either while casting or playing tennis. Has anyone dealt with a similar injury? Any suggestions?

 

[rooftop]

I do this every couple years. This year I think I actually tore the tendons this summer and have been working to recover. Here's things that I've done that have helped, in no particular order.

• Time to heal (lame!)
• Wrist brace for sleeping from Fred Meyer
• Stretches
• Acupuncture & KT tape (desperation before a big trip. This helps mitigate the issues)
• Ice and heat - alternating after a day on the water. Helps circulation & heating
• I never do this, but my physician says avoid caffeine, spicy foods and alcohol because they increase inflammation. What does he know though?
• strip setting instead of trout setting
• Beer & Bourbon (jk - this doesn't help but I complain less)

 

[codyjorge]

Thanks, rooftop. I've been trying the Beer & Bourbon treatment to much temporary success.

But this is very helpful. I didn't think of KT tape but that's a great idea and would probably even help around the house since things like lifting a large cast iron pan seem to be noticeable. I'll look into elbow braces too.

In the words of the guy who couldn't find his car in the Costco parking lot the other day... "getting old is a bitch."

 

[Flyguy65]

I was a commercial carpenter for too many years.....nerve damage from swinging a hammer. I tried steroid shots that didn’t last more than a week....and the shot damn near hurt more than my elbow! PT didn’t do squat either, the damage was done....about the best thing was ice....a couple of cubes in a glass....three fingers of Crown Royal! And my frickin right wrist is fused too.....golden age my ass.....olden age! Hope you get better!

 

[Buzzy]

A 9 weight. That’s perhaps contributing to your injury. Can you find another species and fish a lighter and slower (softer) rod? Ice packs on the joint. Good luck.

 

[pacificsalmonspeyguy]

Time to get a spey rod.

 

[rooftop]

...Things like lifting a large cast iron pan seem to be noticeable. I'll look into elbow braces too.

Oh man, lifting and pouring from a cast iron is a pain anymore. I've been two-handing it as to avoid re-injury (and pain)

 

[rooftop]

Time to get a spey rod.

I've been tempted. I didn't realize you could use it to cast but still do a fast strip like for salt and predators until I heard the interview on wetflyswing with John Grasta. 100' casts without destroying your arm? Interesting.....

 

[Salmo_g]

I've had chronic tennis elbow (tendonitis) for nearly 40 years. When I do something to cause it to flare up beyond the ordinary background pain, I do two things to effectively reduce the inflammation. First is four (4) 2000 mg ibuprofen tablets twice a day. This is twice the dose recommended in the US, but pretty ordinary in Mexico and S. America. The second is ice, as in ice bath. Dump a full tray of ice cubes in a large bowl and add enough water to cover well. Dunk that elbow for a full ten (10) minutes. No cheating! Set a timer. It will hurt so much at first that you will have to pull your elbow out for a few seconds, but keep at it until you can hold it in the ice water bath.

Doctors and PT told me to ice it by rubbing an ice cube frozen in a styrofoam cup. BS! It was a trainer at the health club I used to attend who told me how to make ice more effective, and she was right. A few days of ice and ibuprofen has always gotten my tendonitis pain back to the background level that I can tolerate forever.

Another thing, stiff fast action graphite fly rods are not friendly to shoulders and elbows that are predisposed to this kind of inflammation. Use medium action, or maybe even a medium fast action rod. Stiff action rods in 9 wt and up will likely always cause this kind of problem for you. I put my 9 wt in the closet years ago and made an 8 wt medium action rod my every day use until I started using Spey rods for all my steelhead fishing. I use a fast action 8 wt for salt water sight fishing, where I'm not making one cast after another from can't see in the morning 'til can't see at night. For all day streamer fishing I use a medium action 6 or 8 wt, and I can hold the tendonitis at bay.

 

[codyjorge]

I was a commercial carpenter for too many years.....nerve damage from swinging a hammer. I tried steroid shots that didn’t last more than a week....and the shot damn near hurt more than my elbow! PT didn’t do squat either, the damage was done....about the best thing was ice....a couple of cubes in a glass....three fingers of Crown Royal! And my frickin right wrist is fused too.....golden age my ass.....olden age! Hope you get better!

Yeah, I avoid major treatments like that... I had a buddy who was getting monthly epidurals in his spine for lower back pain and the only thing that actually made his pain permanently go away was a book I shared with him. I probably mostly need time and rest but that's going to be tough once its fishing season again.

A 9 weight. That’s perhaps contributing to your injury. Can you find another species and fish a lighter and slower (softer) rod? Ice packs on the joint. Good luck.

I think I'll have to do this for a while... maybe no stripers for me this year

Time to get a spey rod.

I got 7wt and 3wt spey rods last year... maybe this is a good excuse to mostly just fish them for a while.

 

[codyjorge]

Salmo_g - Thank you for the tips. I'll definitely try the ice bath and advil. And fishing my slower rods sounds like a good idea for a while. I'm curious, is your tendonitis mostly from casting? Or were sports or anything else involved?

 

[codyjorge]

Oh man, lifting and pouring from a cast iron is a pain anymore. I've been two-handing it as to avoid re-injury (and pain)

Yeah, I have to retrain myself. I'm so used to just whipping it around but not worth aggravating both my elbow and also wrist which can also really feel it now.

 

[Benthos500]

The arm brace with tensioner that puts pressure on the tendon helps me a bit. Cheap and easy.
if its a spey type situation ….. learn how to spey cast. It can change your whole fishing world.

 

[Snagly]

Prevention is better than the cure (which for me involved a lot of down time over a year to get it back to normal, though I'm over sixty so that has something to do with it.). Once it's healed, do rubber band (tension band) exercises 3x a week without fail. A physiotherapist can describe these, but I do 7 different ones for both arms (though my other elbow is fine). I stopped curling barbells/dumbbells to reduce stress around the joint. My kids left for college, so I stopped throwing batting practice. Some combination of these did the trick and by sticking with the program I haven't had it come back . . . though last year's 750 casts/day with a stiff nine weight x 2 weeks left me with a tender elbow once I departed the Amazon. Headed back in a week . . . we shall see.

 

[Flies&Woodcraft]

Have you thought about trying a thick neoprene sleeve for weightlifting? I use one for exercise and it honestly helps me.

 

[Salmo_g]

Salmo_g - Thank you for the tips. I'll definitely try the ice bath and advil. And fishing my slower rods sounds like a good idea for a while. I'm curious, is your tendonitis mostly from casting? Or were sports or anything else involved?

Just basic over use and likely a genetic predisposition to joint problems. Casting never really aggravates my elbow; but playing multiple steelhead a day sure does. So maybe I'm fortunate that the steelhead runs have tanked, so I rarely have to endure that problem these days. I will add that being a decent caster makes for less joint problems in wrist, elbow, and shoulder. I've known so many poor casters who complain of elbow and or shoulder pain. So casting lessons might be part of the solution for a lot of folks who suffer these injuries as well.

 

[brat]

I overdid it blind casting my 9wt all day for an entire week and ended up with a gnarly forearm strain. It's been a couple months since then and every time I think it's healed, I reaggravate it - either while casting or playing tennis. Has anyone dealt with a similar injury? Any suggestions?

There’s a lot of good advice below on treatment – so I will focus on preventing it from happening again. You’ve most likely suffered from what is tendinitis, commonly called tennis elbow. The tendon that attaches the muscle on the top of your forearm to your elbow has become inflamed. The way to prevent this is to use a forearm brace. They come in many forms, but only one of them is worth a damn. The idea is that when you flex your forearm muscle (which will happen when you tighten your grip) that the brace will stop the muscle from pulling on the tendon attachment. Almost all forearm braces have some kind of neoprene or stretchy material. If you use those when you flex your muscle, that material will also flex— which is counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve. A doc specializing in occupational medicine explained this to me decades ago and recommended a brace called OTC Band-It (Amazon). When you put it on, tighten it so that it fits like a glove and the test is to make a fist which should then cause the muscle to flex against the band in such a way that you don’t feel it at your elbow joint. I have used it for almost 40 years to climb, cast, carve, and build cabinets professionally. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

 

[MRFEDERALE]

I overdid it blind casting my 9wt all day for an entire week and ended up with a gnarly forearm strain. It's been a couple months since then and every time I think it's healed, I reaggravate it - either while casting or playing tennis. Has anyone dealt with a similar injury? Any suggestions?

See an orthopedic/sports medicine physician.

 

[Bucktrout]

I had tennis elbow on the left side and used a Theraband Flexbar and it worked pretty well. I developed a similar problem on the right side and the flexbar has not really helped at all, I suspect that what I have on the right side is not exactly tennis elbow but capsulitis in the joint. Very frustrating, especially since I have not been able to identify the cause.

 

[xoshooter]

You have great advice...especially the brown water. Brown waters makes all the pain go away. You'll want to head this off before it becomes chronic. Is in medial (on the side closest to your body) or lateral (on the outside)? That will make a difference when it comes time to actual treatments. Is it tendonitis/tendonosis? Is it something else. Rest. Ice. Massage. Accupuncture. Ansaids. TENS. Taping. Compression. Sleep brace. Flexbar. Rehab. Flexbar is a slow process. Start with red, work up to green. Scar tissue will form. Its part of healing. Massage can help. See or speak to a casting pro to work on technique. Jason Borger is a proponent of kinesiology and safe casting and technique in general. Email him. There are some orthopedists that are flyfisherman that he has worked with. There is hope and fish are waiting for you. You got this! As you can tell many have been down this road like you have/are.