Friday, July 07, 2017

Silly Right Triceps

The right elbow has been feeling a little off for two weeks. I did nothing about it except to ice and rub it with Biofreeze. During the last boxing class, the elbow twinged while doing tricep push-ups. So I shifted the arms open and did the normal push-ups instead, for fear of aggravating any injury. In the hours that followed after, the ache was unbearable. It wasn't exactly painful, but this was way worse than DOMS.

Found a spiky ball to lean/lie on and rotate the right upper arm for myofascial release. It worked! In fact, it became very clear that it was the triceps that were wonky, not quite the elbow. The strange creak and bit of pain arose only from specific exercises that involved the triceps, like tricep push-ups on the floor or a push-away on a jump-board on the pilates reformer. Whined about it over the phone to the pilates instructor. She said it really didn't sound like a possible tennis or golfer's elbow. She specifically suggested that it could be strained deep elbow extensors. That sent me scrambling for google images, and one link explained it really well.


The next day at pilates, the instructor made me roll out the upper arm muscles again, and put me through the paces, effectively stretching out the entire upper arm muscles equally. Nothing hurt while doing stuff during the class. The final set of tricep dips and leg lifts on the Chair proved it.

By the end of class, the right underarm had stopped throbbing, and instead simply felt bruised. Both instructor and the physiotherapist dismissed even the remote possibility of a tennis elbow, and not a tricep tear. Whewww! It was definitely strained deep elbow extensors-flexors. I have a lazy right shoulder blade. They suggested that when I was doing upper arm movements too fast, and didn't have time to persuade the lazy right shoulder to pull its weight, the right triceps over-compensated, resulting in a strain. The pilates instructor cheekily added that simply, my right triceps aren't strong enough. Grrrr. True, that.

That's it. No krav maga, weights, boxing or anti-gravity classes for the next 10 days. Only pilates. That's my safe zone. Each time I get off-balance, I return to intensive daily pilates sessions and stress the heck out of my instructor. Kekekekeke. The triceps are already halfway back to feeling 💯.

2 comments:

Liverella said...

Good that it's nothing serious. You are looking mighty strong there! ;)

imp said...

Yeah, am relieved too. Wheewwwww. Just one of those strains from improper form.

:) slowly getting back some strength!