Kolme kiipeilypäivää putkeen Ahvenanmaalla ärsytti kyynärpääni ehkä pahimpaan jamaan toistaiseksi. Pari päivää reissun jälkeen kipua oli eniten kyynärpään ulkopuolella, ja internetdiagnosointi osoitti aika selkeästi tenniskyynärpää tyyppiseen vaivaan, jossa jänteet brachioradialis - lihaksen alla ovat tulehtuneet/vahingoittuneet. Mulla on aikaisemminkin toisinaan ollut kipuja kyynärpäissä, yleensä jossain siellä hauiksen kiinnityskohdan tienoilla, mutta ne ovat olleet tähän verrattuna paljon lievempiä. Niihin on yleensä auttanut venyttely ja Powerballin pyörittely.
 |
| Tenniskyynärpää on lateral epicondyle - osan vamma |
Tällä kertaa sitten kivut intensiivisestä kuntoutuksesta huolimatta eivät tuntuneet asettuvan. Tein käytännössä päivittäin erilaisia eksentrisiä lihasharjoitteita, poikittaishierontaa sekä kylmä/kuumahoitoa. Kaikkea mitä youtubesta ja googlesta löytyi. Kävin myös harvakseltaan kiipeämässä, joka tuntui aina lähes nollaavan tapahtuneen parantumisen... Ei tuntunut mitenkään rohkaisevalta. Noin 3 1/2 viikkoa reissun jälkeen kyynärpäät tuntuivat välillä olevan ihan yhtä kipeät kuin juuri reissun jälkeen. No viikko sitten lueskelin jälleen Dave Macleodin blogia, ja tällä kertaa tämän
kyynärpäävammoja käsittelevän artikkelin kommentteja. Sieltä löytyi erään Kevin Wilsonin pitkähkö teksti jonka peistaan nyt tylysti tähän:
"Dave,
Thanks for the article. I am looking forward to your book.
I
just wanted to add something. I had tendonitis off-and-on for about
two years in the early 90's. I had been climbing/training with Francois
Legrand, Yuji Hirayama, my twin brother, etc. quite hard during this
entire time and I tried many forms of elbow rehab. NOTHING worked.
Finally, at Francois' wedding I was talking with Laurent Jacob and,
after basically calling me an idiot (politely, but still..), he said
that I should have asked him how to fix the problem sooner. He had been
a top-level climber for 25+ years AND a physician for 22+ years at that
point. The fix was simple he said.
As climbers we use our
biceps WAAAAAY too much and we do not use our triceps in any sort of
balanced manner (this was before bouldering top-outs and cross-training
that includes push-ups, dips, etc., which seem to help balance things
out for some people). Laurent's suggestion was to pinch a (relatively)
heavy book, like a dictionary, and to do triceps extensions while making
sure to roll your palm to face the ceiling/sky when you reach maximum
extension. 3 sets of 10-15, 3 times a day for around a week should
completely resolve the problem (if there is no structural damage that
is). Then you just do 3 sets once or twice a week to maintain balance.
The trick here is to make sure that you are stretching the
brachioradialis while doing these exercises AND to use a book that is
heavy enough to pump you out a bit, but not so heavy as to make you
strain to complete the exercise. This exercise works the muscles in a
slightly different way than straight push-ups or dips and is necessary
once you have begun to have balance problems and your elbows have begun
to hurt. (There may be some connection with the fact that when you
tense your triceps at maximum extension you are engaging the anconeus,
which is otherwise not doing much in most humans. This might help
stabilize the elbow and stop it from over-pronating/pinching the ulnar
nerve)
I know that this seems too good to be true, but I used
these exercises for 3 DAYS and my two years of elbow problems went away.
By the 7th day I was climbing at my maximum level again and I have not
had a relapse in almost 20 years. I still climb quite hard (13a
on-sight) and I pull more weight than ever before (being naturally
heavier/fatter :). All without a single problem, as long as I stick to
balancing my elbows out (I slack-off sometimes for a month or two and
everything is fine, but then I remember the pain I used to go through
and I get back to doing the exercises once a week).
I have
mentioned these exercises to all of my friends that have had elbow
issues and almost all of them have had good results, UNLESS they had
structural damage.
Will Gadd and I have talked about this
issue. He seems to have structural problems, after all of his years of
severe strain, which prevent these exercises from completely solving his
elbow problems. That said, I think that many people, particularly
younger climbers, will benefit greatly from this advice and I felt
compelled to make this long post. As a matter of fact, I have found
that finding balancing exercises for any NON-TRAUMA injury is an
effective method of healing/prevention. Shoulders and, particularly,
fingers react well if you can find the proper balancing exercise
(fingers are the most difficult and require balancing exercises that
generally focus on the back of the hand (i.e. opening hands in sand) or
the fine muscles in the palm of the hand).
I hope that this will help someone out there.
Thanks,
Kevin Wilson
"
Tekemällä tekstissä kuvattua yksinkertaista harjoitusta kirjan ja käsipainon kanssa, koin lähes ihmeparantumisen kyynärpäissäni. Parissa päivässä selkeä parannus, ja nyt viikon jälkeen ei tunnu käytännössä mitään kipuja, kiivetessä eikä levossa. Jotenkin tuo liike venyttää niitä jänteitä juuri mukavassa kulmassa ja avaa sitä kramppia, erityisesti kun tuossa ojennusvaiheessa venyttää kättä voimakkaasti ylöspäin. Tarpeeksi leveä pinch - ote tuntuu myös olevan tärkeä. Loppukevennykseksi harjoitusta havainnollistava kuvasarja, liikkeen tehosta muun kuin Narnia - kirjan kanssa ei ole kokemusta : D
