I'm fighting some arm trouble with both wrist and elbow and everything between. From some observations and a private message or two, it seems I'm not the only one having problems.
So, what to do? I've been told by the resident informal pickleball medical staff that rest is the only cure! Well, that can't be right! The arm is not getting better in any discernable degree and I've had some periods where I've not played at all. So I'm not holding out any hope that a short or reasonable rest will clear this aching arm. Of course there is also the possibility that if the arm was to heal and then I started to recover my vaunted backhand roll that I would immediately be back in pain.
I've tried a couple of things. I converted to left handed a bit, and while I could dink pretty well, any long or difficult shots were problematic.
I can play right handed and basically not hit any backhands, but that's no way to play and I also do not remember to not use the backhand and I'll make some play that really hurts.
I've added some tape to make the grip thicker, which ought to promote a lighter grip pressure. But I have a pretty light grip already and so there was not much of a difference there. I may still add more girth to the grip for some added effect.
With all of the above, I've basically decided to just play. I'm trying not to play three games straight without a rest. And I'm only playing a couple of hours instead of three and I also look for games where there will be a lot of dinking instead of drives and power pickleball.
But basically, it's a situation that might move me back to golf for a while and not pickle at all. I really don't want to do that as the golf is about an hour and a half at most, while the PB is multiple hours and then followed by golf. Then also, the golf is a bit solitary and I do enjoy the people and social aspects of PB.
I have no answer at this point. I don't enjoy not being able to play well. The losing doesn't bother me, but I feel I'm letting down partners and while "there is no sorry in pickleball," there kind of is...
I feel your pain, just in a different part of my body. I couldn’t have said it better myself, your last paragraph says it all.
ReplyDeleteMy list of ailments is too long to go through, but with PT recommended stretches / exercises, a couple injections in the knee and a deep one in the hip, some icing, etc. I'm able to play mostly without pain. I'm not sure the "informal medical staff" is the way to go. Maybe a really good sports medicine doctor could help and a good PT clinic (there are good, mediocre and sub), can also. I'd personally recommend my sports orthopedist. If you're interested, PM me. John Lubeck
ReplyDeleteJohn and other, thanks for the comments. It's a rare post that gets two comments. John, I have seen a Dr. for the time I had a "pure" tennis elbow. "How about a shot?" I asked. "No, not even the doctors that do nothing but cortisone shots will go into the elbow, the area is too small and it's too easy to break something," she said. "But take an anti-inflammatory and take a lot of it. Ignore the dosage on the package!" I've had various flavors of elbow stuff since high school actually. It comes and goes and I've never correlated its appearance and disappearance with anything. I suspect that there are variables, quite small, in wrist and movements and positions that trigger it over time. I think it's non-linear and at some point it presents as an owie, to use the technical term. All of the medical advise and advisors and PT folks, there is at least one on the PB staff, suggest rest. That's probably the correct thing to do. Maybe not hitting any rolls is the long term solution for me.
DeleteIt sounds like only a partial rest period has been applied with "some periods of rest". Likewise there appears to be no use of anti-inflamatories for a short period (5 - 7 days) at a slightly higher dosage (200 mg TID). Finally, playing golf is unlikely to provide the necessary rest needed to reducing the pain. If the pain presists after applying the proper regiment of rest and OTC medication, then a trip to your physcian is advised. We all would like to keep.our execise going even when we are ill, but first priority is care for ourselves.
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