Last year when I started snowboarding, I remember falling pretty hard on my wrist on the 1st day. It hurt but I managed to get back up and keet going, the pain eventually subsided and was bothersome for about a week but I thought I had just sprained it or something. Well, here I am a yr. later with pain in my wrist-still. It is nothing extreme, just sort of annoying. I can almost feel a "popping," when pressing in a certain area. I can feel it crack often(it cracks loud when I move it a certain way), and will get sharp pains from the outside of my wrist to the outside of my elbow. They are not extremely painful in any way, which is probably why it has been a year. I have started to experience tingling from the far side of my wrist up into my hand. Again, nothing more than annoying. However, it has me wondering- could I have fractured it without realizing it? I mean, I think I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, but could I have done something more than a sprain and now it has healed wrong? And if so, what am I supposed to do about it now? Should I have it checked by a doctor(X-ray) even if they might not be able to do anything? I’m starting tennis soon and am worried about it bothering me…

Technorati Tags: Broken Bone, cracks, doctor x, elbow, far side, quot, Snowboarding, sprain, tennis, tolerance, x ray

Ok. So I go the doctor and he says, I think you have lateral epicondylitis. He figures this out by bending and twisting my arms a few times until I would cringe in pain. I explain it "hurts severely if I bump it." He gives me a shot of Cortisone and says that should help, come back in a few weeks if it still hurts bad.

Well it did, the cortisone did squat. I went back and the next doctor says the same thing. Ice it, take Advil wait a few months, it’ll get better.

WTH? Just chill and wait? Still hurts, and its not getting better at all.

So anyways, I bent my arm and looked closely at it today. There is a lump on my elbow the size of pea exactly where the pain is emanating from. Touching it causes severe pain. I look and see no other spot on my other elbow like this. It’s smooth.

Anyone had a similar like pain and this lump? Is this lump a normal part of lateral epicondylitis?

BTW…HMO ; )
The lump does not seem like a pus filled cyst. It feels fairly solid and stationary. It almost feels like it may be part of some torn or delaminating tendon or cartilage. The pain is severe when it’s touched firmly. On a side note I have a very strong tolerance to pain, which is another reason this worries me.

I will be going back the doctor in about a week, but just wanted to see if anyone had had a similar like experience with this lump.

Technorati Tags: advil, Btw, cartilage, Chill, cortisone, elbow, lateral Epicondylitis, pus, quot, severe pain, tendon, tennis elbow, tolerance

I tried researching how to cure tennis elbow, but pretty much all I found were ways to help subdue the pain or discomfort by icing it or what not.

Unfortunately life has put me in the situation where I do not have insurance so going to a Physcial Therapist is not that practical at the moment.

Does anyone recall what they have done , such as stretching certain ways, strength training on the elbow/arm a certain way? Of course the last thing I want to do is negatively impact healing by just tearing the elbow up more but I have a high tolerance for pain so I can handle it if I have to do some type of strength training.

From what I read I really don’t want to be out 6 months until it resolves itself, surely there must be something more practical in my situation.

*note, i got this from cycling by using the drop bars too much and not switching up more often so my elbow took a beating and I am paying the price now!

Technorati Tags: insurance, strength training, tennis elbow, tolerance