UKH

Tonight, I picked up an elbow injury while bouldering indoors.  I was locking off on my right arm, while rocking over left.  There was a ‘pop’.

It hurts right on the bony tip of the elbow - maybe very slightly on the inside but maybe only a few mm or so.  It’s unlike golfers or tennis elbow that I’ve had in previous years.  It feels similar to if you were to bang your elbow on a rock.

Has anyone had anything similar?

Is it swollen at all? I've just recovered from an episode of bursitis which badly affected the bony tip of my left elbow. It came up in a large fluid sac initially, then the swelling dispersed and left me with a very tender joint that I still can't lean on even a month later! It also doesn't like me doing pressups yet. 

Apparently bursitis can be triggered by trauma, repetitive movements or inflammatory responses. 

Hope you get sorted and that it doesn't plague you for too long. 

See a physio if RICE doesn’t get it served very quickly. 

Hi Naomi, thanks for the reply.  Yep, the tip of the elbow has swollen just less than the size of half a golf ball.  I was bad this morning but it hurts a little less right now, so maybe I'm on the mend already.

I'll look burtitis up some more.  Thanks.

Thanks Steve.  That's already in the back of my mind if I don't see some healing quickly.

It sounds like bursitis - it will last and last - basically try really hard not to bang your elbow on anything until it has gone away - it will hurt quite badly if you do bang it and it will swell up again.  Best not bang it for a month after the swelling has gone away really. 

Unfortunately the swelling means that it attracts bangs and knocks like a magnet. Last time I had this the swelling was egg-sized (if you've never seen this is can be quite dramatic) and when it went down I was left with a couple of petite-pois sized lumps which would cause the swelling again if knocked. They eventually went away and my elbow is back to normal (two months).

Normal exercise and climbing seemed ok provided I didn't bang the elbow.

Thanks to Naomi's post, I did some diggigng and it very much seems to be Olecranon Burisitis - as you say.

I think what has happened is that about two weeks ago I knocked it on a boulder - not while climbing.  It was such a minor thing at the time that I thought nothing of if and can't really remember what I did.

Since then it's hurt a little but not at all while climbing.

Since it went 'pop' a couple of nights ago, it has been painful enough that I lost a couple of hours sleep and woke up with it looking quite swollen.

Digging around the net, there are a few instances where people have whacked their elbow and it has affected their climbing rather than climbing being the cause.

Mine's definately a minor case compared to some of the stuff on YouTube!  I think I'll ease back to climbing but may dig out my mountain bike elbow pads