04/08/2026
One of the most counterproductive things that happens to people with this condition is that they stop doing everything. Their elbow hurts, so they stop lifting, stop exercising, stop the activities that keep them healthy and sane.
There is a significant difference between activities that provoke severe elbow pain and activities that don’t. If you can run, ride a bike, do lower-body training, or swim without significant elbow pain, keep doing those things. Deconditioning is not a treatment. Maintaining your overall fitness, your metabolic health, and your sense of agency over your own body is part of recovery, not something to defer until the elbow is perfect.
I’ve now had this in both elbows. I kept working out, but I had to adjust certain movements. I couldn’t lift the dumbbells from the ground to bench press. But if someone handed them to me once I was lying down, I was fine. Adjust as needed. Don’t wait until this goes away completely.
You limit what you do based on what actually hurts not based on a general instruction to rest. That instruction is often well-intentioned and frequently wrong.
